The Plot Against America characters

Appears from the start

A young Jewish boy growing up in Newark's Weequahic neighborhood and the narrator's childhood self. He collects stamps, shares a room with his older brother, and understands the national crisis through family arguments, neighborhood changes, and a child's expanding sense that the adults protecting him may be powerless.

Appears from the start

Philip's father, a hardworking insurance agent and committed New Deal Democrat. Proudly American and openly opposed to Lindbergh's isolationism and antisemitism, he tries to keep his family secure without yielding his political judgment or accepting that Jews must be grateful for conditional citizenship.

Appears from the start

Philip's mother, a capable homemaker whose alertness to danger is more practical than Herman's faith in American institutions. She protects her sons, manages family tensions, and takes the threats surrounding Lindbergh's rise seriously from the beginning.

Appears from the start

Philip's older brother, a talented young artist fascinated by aviation and by Charles Lindbergh's heroic public image. His admiration for the famous pilot puts him increasingly at odds with Herman's political warnings.

Appears from the start

The boys' older cousin, restless and combative, who wants to fight Nazi Germany even as Lindbergh campaigns to keep the United States out of the European war. He is close enough to the Roth household to serve as both an admired older figure and a source of upheaval.

Appears from the start

Bess's unmarried older sister, socially ambitious and eager for a larger public role. Her relationship with Rabbi Lionel Bengelsdorf brings her into the political movement presenting Jewish cooperation with Lindbergh as patriotic and prudent.

Appears from the start

A prominent Newark rabbi who endorses Lindbergh and argues that Jewish Americans should trust the candidate's promises of peace and national unity. His prestige gives the campaign a useful Jewish ally and divides him sharply from Herman Roth.

Appears from the start

The celebrated aviator who becomes the Republican presidential candidate in 1940 on a promise to keep America out of war. His sudden political rise, accommodation with Nazi Germany, and ability to dismiss opposition as warmongering make him the central threat perceived by the Roth family.

Appears from the start

Philip's timid younger neighbor, whose dependence and awkward attempts at friendship often irritate him. Seldon and his widowed mother live upstairs from the Roths, making their vulnerability part of the family's everyday life.

Appears from the start

Seldon's widowed mother and the Roth family's upstairs neighbor. Anxious but resourceful, she is raising her son alone and depends on the mutual support of Newark's Jewish community.

First appears in chapter 2

A nationally known newspaper columnist and broadcaster who becomes one of Lindbergh's fiercest public critics. His combative attacks on the administration give frightened Jewish families a prominent voice of opposition while also drawing organized hostility.

First appears in chapter 9

The president's wife, widely associated with her husband's public image and the private loss that first made their family famous. At the height of the October crisis, she breaks through official control to appeal directly for an end to violence and unlawful government action.