Before Donald Trump there was a different Donald — the Duck. Oddly, these two Donalds have quite a bit in common. They’re both irascible and have memorable hair.
During WW II, Disney Studios was drafted for the war effort, putting out propaganda shorts to inspire Americans in the fight against the Nazis. Walt Disney, according to a BBC radio program, was happy to have his studio used in this way and contribute to the war effort. What’s interesting, though, is that it wasn’t Walt’s beloved Mickey taking up the starring role. He plays gentler roles, like a bomb shelter warden, while it falls to Donald to truly battle Hitler.
According to Disney expert Brian Sibley, “Mickey Mouse was very important to Disney. It was his lucky talisman. I don’t think he wanted him tarnished, really, with having him involved in propaganda.” He didn’t want his beloved Mickey associated with the kind of Nazi symbols replete in, for example, “Der Fuehrer’s Face,” a short about Donald living in Nazi Germany.
In the movie (available on YouTube), Donald works in an artillery factory, where he slowly goes mad from the constant barrage of Nazi propaganda.
At the end, Donald Duck wakes up from his nightmare, relieved at being alive in a Nazi-free America. Unfortunately for us, the neo-Nazi fringe in America is emboldened. Now it’s the task of the other Donald to wake us up from our nightmare and ensure that Nazi propaganda never becomes the norm in the country that fought a war to rid the world of it.
Shana Goldberg may be reached at [email protected]
Copyright © 2017 by the Intermountain Jewish News
