Walt Disney Animation With United States History - Essay Sample

Introduction

Regardless of the triumph of Disney's first full-length film produced in 1937, he almost closed down his studio upon the rise of other rival animators in 1930s and the outbreak the war in Europe. Notably, the rival animator's strike and the war forced Disney's Company to almost plunge into bankruptcy in 1941. However, the plight of his studio was prevented by the entrance of the United States in the World War II as well as the threat that surfaced following the spread of German Nazism. This paper provides a discussion regarding how Walt Disney and President Franklin D. Roosevelt collaborated. It explores how political agendas can be successfully driven by cultural figures rather than engaging military or political strategies upon domestic and foreign matters. Notably, the exploration of Disney roles in the south and his application of propaganda films draw the collaboration of Disney, and the accomplishment of the United States political plans during the tenure of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

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Walt Disney was famous pioneer of cartoons and animated films was born on December 5, 1901, in Hermosa, Illinois. His animations reached out to every household in the United States. He was a renowned America film icon product industry in the 20th century after he collaborated with his brother Roy to co- found Walt Disney Productions (Baxter, 2014). Some of his popular films include Silly Symphonies, Flowers and Trees, The Three Little Pigs, Snow White, and the Seven Dwarfs. His animation greatly impacted the lives of some people in the United States and the World as well. He was able to change of many because of his real nature and attributes, and thus his name did not varnish several years after his death in 1966 (Baxter, 2014). Despite the great work done by Disney, effort has been made to highlight the global and domestic contribution he made through his film studio (Niola et al. 2010). Disney becomes even more popular following his contributions in the World War II. Disney did more than help to the United States during the war through his works of animation. By the time World War II began, Disney was serving as South America`s ambassador in the United States. This is when the government was struggling to curtail spread of Nazism in the Western Hemisphere.

The United States remained neutral in World War II in 1940. As such, Disney opted to engaging the military to attend to foreign affairs. Disney later sought permission from President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his administration to utilize his animation talents and creativity, in a bid to achieve political objectives in South and North America. The permission was granted by the constitution of benevolence an was allowed to operate in Chile, Brazil, and Argentina. Due to the fact the real nature and the attributes of Disney made many believe in his animations, he used this advantage to help the United States government to utilize his ability to establish the anti-Nazi propaganda through animations (Baxter, 2014). On the focus of the political objectives and involvement of Disney, government of the United States was able to address international matters through Disney's talents and creativity.

According to Baxter (2014), the United States took longer to showcase their position in America as far as World War II was concerned. It is through Disney's unwavering support to the United States government that he was able to explain his position in the war. Conversely, Disney was able to revive the Production Company's financial status, and thus it surpassed the obvious threat of bankruptcy (Culbert, 1990). Though Disney's contribution plays a great role to the United States in the war, the contribution was minimal as the attributed was directed to 1200 military insignia designs. However, despite the visibly minimum contribution, Disney was awarded bonds worth $50 million by the Treasury Department. The collaboration of Disney and President Franklin Roosevelt's administration, Disney's creativity and talents helped to thicken and defend the policy of Good Neighbor in South America, as well as the endowment of both financial and physical support that was needed by the United States to be strong during the World War II. The Good Will Policy was introduced by President Franklin Roosevelt during his first inauguration speech in 1933 (Baxter, 2014). Because the United States was eager to influence Latin America and avoid military intervention and the war as well, it has to use cultural figures rather than engaging military or political strategies.

As Baxter (2014) writes, a small German population had already existed in Latin America as early as the Cortes and Magellan triumphs. The pollution increased rapidly in 1848 following the failure of open-minded transformations before the unification of Germany. While in Latin America, Germans remained stronger and united because they were bound with their strong value bestowed upon cultural instructions in their homeland. Lutheran German valued their culture and endorsed Germany's success or failure. Though Latin America could not fully assimilate the Germans, they were still considered the favorite immigrants by the Latin Americans. In the view of Baxter (2014), the unity and the endorsement of the culture by the Germans in South America were upheld by their government who consistently praised them for being true to their culture. In 1933 the Germans formed a Nazi party a move that enabled them to occupy an in-between space.

However, they still considered maintaining a friendly relationship with their Latin American neighbors, customers, and political leaders. At the same time, a minor Nazi organization were also spreading throughout the Latin American countries (Culbert, 1990). The German Protestant Church enhanced the acceptance of the Nazism. Again, in line with the Nazi ideology, the party officials began to circulate publications that contained speeches and images of Hitler, various Nazi official, and news of Germany making such as cars, trucks and plane models. The spread of Nazism was feared especially by President Roosevelt when he analyzed the growth of the party in Europe. The president considered Nazism as both political and economic threat and thus resolved to the establishment of a strong bond between North and South America. Roosevelt deemed this the most effective approach to inhibit the spread of Nazism in Latin America and the American Home front (Culbert, 1990).

In the 1930s, there was high tension between the Americas, and the United States needed to keep alive her influence on Latin America (Baxter, 2014). However, the United States decided to use a strategy that didn't involve military intervention. Therefore, the newly elected President Franklin Roosevelt on his first inauguration on March 4, 1933, pioneered the Good Neighbor Policy. Even though the United States resolved to a good relationship with bordering countries, the expanding conflicts in Europe still posed threats as far as Latin American support was concerned. Since the United States didn't want to engage in military intervention, he upheld its influence on Latin America through Pan-Americanism; where he supported strong local leaders, give pieces of training to national guards as well as motivating Latin America both economically and culturally. The Pan-Americanism paralyzed several of the United States' operations in many countries. In 1939, World's Fair in New York was established to inhibit looming war following the spread of Nazism in Europe and Latin America. Many countries were invited to display their countries and culture with the primary intention to endorse peace and interdependence between nations. President Roosevelt appointed Nelson Rockefeller as the coordinator of Inter-American affairs. However, Rockefeller efforts to run a series of cooperation programs as well as distributing propaganda in Latin America was highly condemned. John Hay Whitney, the head of the Motion Picture Division of the CIAA then suggested the engagement of films to convince the Latin Americans to embrace Pan-Americanism (Baxter, 2014).

Upon the failure of propaganda campaigns controlled by political leaders, Roosevelt and his government, re- strategize their good neighbor policy and embraced Whitney's efforts to engage the film industry to solidify US- Latin American relationship. Days after Disney won Academy Awards; Nelson Rockefeller contacted him. He asked Disney to head to Latin America in a 'goodwill' mission (Baxter, 2014). It is the time when Disney's Production Company was almost collapsing. He released his first two films that raised some good amount to him.

However, it reached a point where he couldn't raise enough money to pay his workers. He sought loans from banks which refuted his request claiming that the films could be propaganda and that he couldn't raise the loan. However, the government saw the potential in Disney's films and decided to raise funds for him; the government fully sponsored the traveling and production cost of Disney and his animation team (Culbert, 1990). In 1941, Disney and his team set off for Latin America with great interest on people and politics of Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. During the tour the Latin American countries, they met with locals, political leaders, and school children as well as cultural artists (Baxter, 2014). The trip concluded with last stop Chile where they collected the previous shots and began to compile constructs to make a film. They created Saludos Amigos and Good friends which was completed later in 1942. The War in Europe influenced Disney to have a new approach to making his movies and resolved to war propaganda (Culbert, 1990). Disney's studio was called to action after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

He was accorded security from troops of soldiers. Apart from the military, Disney also produced films for other governmental organization such as the Treasury, the Agriculture Department, etc. He continued to make a video about the cultures of Latin America. According to Rockefeller, the films were able to convince a large number of Latin Americans. Going forward, Disney accepted more contract from several government organizations with one primary aim- to expand American influence on her people and Latin America.

Culbert (1990) reported that Disney was compelled by Henry Morgenthau Jr. and Jock Whitney to create a propaganda film that could directly attack the Nazis and their culture. This resulted in the release of the film Education for Death on June 9, 1942. Disney also produced other similar films such as Der Fuehrers Face and Chicken Little. However, the shorts did resonate well with his mission: to use propaganda to change the minds of many people. Finally, he was able to produce Victory through Air Power that greatly satisfied his plight. Finally, Disney made great achievement with his animation work abroad.

After he completed his victory in 1944, he continued to tour Latin America where he continued to create Latin-inspired films (Culbert, 1990). Apart from working with many government organizations, for instance, to facilitate tax collection, promote agricultural ideologies, to use war propaganda to bring peace, etc., he generally achieved a victory in uniting the people of America. Nelson Rockefeller in 1946 congratulated Disney's trip to South America and termed it as the most effective work in inter-American relations (Culbert, 1990).

Upon the Evaluation of the Co-relationship Between Walt Disney and President Franklin D.

Roosevelt and other political leaders, it is concluded that political agendas and objectives can be met via engaging cultural figures rather than using military and political intervention on domestic and foreign affairs. Disney used his animation creativity and talents to successfully persuade the American pu...