As we commemorate National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day and the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor we return to history and World War II with two important stories when journalist Kathryn Smith, author of THE GATEKEEPER: MISSY LEHAND, FDR AND THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE PARTNERSHIP THAT DEFINED A PRESIDENCY and historian Marc Wortman, author of 1941, FIGHTING THE SHADOW WAR join Halli on The Halli Casser-Jayne Show, Wednesday, 3 pm ET at Halli Casser-Jayne dot com.

In THE GATEKEEPER, Journalist Kathryn Smith tells the story of Marguerite  Alice “Missy” LeHand the savvy personal secretary President Franklin Delano Roosevelt considered one of the most vital, and certainly one of the most loyal members of his inner circle. Missy fulfilled the crucial duties of Chief of Staff long before the position was formally created, working with FDR for more than twenty years. She was also FDR’s confidante (LOVER?), his support when he contracted polio, and his close friend. People in Washington, D.C., knew one indisputable truth: if you wanted to get to FDR, you had to go through Missy.

A divided America? A country reluctant to go to war? A country turning its back on genocide? The year 2016? No, the year 1941, the focus of historian Marc Wortman’s book 1941, FIGHTING THE SHADOW WAR. Conventional wisdom dictates that the US entered World War II in retaliation for the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 8, 1941. Historian Marc Wortman sees it another way, revealing the ways in which America played an increasingly significant and clandestine role in the war in the months and years prior to officially joining the battle. Churchill, Lindbergh, the Roosevelt family, FDR advisor and emissary Harry Hopkins, journalists William Shirer and Philip Johnson, Wortman weaves the smart, suspenseful history that reads like an epic novel.