Overview
- Description
- On December 21, 1941 Dr. Pitirim Sorokin spoke with Henry Nichols, of the Boston Immigration and Naturalization Service, about the responsibilities of being an American citizen. The author of "Crisis of Our Age" declares Americans were unaware of how close they were to an international Holocaust until the news broke today. He describes the American spirit as the ability to confront crisis without fear or emotional loyalty. Dr. Sorokin says the country has changed in two weeks from a peaceful nation extending a helping hand to one preparing for war. He shares how he emigrated from Russia and started his career in America. The professor declares mankind is in a state of emergency. He believes this is true because Hitler is a threat to democracy, the dignity of man and sacredness of life. Dr. Sorokin suggests heroic action as the way to help Europe and avoid the same situation on American soil. He also suggests ways in which America can become invincible. The professor ends the segment by declaring duty and sacrifice to the individual makes everyone's life full and worth living. Dr. Sorokin adds nations that have used this philosophy were successful at getting through difficult times while others failed.
Pitirim Sorokin (b. Pitirim Alexandrovich Sorokin) was born on January 21, 1889 in Turya, Russia. When Sorokin was three-years-old, his mother passed and his family split up. He and his brother worked as itinerant artisans wandering the Komi homelands. When Sorokin was 14, he joined an organized resistance against the Czar. Because of his quick mind and love of ideas, the aspiring sociologist won a series of competitive scholarships that eventually paid for his college education. Dr. Sorokin earned his Magistrant of Criminal Law and PhD degrees by 1922. He had also been jailed six times for political defiance. Nevertheless, he advanced politically and academically by founding the first sociology department at the University of St. Petersburg. Dr. Sorokin was also a secretary in the post-Czarist government. In 1924, he immigrated to America and found employment at the University of Minnesota. He wrote six books in six years, with four of them defining the field of sociology at the time. Dr. Sorokin went on to become the chair of Harvard’s first Department of Sociology, serving for three decades. - Date
-
Broadcast:
1941 December 21
- 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 Dr. Pitirim Sorokin:
http://www.asanet.org/pitirim-aleksandrovich-sorokin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitirim_Sorokin
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: RWC 5385
- Record last modified:
- 2024-02-21 07:27:12
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn621024
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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 -- Walter Huston
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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 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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