October 17, 2019

"This book happens at a moment, World War II, when it really was at the brink -- the Allies could have lost," says Bret Baier of his latest book, Three Days at the Brink: FDR's Daring Gamble to Win World War II. Baier, anchor and executive editor of Fox News Channel's Special Report and the network's chief political anchor, is a 1992 graduate of DePauw University. He appeared on WAGA-TV/Fox 5 in Atlanta this morning to preview the book, which will be published October 22 by William Morrow.

Baier says he focuses on an "overlooked moment" from November 1943. "We were losing in Europe, Hitler was on the march, things were not going great in the Pacific, and at this moment the leaders -- the big three, which is FDR, Churchill and Stalin -- designed to have this secret meeting in Tehran and they plan D-Day. And onbviously Operation Overlord, as it was known, became the moment that changed the dynamic."

The publisher will also offer a young reader's edition of the book. "I think sometimes history gets lost in our schools," Baier tells the program. "So we're doing a contest where we're going to give the big book and the young reader's edition to two schools' libraries in each state across the country."

It's the third book in Baier's "three days" series: the first entry was Three Days in January: Dwight Eisenhower's Final Mission; followed by Three Days in Moscow: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of the Soviet Empire. Baier also authored Special Heart: A Journey of Faith, Hope, Courage and Love. He received the 2017 Sol Taishoff Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism, the National Press Foundations highest honor for a broadcast journalist.

Access the clip here.

A 1992 graduate of DePauw, Baier was an English (composition) and political science double major and captained the Tiger golf team. He was among the first students to work in the then-new Center for Contemporary Media. While an undergradute Baier interned with Bernard Shaw at CNN and landed his first professional job at WJWJ-TV (PBS) in Beaufort, South Carolina. He also worked at WREX (NBC) in Rockford, Illinois, and WRAL (CBS) in Raleigh, North Carolina, before joining Fox in 1998. Before being named anchor of Special Report, he served as the network's national security correspondent and chief White House correspondent.

Baier returned to DePauw for Old Gold Weekend in 2013 and spoke as part of the Timothy and Sharon Ubben Lecture Series and received the University's Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award.

"DePauw is a big part of who I am, it's a big part of who I became, and I really like coming back here," he told the homecoming audience.

The talk is summarized here; video is embedded below.

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Bret Baier '92 Discusses His Upcoming Book, Three Days at the Brink: FDR's Daring Gamble to Win World War II - DePauw University