My Country 'Tis of Thee

This short, composed of stock footage in Technicolor, is a very brief narrative of the history of the USA from the landing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock in 1620 (note the Pilgrims stepping on the rock!) to the formal Japanese surrender at the end of World war II on the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay (2 September 1945). Its obvious purpose is patriotism: both to review what made America great and to note her victories in six wars. Actually what made the USA superior was abundant resources, hard work, geographic location, and immigration. This nationalistic film will come to no surprise to anyone who has watched Hollywood shorts and newsreels from the 1920s through the 1940s. The USA was flush with a victory in the most damaging war in history; thus the movie's ending message is that our land, sea, and air defenses stand ready to defend the nation against the latest threat (the USSR and China).

Famous historical American personages are duly mentioned, like George Washington, John Hancock, Betsy Ross, Abe Lincoln, Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and especially the winning generals of the Second World War. It should be noted that the intention of the film is NOT to list negatives, viz., that not all Americans were then getting all of society's benefits. Even so, one might add that, this being America, the situation has long since changed. Although haters of most things American will despise the film, it is nevertheless of historical significance.