The Golden Age

American author and public intellectual Gore Vidal’s historical novel The Golden Age (2000) is the last book in his Narratives of Empire heptalogy, which chronicles the long evolution of American imperialism and nationalism. Its title refers, ironically, to the misplaced exuberance and hope of young Americans at the end of World War II. The plot presents fictionalized encounters between prominent political figures, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, Wendell L. Willkie, and Herbert Hoover. It also explores the political coverage of the span of time between 1939 and the post-war years, namely the work of the powerful publisher Blaise Sanford. The Golden Age became famous for its incisive critique of the United States’ history of decadence.

In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt is presented with a seemingly impossible dilemma: he must make good on his reelection campaign promise to ensure that no men are sent off to war barring a direct attack on the United States. At the same time, he has a stake in involving the country in World War II as soon as possible. Through his characterizations, Vidal suggests that the United States imposed a cutthroat trade and oil embargo on Japan, bringing the country to a violent breaking point and establishing it as its enemy. He also contends that the United States goaded Japan into attacking. Most controversially of all, Vidal suggests that the United States expected the attack known as the Pearl Harbor bombing, but did not warn the Hawaiian base. In the story, U.S. intelligence forces decrypt Japanese transmissions but strategically choose to withhold Japan’s attack plans to ensure that an entrance into the war would seem justified to the American people. Roosevelt orders this in a bet that the United States would end up the world’s main superpower when the war eventually ended.

Besides Roosevelt’s dishonest military campaign, the novel follows the efforts of Republican Party member Wendell L. Willkie to become his party’s presidential candidate in the 1940 election. Vidal alleges that Roosevelt’s constituents meddled in the Republican Party to ensure that Willkie would win, rather than the other Republican presidential contenders, who opposed entering the war. As a result, they ensured that the United States would engage in the war regardless of which party won.



Next, the novel turns to the 1940 Republican National Convention, which took place in Philadelphia. Vidal alleges that the numerous bombing and murder plots leading up to (and during) the convention were orchestrated so that Willkie’s staff could gain control of the convention’s logistics, which they then used to undermine candidate Herbert Hoover. The story suggests that British intelligence officials also aided in these plots. Vidal represents the British as desperate for U.S. support in their fight against the Nazis.

Throughout the story, Vidal refers to Roosevelt as “Emperor of the World,” and his wife, Eleanor, as “The Empress.” For him, these are not honorific terms but rather are used to underscore the moral failures of Roosevelt, his campaign, and his administration. Vidal also compares Roosevelt to Augustus, the war-mongering emperor who founded the Roman Empire. At the end of the novel, Vidal briefly touches on how the war influenced American arts and culture. He profiles such figures as Dawn Powell, Tennessee Williams, and John La Touche, showing how institutions like Hollywood emerged out of strife. The Golden Age is, therefore, not a wholly pessimistic portrait of America, though it is a rebuke of Roosevelt’s corrupt administration.