I'm An American -- Guiseppe Bellanca

On December 15, 1940 Giuseppe Bellanca spoke with Ugo Carusi, Executive Assistant to the Attorney General, about life in America for newcomers. Bellanca reveals that Americans want immigrants to assimilate quickly. He says the conversion could cause the nation to miss out on major contributions, that could propel its status to the best in the world. The two men discuss totalitarian claims of democracy failing in the modern world. Bellanca suggests educating all Americans in democratic ideals. He praises American individuality and the rejection of a dictator. Bellanca warns man’s ingenuity is being used to destroy him. The program concludes with Bellanca vowing to defend democracy; so that no American child will run and hide at the sound of an airplane. Giuseppe Bellanca (b. Giuseppe Mario Bellanca) was born on March 19, 1886 in Sciacca, Italy. As a young boy, Bellanca was fascinated by aviation. He studied at the Royal Institute of Milan and earned a degree in engineering. In 1910, at the age of 25, Bellanca immigrated to America in hopes of finding opportunities in aviation. He built his first aircraft two years later in Brooklyn, New York. One of Bellanca’s early innovative designs became the standard for general aviation.The Italian designer taught himself and others how to fly at his aviation flying school on Long Island. He went on to build a variety of aircrafts that broke records for endurance and distance, as well as blaze the trail for international commercial air transportation.