I'm An American -- Thomas Mann

On June 8, 1940 Marshall E. Dimock, Second Assistant Secretary of Labor, interviewed Thomas Mann about his faith in America and democracy on the NBC radio broadcast. Mann reveals he is pleased with his decision to become a naturalized citizen and relieved to continue his life’s work in “peace and freedom”. The two men discuss strategies of enemies of democracy. The author suggests spreading ideals of democracy to the youth through technological propaganda. Dimock asks if certain freedoms should be restricted in America. Thomas Mann describes the current events in Europe as an evil force that “would mean the end of all personal freedom everywhere”. Paul Thomas Mann was born on June 6, 1875 in Lubeck, Germany. His father was a native of the city, however his mother was an emigrant of German and Brazilian descent. In 1891, 15-year-old Mann and his family moved to Munich after his father passed away. The future author and philosopher attended college in Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich and Technical University of Munich. He wrote his first collection of short stories in 1898 and won a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1929. In 1933, Thomas Mann relocated to Switzerland after the Nazis began a campaign against him. He continued to write and warn against fascism. The novelist was formally expatriated from Germany three years later. In 1940, Thomas Mann became an American citizen.