{"product_id":"2940170822058","title":"American Treasures: The Secret Efforts to Save the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Gettysburg Address","description":"On December 26, 1941, Secret Service Agent Harry E. Neal stood on a platform at Washington's Union Station, watching a train chug off into the dark and feeling at once relieved and inexorably anxious. These were dire times: As Hitler's armies plowed across Europe, seizing or destroying the Continent's historic artifacts at will, Japan bristled to the East. The Axis was rapidly closing in.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo FDR set about hiding the country's valuables. On the train speeding away from Neal sat four plain-wrapped cases containing the documentary history of American democracy: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Gettysburg Address, and more, guarded by a battery of agents and bound for safekeeping in the nation's most impenetrable hiding place.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eAmerican Treasures\u003c\/i\u003e charts the little-known journeys of these American crown jewels. From the risky and audacious adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 to our modern Fourth of July celebrations, \u003ci\u003eAmerican Treasures\u003c\/i\u003e shows how the ideas captured in these documents underscore the nation's strengths and hopes, and embody its fundamental values of liberty and equality.","brand":"Tantor Audio","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47161550536944,"sku":"2940170822058","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940170822058_p0.jpg?v=1763718510","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940170822058","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}