Today is the anniversary of the 1901 birth of one of the most famous and culturally significant Americans in history: Walt Disney.
Walt Disney was a visionary and a pioneer in so many fields: animation, film-making, documentaries, technology, theme parks, themed merchandising, education, and more. He was an artist, an actor, a producer, and a company head. But above all, Walt Disney was quintessentially American and very proud of it. As he said, “Actually, if you could see close in my eyes, the American flag is waving in both of them, and up my spine is growing this red, white, and blue stripe.”
— Catherine Salgado (@CatSalgado32) December 5, 2024
Related: Walt Disney's Fascinating Political Journey
The Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge and its chairman Dwight Eisenhower presented Disney with its highest honor, the George Washington Medal of Honor, a medal whose other recipients include Herbert Hoover, astronaut John Glenn, and actor John Wayne. The Walt Disney Family Museum published Walt’s speech, during which Walt said he wasn’t sure why he got the award: “I’ve just been going along doing what sort of comes naturally to me. I might say, I’ve been selfishly indulging myself as an American…as a United States citizen…enjoying all privileges that one has as a citizen, and it’s only times like this that you sort of wake up to the fact that…what it really means to be a citizen.”
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He described how his father had been an “alien,” or an immigrant, who was proud of becoming a U.S. citizen. “He was a very good American. He was one that never failed to vote, although, frankly, he never voted on the right side. He was a blind Democrat. He was a dead socialist,” the conservative Walt explained. Still, Walt had learned to love America from his dad.
He quoted his father, Elias, “Walter, the welfare of the nation is dependent upon the welfare of the individual,” and “This country’s been good to me. It’s been good to my family… I believe in it.” Elias’s citizenship status was challenged when he was elderly and he went through the whole process of becoming a citizen because he wanted to be sure he would die a U.S. citizen.
“Why did he want to fight so hard to be a citizen? And we’re born into it. We’ve sort of grown up and take it all for granted,” Walt said. “But that was one little thing that I never forgot. Of course, it probably meant more to me than it does to anybody out here listening to me. But he was a great American, too. And so for my father, and for the wonderful group of people that I’ve had working with me all of these years…well, the most important part of me, and for myself…I want to express my extreme thanks and appreciation.”
Happy birthday, Walt Disney! pic.twitter.com/tnzOek89Hi
— Catherine Salgado (@CatSalgado32) December 5, 2024
Walt Disney ended his speech, “And actually, if you could see close in my eyes, the American flag is waving in both of them, and up my spine is growing this red, white and blue stripe.” And so today we remember Walt Disney, a great American patriot.
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