Walt Disney vs. the Nazi Scourge

In 1941, FDR asked Walt Disney to take some of his artists on a goodwill tour of South America in an attempt to stem the rising tide of Nazi sympathies in the region.

The mission happened before the United States entered the war, so Disney’s efforts were pretty much forgotten until the release of Walt & El Grupo, a new documentary that finally tells this lost tale of WWII. You can buy the DVD at Amazon. It’s also available for rental or streaming at Netflix.

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3 Comments

  1. Michael says:
    December 14, 2010 at 1:09 am

    The father of a close friend of mine in high school was a FBI agent sent to Brazil in mid– 1941 on a team to ferret out Nazis. His cover was that of an American tire salesman. He and his teammates rounded up several dozen operatives there. As an aside, Disney and Ray Kroc, the McDonald’s entreprenuer, met as teenagers during training to become ambulance drivers in France before the US entered WWI in 1917.

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  2. Harry Kuheim says:
    December 17, 2010 at 12:51 am

    There is a great book about Disney’s life and career at your Public Library.

    Reply
  3. Jeff says:
    April 24, 2013 at 1:05 pm

    Read “The Dark Prince of Hollywood.” I am pretty sure that Mr Disney was big into “America First,” and was a Nazi sympathizer. He doesn’t exactly have the biggest approval rating amongst my fellow jewish brethern. The park is the cat’s pajammas though…

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