What’s up at the World War II Round Table?

By Tim Engstrom
The audience applauds at a WWII Round Table program in May at the Minnesota History Center.

Here are upcoming programs for the Dr. Harold C. Deutsch World War II History Round Table. The history presentations happen at 7 p.m. on the second Tuesday of every month at the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul:

Oct. 14: Benn Steil, author of “The World That Wasn’t” will explain how the changes within the FDR administration after the 1940 election affected the policies that ended World War II and much of the decisions that led to the Cold War and to Harry Truman’s presidency.

Oct. 28: John Q. Barrett, author of “That Man,” is an authority on Supreme Court justice Robert Jackson. He will speak on the Nuremberg Trails, marking the 80th anniversary of the historic postwar tribunal. (Truman appointed Jackson as U.S. Chief of Counsel for the prosecution of Nazi war criminals.)

Nov. 11: David McKean, author of “Watching Darkness Fall,” will discuss events in the 1930s that led to the rise of the Nazi Party and factors that allowed Adolf Hitler to become Führer.

Dec. 9: Alex Kershaw, author of “Patton’s Prayer,” will tell the story of Gen. George S. Patton having the chaplain develop a prayer to send out to the 3rd Army for a 1944 Christmas greeting.

Jan. 13: James Kelly Morningstar, author of “War & Resistance in the Philippines,” will tell about the much-overlooked guerilla war that was waged by the Filipinos and non-captured U.S. military personnel.

Feb. 10: Steve Gilford, author of “Build ’Em By the Mile,” will tell how industrialist Henry Kaiser converted his factories into ship-building giants to provide the Liberty Ships that hauled the materials of war to the theaters of war. This tale includes Minnesota-based Cargill’s shipbuilding operations.

March 10: Flint Whitlock, author of “Patton & the Battle for Sicily,” will describe the joint invasion of Operation Husky by the 7th U.S. Army and British Forces against the German and Italian forces prior to the capitulation of Italy.

March 24: Pamela Toler, author of “The Dragon from Chicago,” will share the experiences of Sigrid Schulz, who was the Berlin bureau chief for the Chicago Tribune as she reported on the political actions of the Nazi Party in the 1930s.

April 14: Dan Hampton, author of “Vanishing Act,” will tell the story of Plane #8 of the Doolittle Mission that landed in the Soviet Union after dropping its bombs in Japan and how Minnesota played a role to the modifications of the aircraft for the mission.

May 12: Michel Paradis, author of “The Light of Battle,” provides an insight into the experiences that led to the leadership skills of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and how they led to the successful results of Operation Overlord and the subsequent liberation of northern Europe.