I'm An American -- Johannes Steele

Recorded Sound | Digitized | RG Number: RG-91.0051

Overview

Description: On April 13, 1941 Johannes Steele spoke with Mr. Edward Shaughnessy, Deputy Commissioner of the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service, about democracy and his hope for a united Europe. Johannes Steele explains why he chose America as his adopted country, as well as the importance of democracy and small town newspapers. The columnist states the American public is the best informed because American journalists have the most rights in the world. Steels discusses his prediction of the war in his book, "The Second World War." He also references how European refugees, who have conflicts in their native land, are able to live as neighbors in America. The broadcaster shares what he thinks America can do to help create a new world after the war is over. The segment concludes with Steele announcing a new national holiday called "I’m an American Day" on Sunday May 18, 1941.

Johannes Steele (b. Herbert Stahl) was born in 1908 to an affluent German-Dutch landowner. He studied in Heidelberg, Oxford, Geneva and Berlin. He fled to the United States in the early 1930s after Hitler came to power. Steele worked as a journalist for the The Nation and as a foreign editor for New York Post. His book "The Second World War" predicted the war based on an assessment of Nazi intentions and historical parallels. Though the book predicted the war starting earlier than 1939, it became highly regarded after the start of the war -- proving him essentially correct. Because of his prescience, Steele became widely followed and hosted a popular radio commentary in the U.S. during the war. Not all of his predictions were accurate; he predicted the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor a week before it occurred on Dec. 7, 1941. Forty-six years later, on Oct. 16, 1987, Steele wrote in his financial column that the stock market would crash. Three days later it did. The newspaperman and radio commentator is also rumored to have had a covert relationship with Soviet intelligence during WWII. In 1965, Steele was convicted of 14 counts of stock fraud for selling 1.2 million dollars of unregistered shares of an Alaska corporation.
Date: Broadcast: 1941 April 13
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.

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 Johannes Steele:
https://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/03/obituaries/johannes-steel-80-commentator.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Steele

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)
File Number: Source Archive Number: RWB 6673

Record last modified:: 2024-02-21 07:27:09
This page:: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn620829

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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 -- Johannes Steele

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