RADIOJuly 10, 2024

Who Doomed the Petrodollar: America or Saudi Arabia?

There has been a lot of confusion lately about Saudi Arabia allegedly ending a 50-year-deal with the United States. The "deal" tied oil sales to the US dollar. But many have claimed that the deal never actually existed. So, what's really going on here and should Americans be worried? Financial expert Carol Roth joins Glenn to break it all down, including why she believes the United States and our Federal Reserve are really to blame for the petrodollar's destruction. Plus, Carol explains why the Biden administration can insist the economy has never been better, although our wallets can tell the opposite is true.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Before we get to Carol, I want to give you some highlights from this Blaze media. And TheBlaze.com story.

Biden's phony numbers mask true economic pain. The official government numbers in the US economy have been contradictory and confusing for quite a while now.

What is clear upon closer examination, is that the federal government's overspending and overregulation are doing serious damage to the economy.

And we have yet to see the worst results of those policies.

The unemployment increase, seems to contradict recent signs that the economy has been weakening. In addition to the conflicting rise in unemployment. Other signs of deterioration. Include stagnant retail sales.

A slowing of consumer spending. Weak industrial product. Manufacturing orders. Increasing consumer debt.

Depressed by new housing starts. Falling annual earnings of full-time employees. And rising commodity prices. The Federal Reserve chairman, Jerome Powell, knitted, he believes the White House has been cooking the books.

This is the fed chair. Stating last week, you have payroll jobs, still coming in strong.

Even though, there's an argument, they may be a bit overstated. The only job growth, in the US, is for illegal aliens. Listen to that.

The only job growth in the US, are for those illegal aliens, who will work for below minimum wage. Which also explains why inflation hasn't spiked in the past year, as millions of illegal aliens were hired.

Legally resident American workers saw no job increase in the past year. And unlawful residents, willing to accept wages Americans can't are dragging everything down in the wage category.

With employment continues for American workers stagnant at best, the job market is another indicator that the economic growth is slowing, and the Federal Reserve should lower interest rates to reduce its suppression of economic activity.

However, they decided not to. Because it will -- it will spike inflation again.

The markets have already priced three expected interest rate reductions for the year.

However, suggesting a correction is in order.

Even so, the stock market stayed steady after the fed's interest rate announcement with the Dow falling slightly.

And the S&P 500 and NASDAQ, rising to new record highs.

Economist Robert Genetski. Genetski, calculates that the S&P 500 is currently overvalued by 34 percent.

If investors decide the market is near peak and start selling, taking their profits before prices, fall. There is more trouble.

This overspending continues from the federal government, as well.

In the first eight months of the current fiscal year, the current government has already accumulated more than $1.2 trillion, in additional debt.

With a staggering deficit of $348 billion last month alone.

Investors were reportedly believed the US economy is about to enjoy a significant expansion, because of AI.

That's boosting the stock markets. The shares in tech companies. Chip makers. And even utilities.

The government's stimulus injection may be waning, and the Fed's interest rate hikes are starting to bite, as indicated by the slowing housing and manufacturing production.

Higher interest rates hinder business from investing in production and consumers from spending on goods.

That support those businesses. Additionally, the Biden administration has implemented a regulatory program, that will directly cost the economy 3.95 trillion dollars in 2025.

And indirectly result in a staggering 75.05 trillion, in opportunity costs, for 2025, alone.

That might take a bite, no matter what AI is going to do.

Carol Roth is here with us.

Carol. Are we beginning to see all of the signs of the wheels coming off of this thing?

CAROL: I think we've been seeing the signs of the wheels coming off of this thing for quite some time.

And they're sort of hanging on by a thread.

Now, certainly, a lot of the numbers that are put forth. Are meant to window dress, and say, oh, no.

The wheels are still turning. And they're doing just fine. And they will last for a while.

We have seen cracks, and when you peel back the onion. And you look at things like the deficit to GDP, which are about two times the historic average at a time when they're telling us, there's an expansion. We know there's something wrong.

Because normally, when you have an expanding economy, that means you're taking in more revenue at the government level. And that means you're running less of a deficit because you have more money input.

What's happening now is the Biden administration has flipped that on their head. And they're using deficits to window dress the appearance, that we have growth.

And we're seeing that start to crack. Because even that, you know, window dressed growth is starting to come down.

We saw the first quarter GDP come in, almost a percentage point lower than expectations.

A first reading. The second reading was even lower.

So now, as of the second reading. We're at 1.3 percent. For the first quarter. And we're expecting a third reading.

And things keep getting revised and revised.

So all of the, you know, appearances that they're putting forth. And to make it seem like everything is looking great.

We've seen those cracks. And they're just becoming larger and larger.

GLENN: So do you think that there's any way possible, that anything, excuse the pun here, Trumps the economy.

I mean, they always say in elections.

You know, it's the economy, stupid.

And no matter how you window dress this.

Everyone knows, I don't have as much money, or my money doesn't go as far as it used to. And I'm having a hard time keeping up.

At almost every level, this is happening.

VOICE: So this is an interesting question.

There was a Monmouth poll, that came out yesterday.

That showed, far and away.

That the economy was the biggest issue.

You know, number one issue on people's minds.

But there's a disconnect by party. And obviously, when you have the -- the Republican side, and I would think to some extent. The independents as well.

There's more of a connection with the -- with the fiscal reality that's going on. And it becomes, you know, we believe so afford literally four more years of that.

There's a disconnect from the Democrats who don't believe in mass and reality anyway.

And so even though, they may be hurting, personally. They're going to make excuses. And say that it's for, you know, any sort of litany of other reasons. And it doesn't have anything to do with these specific policies, that we know have driven these outcomes.

You know, there's weather it's things like the American rescue plan. And they direct stimulus. That's literally called stimulus.

That overstimulated the economy. And caused inflation.

They're going to tell you, oh, no. Look, inflation has come down. Even though, they're still going to the same grocery stores, the same gas stations. Having to pay the same rent. And they're believing and buying into the gaslighting.

So that's my concern.

Is when you have so many people who are decoupled from reality. And can fed the propaganda that's gaslighting. And they're willing to -- basically, you know, they're cults. That that is not going to show up in the polls. The way that it should. If we were operating, you know, with some sort of normal baseline.

GLENN: Carol, I'm going to take a quick break, early here.

Because I don't want to interrupt you on this petrodollar thing.

Because I have seen stories that say, this is true.

Stories that say it wasn't true. I don't think there ever was a -- there wasn't a concrete deal. It was more of a handshake with Saudi Arabia. With the petrodollar. Wasn't it?

Or did we have a written deal?

CAROL: That's right. So I was surprised when I saw this as well. You know, I wrote about this in You'll Own Nothing. We have a whole chapter on it.

And there was a deal put in place. But never once did I come across anything that said, we have a specific expiration. But we know deals that, you know, are made. Can be shifted and changed at any point in time.

And I think that's the point we want to talk about.

GLENN: Correct.

Okay. So we'll do that next.

Because the petrodollar. If the world goes off the petrodollar.

That is -- that is the beginning of the end of the dollar.

It's just a matter of time. And what are people replacing? It with?

And so far, central banks are not replacing it with any currency at all.

We'll talk about it here, in just a second.

Okay.

So, Carol, explain why the petrodollar is so important.

VOICE: All right. So there's this story that was going around last week. That the Saudis had ended this agreement, that had been put in place in the '70s.

So what happened was that when the US went off the gold standard, they were very concerned over what was going to happen. So they created this secret delegation, that went to Saudi Arabia.

As part of a diplomatic chore. And there was a lot of chaos going on at that time. Not only did we go off the gold standard.

There was an oil embargo put in place by the Arab oil exporters. That set the price of oil sky-high.

So the big objective, was basically, they -- the US didn't want crude oil.

You know, energy. Which is obviously really what fueled growth around the world, to become an economic weapon.

And they knew they knew, okay. Well, now we're off the gold standard.

We had the currency. Wouldn't it be great to have somebody to finance their deficits?

So what they did, is they went to the Saudis. And they said, well, look, you come. You take -- you're going to agree to basically price oil in dollars.

And that's -- around the world, oil is going to be priced in dollars. And you will have all this excess money.

We want you to plow that back into US treasuries. Everything that you get in. We want to you plow that back into treasuries?

Why did they want that? Because that obviously helped the US finance their deficits at a very cheap rate.

He said with be okay. We'll do that. What we want in return, basically some economic and military support. And so they made this -- this deal. That was brokered.

The interesting part is there was a secret piece of it, and that was that the Saudis did not want everyone to know, that they had this huge Treasury stockpile. So for more than four --

GLENN: Why?

Wait. Wait. Wait.

Why didn't they?

CAROL: Because they must want everyone to know that this was sort of the underpinnings of the deals of how closely they were in bed, with the US.

GLENN: Okay. With the US. Okay.

CAROL: And that this is what they did. So this was actually uncovered by a Bloomberg report.

So for 41 years, what the US Treasury did when they broke out what central banks held the US Treasury, and you can go see if China holds this. Japan holds this.

They lumped Saudi Arabia in with 14 other nations. So basically, you could see, oh. We cut this special deal, and now it looks like now, that there's all this wonderful demand for treasuries around the world.

And it was kind of unclear that there was this alliance going on.

So what does that do? It creates a massive demand for the Treasury, because not only are the Saudis in there as huge buyers, but when you have -- you know, sort of a de facto basis. The oil price in US dollars. Then every other central bank will also want to make sure that they have a stockpile of a dollar equivalent security. That if they need dollars, they can cash in.

Of course, as opposed to holding actual dollars. When you hold the Treasury you do get some income. Or you get an interest rate. So basically, this has created huge demand for Treasuries. It means that the interest was artificially suppressed by that demand. And that the US government was able to finance their deficits.

It also meant that trade around the world, was done, you know, US dollars. So not only are these central banks, holding them in the reserves. There's all this trade that's happening in US dollars.

So this actually worked out for quite some time.

The Fed holding basically the world's reserve currency. And managing it. They held the US dollar fairly stable. When you saw the price of gas go up. That they would loosen monetary policy.

And when it was too low. They would tighten it, that they would stay in some sort of a range. Sometimes that was at odds with what was going on domestically.

But as the holder of the world's reserve currency, that was their job.

GLENN: Hang on just a second. Stop for just a second.

I just want to make the point: This is right now, where we're about to see the change, and it's not happening now. It's already happened.

We -- when we got off the gold standard. We promised the world, we will never put ourselves, you know, absolutely first. And go off, and do crazy spending.

And, you know, just break everything for America.

And that's why, it was at odds, sometimes. The fed's policies.

Were at odds.

With the United States policy.

Or -- or -- wants and needs.

Because they had to balance it for the world.

And then what happened, Carol?

CAROL: Yes. So for the economic wonks out there, that's called the Triffin dilemma. You sometimes have to make these tradeoffs between what happens domestically and what happens internationally.

What happened, if we come back to today, is that the Fed has managed to hold the dollar, not stable.

Either for the world, or domestically. So it's not like they even made the tradeoff.

They just abandoned it altogether. But going back to 2005, they decided when the price of oil shot up due to China's increase in demand.

Hurricane Katrina, a whole bunch of things. That they just weren't going to play this game anymore, and that's when things started to crack.

Then we had the Great Recession financial crisis, and so on and so forth.

And the US government continuing to run these huge deficits.

And just, you know, creating a really challenging situation, economically.

So the big issue, if you are these countries around the world. That now have everything priced in dollars.

All your major commodities.

It's not just oil.

It's then extending into food.

Everybody is trading into dollars.

When you have these huge swings in the dollar, that means, that threatens as a nation.

Because now you may not be able to afford energy.

Or you may not be able to afford your food for your country.

That's a national security issue.

GLENN: Forty seconds.

CAROL: Countries are getting sick of that. We weaponize the US dollar. And at the end of the day, they're starting to move away from it. Which threatens our ability to have cheap financing and our standard of living.

GLENN: And so the Saudis did not break a deal.

We've broken the deal long ago.

And they're just all doing what would normally be done. It's no longer good for me.

It's got to be good for both of us.

And so they didn't stop the deal. They're just naturally moving away.

And it's -- the money is going to gold, not other currencies at this point. Correct?

CAROL: Correct. You got it. You nailed it.

The ONE “forever war” Glenn Beck supports

This Fourth of July, Glenn Beck reveals the only “forever war” he supports. It’s the war Americans have been fighting since our nation’s founding, and we must continue the fight…

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Two hundred forty-nine years ago, I think it is tomorrow. Right? Is tomorrow the second, or is it the first?

What day is it today?

So it was 200 -- 249 years ago, tomorrow, that somebody sat alone, in a -- in a one-room hotel room.

And scratched out the words, when in the course of human events. Those are the first six words of a document that is so dangerous!

Still today, so revolutionary.

It was whispered in those candle lit rooms by men who knew. Knew. That if I signed this document, that's a death warrant.

I'm dead!

I'm dead.

But in the course of human events, shh.

Jefferson wrote them!

33 years old. Adams would later say, you do well to revere Jefferson. But he didn't write alone. Basically, I was there too.

And so was Ben Franklin. The ideas were forged in the minds of men like Franklin, who is old enough to know better. And Adams, who was stubborn enough, not to care. And they weren't perfect men. But I love this about the left. They try to make you think.

That you think are perfect. I don't think they were perfect! I mean, Ben Franklin used to walk around naked in his house a lot. That shows, I mean, for as smart as that guy was. It shows, maybe he had a lack of mirrors. But they weren't perfect!

They owned slaves. They argued. They compromised.

How does that make them different than us?
I mean, we should be able to relate to them!

What is it that we tolerate right now?
What is it that we compromise on?

What is it -- what are our failures that future generations are going to go, these people just didn't get it? Perhaps what we should notice is that they, unlike most of us. They were willing to gamble their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

For something that had never, ever been done before. Something entirely new!

The idea that rights don't come from a government, or from a king, or from a parliament.

They don't come from the majority voting. Everyone has certain rights.

You know, for all these people who are, you know -- going in Macy's, and burning down towns. And then stealing clothing. And they're like, because I've been oppressed!

And you can't -- I've got rights, you know.
Yeah. Yeah.

You know who the first people were, to articulate those rights?

You know the only country that actually has stood for those rights?

And we're imperfect!

That idea came from the Founders, that you say you hate.

But the actual rights come from God, which you dismiss!

Think of this. Just ponder this for a second.

That all men are created equal! That their rights are given to them, by a creator.

It's not a political assertion. It's a genius. That's eternal truth!

That's theological dynamite, lobbed straight in to the thrones of Europe.

All over the world, it's still dynamite.

They knew what they were doing.

And I don't mean like, they knew what they were doing.

They had it. No. They knew that the British crown had the largest military force in the world. And these guys, they were farmers. They were printers. They were lawyers. They were a ragtag collection of intellectual and idealists, facing down an empire, where they said, the sun never set on the British empire. Meaning, the colonialism was everywhere!

You could not escape England. And yet, they declared it. We're leaving, without apology!

And they said that when a government becomes destructive of the ends of liberty, life, and the pursuit of happiness, it's not only the right of the people, it's their duty to throw it off!

Wow. And you know what is amazing? That's not rebellion.

That's -- that's not revolution. That's -- that's responsibility.

That -- that kind of language today, that would have you flagged, shadow banned. Labeled an extremist. In most countries, disappeared!

But that is the foundation of what we call America. The American experiment. And it's that. The American experiment.

And it's just that, an experiment. We didn't know if we could get it right. And we haven't gotten it right. But isn't it worth experimenting?

Isn't it worth trying to get that concept right?

When you fail on that concept, you're like, eh. That's a stupid idea.

That's not a stupid idea. That's the greatest idea of all time.

Why are so many people willing to just quit?

The experiment is self-rule. It's not perfect.

Never has been. Slavery. Jim Crow. Internment camps. Assassinations.

My God! Forgive us, for what we have done.

But at the same time, what nation has done more to correct its own errors?

What people have shed more blood, not for conquest, but for freedom.

Twice in the last century, we crossed oceans. Not to claim territory. But to liberate that territory!

Our sons and daughters fought and bled on foreign soil to push the darkness back, to fight against Naziism and fascism and Communism. And here we are. Here we are today.

After 249 years tomorrow of that experiment, standing at the lip of the very abyss, those men feared.

A godless chaos, rising in the east and a cold atheistic utopia, clawing at the foundations of the Western world. Islamism and Communism, two ideologies that have killed tens of millions of people. Now dressed all in new robes, selling old lies.

And we can't even teach a child where their rights come from. We have replaced Jefferson and Adams with TikTok influencers and bureaucratic groupthink.

We're raising generations to not even know the truth about their own identity.

But to question their identity. And they could be, oh, you're a funny, funny colored unicorn today. What do you want to be tomorrow?

We don't teach them anything about truth, or their inheritance, most importantly. Their inheritance. What good are hot dogs and fireworks, if the soul of the nation is up for auction? What is the meaning in Fourth of July, if we have forgotten the why? If we don't even call it Independence Day anymore. Most people don't even know who we fought against for independence.

They think we fought for its independence! Most people think we fought the South!

And yet, we'll light the sparklers, or blow our fingers off, because we're just that stupid.

This Independence Day weekend, would you do me and yourself and your country a favor, and read the words out loud. Speak the words out loud.

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands, which have connected them with one another.

And to assume among the powers of earth, the separate, but equal station, to which the laws of nature.

And nature's God entitle them.

A decent respect to the opinions of mankind, requires that they should declare the causes, which impair them to the separation.

What are they saying?

Look, we want to be decent people.

We want to be decent people.

And we have to separate them.

But we believe it's only right that we tell you why we have to separate. And it's not because of all the bad things you've done. We'll get to those later. It's because we're different. And you don't understand. You have been telling us all of these things, we no longer believe in. We hold these truths to be self-evident. That all men are created equal, and they're endowed by their creator with certain inalienable. Unchangeable rights.

And just among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

That to secure these rights, government are his instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

My gosh. Read those words. And let your children hear what thinking and courage sounds like.

That to secure these rights, I'm telling you, the king, who thinks that your government was given to you, by God.

And you are the ruler.

And you will tell everybody what to think, what to do. What to buy. What to sell. What to tax. What not to tax. Who gets land. Who doesn't get land.

No, no, no. Government are his instituted among men, deriving their powers, their just powers, from the people. And that government is only there, established by those men to protect the rights that God has given each of those men.

Let them feel the chill, that runs down the spine, when Jefferson writes, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the government, or from the governed. Let them hear the words, of -- of responsibility. What responsibility sounds like, with courage and freedom. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these rights, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it.

And to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their a lot of and happiness.

In other words, you have the right, you have the responsibility to stop tyrants. And if the government has gone bad, to throw that government off.

But reconstitute a government, that will do a better job at protecting those rights. Not to form a communist government.

Not to do anything else. But you want a new government?

Fine! Let's find the way to make men more free. This is not a metaphor. This is a declaration of war on tyranny in all of its forms.

I mean, I said, yesterday, freedom isn't free.

It was paid for by somebody's blood. But you have to remember, they paid for their freedom, not for our freedom, necessarily.

We -- there comes a time, we have to pay for our freedom. And God forbid, that it comes down to blood.

But at least shake off the apathy. We -- we must renew this promise of this experiment of America.

We need to fight for it as well. An out-of-control government that seeks to rope us into forever wars, over and over again. We're all against forever wars. I'm against it.

I hate them.

But there is one forever war, that is required in a free society. A different kind of forever war.

A war against ourselves, a war against human nature in each of us. Because of human nature, we get fat. We get lazy.

We get tolerant of abuses. Let your children hear you speak these words. And when you speak them, ponder them yourself.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient causes.

And accordingly, all experience has shown, that mankind is more disposed to suffer while the evils are sufferable than to right themselves, by abolishing the forms in which they're accustomed.

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a sign to reduce them under absolute despotism.

It's their right. It's their duty. To throw off such government. And provide new guards for such future security.

In one paragraph, we make the point twice. And they tell us, look, we've studied people.

We know you're going to get fat and lazy and apathetic. And you won't want to do stuff for transient causes. Because this is really not good.

But when push comes to shove. And everything is moving towards absolute despotism. Absolute tyranny. Then you must stand up.

I ask you to ponder this. This particular part, when a long train of abuses and usurpations. Prudence will indeed dictate that governments long established should not be exchanged for light and transient causes.

And accordingly, all experience has shown, that mankind is more disposed to suffer while the evils suffer, than to right themselves.

Aren't we exactly the same people, that their experience was talking about?

Aren't we the people that are more disposed to suffer, than to right ourselves? Because we're too comfortable. Or we're too afraid, just to stand up and simply say no to lies.

No!

There is a difference between men and women.

No! Communism is to be feared. It's killed over 100 million people, in the last 100 years.

No!

Muslims aren't bad. Islamism is!

It's evil. No!

You can peacefully protest, any time, any place. And I will fight to the death for your right to do that.

But when you start burn cities down to the ground, no!

We're just a few days away. And we have marked our 249th birthday. Maybe. Just maybe, this year, can we stop asking what America was, and start deciding what America will be?

Where it just slips quietly into history. In the dark of apathy and ignorance.

Because the only thing more dangerous than tyranny is the people who have forgotten what it took to break its chains.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

We need REAL jobs in America — Trump should do THIS now!

It is clear we need to create more productive, high-paying jobs for American citizens. But that doesn't mean bringing back the same exact jobs of the past in massive numbers. It means creating and supporting jobs of the present and future that will better the lives of Americans. Glenn Beck and Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts break down exactly what this entails and how President Trump can make it a reality.

Watch Glenn Beck's FULL Interview with Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts HERE

The most INCREDIBLE World War II story you’ve NEVER HEARD

One of the biggest American World War II cemeteries in Europe is in a small town in the Netherlands, where thousands of Dutch people continue the tradition to this day of “adopting” a fallen US soldier and checking in on his family. “The Monuments Man” author Robert Edsel joins Glenn Beck to tell this incredible story, which he documents in his new book, “Remember Us.”

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Robert, welcome back to the program. How are you, sir?

ROBERT: Great to talk to you!

GLENN: It's great to talk to you.

Can you remind me? You were on with us, after Monuments Men. And you talked about this great service that is still going on, where people that -- they were still looking for paintings and pieces of art, that had been taken by the Nazis.

And if I remember right, didn't somebody in our -- our own audience reach out to you, and say, I think we found one of those paintings?

ROBERT: Yes, sir. Absolutely.

The Glenn Beck audience. And Glenn Beck, you yourself deserve a lot of credit.

Because I hadn't walked out of your studio last time. You know, in Dallas at Las Colinas.

Headed back to our office at Monuments Men and Women Foundation office, before someone in my office contacted me and said, we've already had a lead, as a result of your interview with Glenn. And it turned out someone whose aunt had been given two paintings during World War II.

She had worked for the government overseeing Germany, and these two paintings were missing.

We were able to identify who the rightful owner was, and get them back.

So it's a great thing that you performed. And, you know, it's a magnificent conclusion, though obviously a very difficult part of history.

GLENN: What was it like to give that back to the family?

ROBERT: It was a deeply moving experience. We -- the foundation found and returned more than 30 works of art, from paintings to documents, ancient books. Tapestries, to museums. Individual collectors, and so on.

And, you know, when we see, oftentimes, the people just stand there, and they cry.

They don't even know what to say. Because they may have worked 50 or 60 years, trying to find some work of art that's been missing. And they haven't had leads. And to -- to see us standing there, with something that belongs to them.

Not asking for anything in return. Don't charge anybody for doing it. Because we feel like everybody who went through World War II already paid enough.

Words -- words just fail. It's just pure gratitude.

GLENN: I can't wait for you to tell this new story.

Tell me the story of the care takers. The care takers of --

ROBERT: Well, it's a story that found me, just as Monuments did.

I have written about -- in the Monuments Men, I told the story of two Monuments Officers who were killed in combat, one British soldier and one American, Walter Huchthausen. And Huchthausen was killed. He once did a last casualty at war. He was killed in the last month of World War II, and is buried in the American benevolence, American cemetery, in Margraten in the Netherlands. I knew that story, and I had made mention of a young girl who was harbored in September '45, asking for the address of his mother, wanting to write her and tell her, that she walked 5 miles, several times a week, from her house to the American military cemetery. It was called then. To put flowers on his grave. Because her family knew them. And they were grief-stricken to know that they were killed.

And I knew that story too. I mentioned that. And then in 2015, the nephew of Huchthausen wrote me and included a photograph of this elderly lady with this crown of white hair. And he said, here's a photo with Frida, and I couldn't place who this was.

I had no idea who it was. And I realized, my God, this is that 19-year-old girl that is still alive. So I flew to England. She married a British soldier after the war. And I went to meet with her. She started showing me photographs of when the American -- Americans liberated her area of the Netherlands.

And all these American soldiers that they knew.

And she said, you know about the American military cemetery.

She said, have you been there?

And I said yes. And she said, so you know about the great adoption program?

And I said, what? She said, the great adoption program.

I said, I have no idea what you're talking about. So I started doing some research on this. And learned, at the end of World War II, our largest World War II cemetery in Europe, was not Normandy. It was the Netherlands American cemetery, where 17,800 boys and a few women buried at this cemetery by May 1946.

And by that time, every single grave had a Dutch person, a local person, who volunteered to be an adaptor of that brave.

Go out there on the first death date of the soldier, Veterans Day, Memorial Day.

And if they had the contact information for the next of kin, send them a photograph of the grave.
And a letter.

Because they realized, it was okay to adopt the bodies of dead boys.

But where the real need was, was to reach across the ocean, into the American homes and try to assuage the grief of the families.

And they knew some of these boys. And I found it the most heartwarming, uplifting, and certainly unique conclusion to a World War II story that I think has been written.

GLENN: So are they still some of them still doing this?

ROBERT: Not some. In fact, there were about -- in 1940, 748.

American families were given the choice to have their loved ones sent home, or to be left overseas in a military cemetery.

The Army had no idea, how many -- how many families would want their boys sent home, and as a consequence, they couldn't tell how many cemeteries they would need.

We thought almost everybody would want to have the families sent home. But it turned out not to be the case. So about 61 percent came home. About 39 percent stayed in Europe, which was about the numbers from World War I.

Although, the numbers in this area, in the Netherlands were higher.

The -- the graves that are there now.

There are 10,000 boys there. And four women.

8300 graves. 1700 names on the walls of the missing.

Every one of them has an adaptor for 80 years.

All those graves have been adopted, without interruption.

There's a waiting list of almost a thousand people in the Netherlands, to become a doctor. This is a -- not just a --

GLENN: This is --

JASON: A privilege. Because they take their kids out to the cemetery. They turn the cemetery into a classroom. And you go out there. And, yes, there's a somber element. They're instilling in their kids, you're able to think, and say what you want to. Because of the freedom that was given to you, by this American girl or boy. And we don't do that in our country anymore.

GLENN: So this is one of the most incredible stories that I've -- I've ever heard.

And I'm shocked that the world doesn't know this!

Is -- have you -- is there anything like this, anywhere else in the world?

JASON: No. We couldn't even find a comp of any nature.

There are -- that is not to say, the people in Normandy area, don't care about Normandy and other cemeteries. They do, of course. As do the Belgians in other cemeteries.

But there's no place that created an organic great adoption program, during the war, in January 1945!

These people in this area of the Netherlands were so grateful, having been neutral in World War I.

And having not lost their freedom for 100 years!

And they didn't like it!

And when the Americans liberated them in September 44. I'll never forget this woman Freda. This elderly woman I met, looked at me, the first time I interviewed her. I knew her for eight years. The last eight years of her life.

I delivered a eulogy two summers ago. She looked at me, there were the eyes of the 19-year-old. And she said, when I saw that first tank over the hill and I realized, we were saved.

I looked at my dad, and I said, Papi, these American boys come all the way across the ocean to say this. And there were tears in her eyes.

Because they didn't -- they couldn't imagine how we could have moved that equipment across -- across the ocean.

And why we would have cared so much.

So there isn't anything like it.

But January 45, these people in this little town of Margraten.

A mile from the cemetery, organized a meeting of the town leaders. The town who got 1200 people.

And they were trying to find an answer to the question: How do you thank your liberators, when they're no longer alive to thank? And they came up with this idea of this great adoption program, and it's a story that I tell, following the lives of about 12 different American combat soldiers.

Bomber recipients.

Tankers.

Because we don't know that story.

We don't what knows to an American story, when they're killed on the field of battle.

Because it's depressing.

We move on to the next scene in a movie.

Well, I want people to know, you started your program with freedom is not free.

It's ugly.

Let's talk about that. Let's talk about what the cost is.

Let's talk about the stripping line that the body goes through, and the removal of dog tags, one being put in the mouth, if there's still a head. And the other being nailed to the cross, because they don't have time to stencil the names on yet.

Let's talk about that, and let people know, it's not just a Marvel movie. Or a gang war.

This is real. This is painful. And, of course, at the end of the war, when we Americans declare victory, and move on with our lives, there's millions of family members in the United States, whose lives will never be the same.

So it is -- it's still happening today. It's still happening today.

GLENN: The name -- the name of the book is Remember Us.

And take us -- I mean, because that's really kind of the -- the -- the beauty of it.

Take us through the rest of the book, just briefly.

It starts with what?

ROBERT: Well, I follow -- I began what a nice life was in the Netherlands. Until May 10, 1940.

And the Netherlands does not get much attention from World War II, and yet everybody has heard of Battle of the Bulge. And Battle -- those are all within 50 miles of what we're talking about.

They happened around there. Of course, World War II, in western Europe, begins right here in this area. Because the German tanks roll across the border.

So I cover the life of these 12 different Americans. I interviewed all their family members. Some make it through the war. Some don't.

You read the book, you realize who makes it, who doesn't. But their lives converge around this area of the Netherlands. And when post-world War II stories end, with the war being over, remember us kicks into a transcendent moment when the Dutch come up with this idea of this great adoption program. The Americans refuse to provide the names and addresses of the next of kin.

So they're foiled with trying to achieve their ultimate objective. Which is to try to contact all the American families.

And frustrated, there was -- one of the key figures of the book.

A woman who is the mother of 12 children.

Who takes it upon herself. She's a woman of action.

She writes president Truman. And pleads for him to get involved.

When that doesn't work. She gets on the first airplane, she's ever flown on. She leaves her kids behind.

She flies to New York. Lands in LaGuardia Field.

She goes to Washington, and meets the members of Congress. Including a young guy from Texas, named Lyndon Johnson.

Who says, young lady, you need to go to Texas. Because there are so many military bases there.

She flies to our hometown. And lands in Lovefield.

In June of 1946. And is met by two family members. And for five weeks, she lives with American families, that lost somebody during a war.

And to each of them she says, leave your boys with us. When the election comes.

We will watch over them, like our own forever.

And they have done that. Now, today, these 10,000 Dutch doctors only have contact information for 20 percent of the American families.

They couldn't ever get the others.

GLENN: You're kidding me. Where is the list? Do you have a list?

ROBERT: Yeah. The Monuments Men and Women Foundation entered into a joint venture with the Dutch Foundation for Adopting Graves.

Not charging anybody for this. And we have created a website called foreverpromise.org.

And on that website is a list of all 10,000 men and women, more women that are buried at the cemetery, or whose names are on the walls missing.

And it's a searchable database. We're asking people to go and see. Do you have someone you know, or a relative, who is buried there.

And if so, we have a short questionnaire. What's your relationship? Are you aware of this great adoption program? Are you in contact with your adopter? Would you like to be? Would you allow us to share your contact information?

I connected a lady from Richmond, Texas. Saturday night. To her -- to this young Tammy, that's the adopter of her brother.

She's 93 years old.

She was in tears. At the thought when she leaves this world, there will be someone there to watch over her brother.

And that's what we're all about is this connecting.

GLENN: Rob, I have to tell you.

You've really done something with your life. I mean, I know you don't need me to say it.
But what a great job you have. And what a great service you have done for so many years.

Thank you so much.

Please, look this up.

The forever promise project.

You can find it at foreverpromise.org. Foreverpromise.org. Robert Edsel is the author's name. The book is Remember Us. It's a perfect read for this week.