Walt Disney - Our American Culture Radio Address (March 1, 1941)

On March 1, 1941 Walt Disney was the guest on the radio program "Our American Way of Living." This Showcase aired during the intermission of the weekly Metropolitan Opera Broadcast. The host, Lucy Richardson Milligan, created this series featuring prominent Americans discussing different aspects of American ideals in hopes of combating the communist, socialist, and fascist leaning entering the culture at that time. This was mere months prior to America's involvement in World War II and the famous Walt Disney Studios labor strike.

Milligan was President of the National Council of Women and was an advocate for racial and gender equality, modesty in the public square, and was a volunteer in numerous pro-American groups. She also saw what was happening in the world and feared for the future of our country.

Being one of the few proactive women in the radio format, she organized these speeches to air on one of the most popular radio shows of the time so more people would hear them. This was a similar tactic the autocratic leftists had used in Europe and were using in the United States.

The theme of these speeches were that every American should educate him or her self on the Constitutional principles of freedom and be a shining light onto the world in the face of totalitarianism. Some of the notable guests included J. Edgar Hoover, Carl Sandburg, David Sarnoff, and Walt Disney.

Topics covered included "Out American Freedom," "The Soul of the American People," "Women in America," "Why I Became an American Citizen," "Our American Tomorrow," and others.

Walt Disney's speech is titled "Our American Culture."

By 1941, Walt's creations were already a fixture unique in American culture and he was regarded as a "common man's" artist making him the obvious choice to discuss this topic. It was an already well-known part of his story that he had come from the Midwest and hailed from humble means. This was believed to be one of the secrets of his success; he understood what culture was to the average American. Walt's animated cartoons also occupied a unique place in global culture having become ambassadors of American ideal into the world.

Although, often excerpted in text form, this audio has rarely been heard or quoted in its entirety since its initial 1941 airing. Walt Disney's words are just as relevant for us today in our time as they were to the world in his because they are principled. The faces and names may change, but the root issues never do.

This clip is presented in its complete unaltered for, Walt's flubs and all just as it originally aired in 1941.

Original airdate March 1, 1941

Posted for historical purposes. This channel is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.