Swedes in America

this is the first time a motion picture has been used to answer mail since I've been here in the United States I have received many letters from my friends in Sweden asking one thing tell us about the sweets in America here is for instance one that says I know that America is a country of many nationalities for the 2,000,000 Swedes there seemed to get along especially well why is that what's there in the life of the country that so appeals to the Swedish character well frankly I could not answer that but my own curiosity was aroused and being a Swede adds fatal so before I knew it I was off on a search to find the answer which took me to many different places I started in Radio City New York I came here first because these great modern towers stood as an international gathering place working together here were the representatives of many countries including those of Sweden I talked with the people in these shops with journalists and businessmen from Sweden I was given an assortment of answers down on the skating rink in the center of these soaring buildings I found a Swedish American skating star her name was Carolyn she had one sort of answer the love of sports she said that's what makes the two countries so much alike because that was true enough but it was also true that millions of people didn't feel at home in America just because they could skate and scheme when I visited the Swedish consul general he spoke of the sympathy for the rights of others at both people hip it was made very real to him by what he saw recently from his windows the Swedish American steamer trips home one of the few white ships left in the world today bringing those who had been imprisoned by war back to freedom here among the skyscrapers I found only a fragment of my answer well I knew that the Swedes had played an important part in the development of this country so from the modern world I went to the other extreme back into history to the American Swedish Museum of Philadelphia Uvas Museum I found a 400 year old record of one people's contribution to American life it started in 1638 when the stout ship Calmar a nickel sailed out of Gothenburg Harbor in some six months later touched the shores of the Delaware River those who came established to colony the very names of their villages it was an echo of the land of their birth fought christina fought new Gothenburg with them they brought their ways of living they brought the skills they had developed and their handicraft the Swedish influence spread until such men as John Martin and John Hansen became founders of the New Republic signers of the Declaration that created the United States of America and it was another Swede John Erickson who helped preserve these same United States as one country in the hall dedicated to him there are models of his many inventions the greatest of which he gave to America in a moment of crisis at the time of Lincoln Erickson brought to the Union fleet the revolving turret that became the historic cheese box on a raft the triumph of the little monitor helped turned the tide that ended the Civil War the principles of that weapon are still in use today but the room to which I was particularly drawn was the one devoted to Jenny Lind I know in a small way how warm a welcome the American people can extend to an artist Jenny limbs visit back in 1850 is still celebrated in books and on the screen I left that museum with feeling of pride in the achievements of my countrymen but no nearer the answer I had to come back from the history of what people had done to find out what they were doing now to understand the Swedes in America today one must know the country they live in and today it is a country at war my journey to prefer Philadelphia into the Middle West during that trip I found many people from all the countries in the world working as Americans toward one single end and among these were the Swedes I brought my question to Minneapolis a center of Swedish culture at the capital I met Swedes hi in the government of the state they spoke of the opportunity that all men have here to win positions of trust and responsibility and with it the right if they choose to retain the customs and the language they have brought with them in the great schools of the section the study of Swedish is part of the course my problem was not one that could be completely solved in a classroom but here and everywhere I went I found clues one significant clue was the very country of the Northwest through which I traveled a hundred years ago the great Swedish novelist villager Braemar described its charm he or she said with a sweet find his clear romantic lakes the plains of scone and the valleys of Norland Bremer's description probative prophecy the swedes came and made this country their own the story of the pioneers who built the towns and who had now lived their lives through was told by those of the neighbors whom I found still enjoying the comforts of their old age they too spoke of the freedom they enjoyed to preserve the traditional ways of their youth and this freedom holds true not only for the Swedes but for all the peoples from the many countries of the world who have made America their home to these freedoms there was a response the devotion to country I found an example of it at the Swenson farm that used to be worked by Charles Swenson and his five sons now three of them are gone into the fighting forces of their country the old folks were particularly proud of their son Raymond he recently won the order of the Purple Heart in the Battle of the Coral Sea when I arrived I was greeted by one of the two sons who are carrying on the work of Phi he told me that the Swenson place was no exception in all the country around the women as well as the men were doing more than just one job and from what I found doing just one job was much more than enough but it all pointed to the fact that the Swenson farm was not an isolated unit working by itself for itself along the work here was carried on for the good of a community that stretched from coast to coast I began to feel that my answer was taking definite shape I was certain of it when I visited Linstrom nearby though it doesn't look very different there is something special about Lindstrom 45 years ago the townspeople decided to set aside one day a week to clean house every Thursday the town turns out all of them to broom and scrub the streets they want even the sidewalks to reflect the fry they have in their little town it was a Thursday in midwinter when I arrived and they were clearing away the remnants of the last snowfall a local custom to be sure but clearly told the story of Community Action that in one way or another was part of everything I'd seen here was the larger answer into which all the other truths I discovered fitted like the pieces in a puzzle it set me to thinking of what I had been told by a friend a great man and a wise one Carl Sandburg has been hailed by Americans as one of the most profound writers of their country his biography of Abraham Lincoln stands as the truest picture yet given of that great American president Sandburg is a sweet and an American who has looked deep in the hearts of both countries cooperation he said one found it everywhere along the shores of the very lake on which he lived small groups of men came together to discuss their common problems and to work out ways of solving them for the common good these fishermen in their doors were not isolated and alone they were working cooperatively the work of each fishing dry nets packing and shipping was the work of all even though these men prided themselves on being strong individual ist's they work devotedly together for the community good as a pioneer country America has always been a place where neighbor helps neighbor that feeling for community is part of every frontier nation but it was the Swedes who helped to organize that spirit in the modern industrial world of today the co-operative idea has spread to every corner of the United States until the government itself has built such great projects as Boulder Dam and the TVA through them heat light power and water are brought to wider and wider communities under a cooperative system I have been faced with the question what was the basis of the deep kinship between Sweden and America Sandburg put the answer in two simple words it's the respect that both countries have for the right of the individual to be free from one there is more to all this than the material side there is a spiritual side and it reaches its highest expression at Christmastime a man's concerned with the well-being of his neighbor is but another way of saying goodwill on earth these hymns echo a common understanding but life can be good today and tomorrow still better you

Channel: US National Archives

Views: 69,885

Keywords: US National Archives, NARA

Id: FK6T4aaJoto

Length: 17min 17sec (1037 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 11 2015