Overview
- Description
- On August 24, 1941 Walter Huston spoke with William H. Carmichael, District Director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, about democracy and how he captures the American spirit despite being foreign-born. Huston explains the difference between living in America and Canada. He explains why he came to the United States and why it was important to him to become naturalized. Huston offers suggestions on how America can defend democracy without guns. He also challenges Nazi ideals of democracy. He warns Americans not to take the privilege and responsibility of ruling themselves lightly. The actor declares let the abundance of America flow to everyone. The program concludes with Walter Huston stating, “Do we have to lose freedom to appreciate them?”
Walter Huston (b. Walter Thomas Houghston) was born on April 5, 1883 in Toronto, Canada. He attended the Shaw School of Acting where he developed a love for the theatre, but his passion left him without a steady paycheck. The struggling actor briefly turned to engineering. Huston eventually decided to pursue his artistic passions on Broadway in the mid-1920s. He went on to have an established prolific career that lasted more than two decades with dozens of movies. Huston was nominated for four Academy Awards and won one for Best Supporting Actor in "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre." The Huston family is held in high regard for their contributions to entertainment and art. The family is also credited with having three generations of Academy Award winners. - Date
-
Broadcast:
1941 August 24
- 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 Walter Huston:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0404158/
http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-walter-huston-19500408-20160406-snap-story.html
https://www.biography.com/people/walter-huston-40341
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/91273%7C153441/Walter-Huston/
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 6671
- Record last modified:
- 2024-02-21 07:27:12
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn621019
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- Request Copy
- See Rights and Restrictions
- Terms of Use
- This record is digitized but cannot be downloaded online.
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Also in "I'm An American" NBC radio broadcasts
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
I'm An American -- Anton Lang
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I'm An American -- Guy Lombardo
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I'm An American -- Ludwig Bemelmans
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I'm An American -- Hans Kindler
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I'm An American -- Luise Rainer
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I'm An American -- Charles Pergler
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I'm An American -- Gaetono Salvemini
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I'm An American -- Paul Muni
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I'm An American -- Béla Schick
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I'm An American -- Leopold Stokowski
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I'm An American -- Attilio Piccirilli
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I'm An American -- Igor Sikorsky
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I'm An American -- Louis Adamic
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I'm An American -- Konrad Bercovici
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I'm An American -- Emil Ludwig
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I'm An American -- Walter Damrosch
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I'm An American -- Guiseppe Bellanca
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I'm An American -- Thomas Mann
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I'm An American Day 1942 part 2
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I'm An American Day 1942 part 3
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I'm An American Day 1942 part 4
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I'm An American Day 1943 part 1
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I'm An American Day 1943 part 2
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I'm An American Day 1943 part 3
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I'm An American Day -- Christmas in Freedom
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I'm An American -- Robert Zuppke
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I'm An American -- Efrem Zimbalist
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I'm An American -- Daniel Tobin
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I'm An American -- Edith Kempthorne
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I'm An American -- Pitirim Sorokin
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I'm An American Day 1942 part 1
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I'm An American -- Vilhjálmur Stefánsson
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I'm An American -- César Saerchinger
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I'm An American -- Ferdinand Schumann-Heink
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I'm An American -- Frank Kingdon
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I'm An American -- Richard Waring
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I'm An American -- William Schlamm
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I'm An American -- Max Lerner
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I'm An American -- Fortune Gallo
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I'm An American -- Fred Perry
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I'm An American -- Raymond Loewy
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I'm An American Day 1941 -- The Dangerous Days
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I'm An American Day 1941 -- I'm An American Day
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I'm An American Day 1941 -- Fiorello LaGuardia
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I'm An American Day 1941 -- One Nation Indivisible
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I'm An American -- Henry Morgenthau Sr
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I'm An American -- Kurt Weill
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I'm An American -- Franz Werfel
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I'm An American -- Frank Capra
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I'm An American -- Xavier Cugat
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I'm An American -- Anton Carlson
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I'm An American -- Johannes Steele
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I'm An American -- Yolanda Mero-Irion
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I'm An American -- Jean Hersholt
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I'm An American -- Rabbi Stephen Wise
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I'm An American -- Gregory Zilboorg
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