I'm An American -- Gaetono Salvemini

Recorded Sound | Digitized | RG Number: RG-91.0040

Overview

Description: On January 5, 1941 Gaetano Salvemini spoke with Henry Nichols, of the Boston Immigration and Naturalization Service, about the opportunities he’s found in America. Salvemini shares his journey to America. The college professor reveals access to information from the library as the biggest difference difference in European and American colleges. Traveling across the country without question, the freedom to print without censorship, and choosing the news he wants to listen to are a few of the reasons why he loves his adopted country. He suggests that all forms of government are imperfect because humans are imperfect. Salvemini speaks of feeling physical pain when he hears talk against democracy. He says he understands the immigrant who kisses American soil upon arrival. He says, “Liberty is like air. Only when gone do others appreciate it.” Nichols asks the historian why it took him a decade to make America his home, to which he replies, he could not take an oath half heartedly. Salvemini explains his allegiance to America and defends his continued love for Italy. The program ends with the professor saying he would never break his oath to the U.S. even if things improved in Italy.

Gaetano Salvemini was born on September 8, 1873 in Molfetta, Italy to a poor peasant family. While receiving his education at the Institute for Higher Studies in Florence, he became involved in the socialist movement. Salvemini saw the history of the Florentine Republic as one of class conflict. His 1899 book "Magnati e popolani nelle commune di Firenza 1280-1295" was considered the manifesto of the new Italian historiography. In 1908, an earthquake at Messina killed his entire family. Salvemini served in the Italian Parliament between 1919 and 1921 as a socialist. As the leading critic of fascist ruler Benito Mussolini, the 43-year-old politician was arrested and imprisoned in 1925. He immigrated to the US in 1930 and taught Italian history at Harvard University from 1933 to 1948. The prestigious institution considers Salvemini’s collaboration with exiled European professors during the anti-fascist movement as his most important work. Salvemini became a US citizen in 1940, but after the second World War he retired in his native country.
Date: Broadcast: 1941 January 05
Format: WAV

Physical Details

Language: English
Genre/Form: Radio broadcasts.

Rights & Restrictions

Conditions on Access: This archival media can only be accessed in a Museum reading room or other on-campus viewing stations.
Copyright: NBC Universal
Conditions on Use: Contact NBC Universal at www.nbcuniarchives.com for permission to duplicate and use this film or sound recording.

Keywords & Subjects

Topical Term: Academic libraries--Europe. Academic libraries--United States. College teachers--United States. Democracy--United States. Freedom of information--United States. Freedom of the press--United States. Immigrants--Interviews. Immigrants--United States. Intellectual freedom--United States. Italian Americans. Men--Personal narratives. National characteristics, American.
Geographic Name: Italy. United States.
Personal Name: Salvemini, Gaetano, 1873-1957. Nichols, Henry.
Corporate Name: National Broadcasting Company United States. Immigration and Naturalization Service

Administrative Notes

Legal Status: In process
Recorded Sound Provenance: The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum purchased digital copies of these sound recordings from the Library of Congress in March 2018.
Recorded Sound Notes: More information about Gaetano Salvemini:
https://www.transatlanticperspectives.org/entry.php?rec=151
https://ces.fas.harvard.edu/study-groups/salvemini-colloquium-in-italian-history-and-culture
https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/historians-european-biographies/gaetano-salvemini
http://spartacus-educational.com/USAsalvemini.htm

More information about I’M AN AMERICAN:
https://www.uscis.gov/history-and-genealogy/our-history/historians-mailbox/im-american
https://www.npr.org/2017/10/16/557338355/im-an-american-radio-show-promoted-inclusion-before-world-war-ii
Recorded Sound Source: Library of Congress - Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division (MBRS)

Record last modified:: 2024-02-21 07:30:12
This page:: http://collections.ushmm.org/search/bookmarks/irn620816

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I’M AN AMERICAN premiered in 1940 on the eve of WWII. The NBC radio broadcast was spearheaded by the Immigration and Naturalization Service of the U.S. Department of Labor to foster a “deeper consciousness of the privileges and responsibilities of citizenship and more tolerance for fellow american of all birthplaces”. The weekly program featured distinguished foreign-born citizens discussing their naturalization process, the meaning of “democracy” and reminding all Americans of the value/privilege of U.S. citizenship. Sound recordings of I’M AN AMERICAN are available from the NBC Radio Collection in the Library of Congress.

Date: 1940-1944

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I'm An American -- Gaetono Salvemini

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