In the first half of the 20th century, the rest of the world learned much of what it knew about America from motion pictures. The cameras of Hollywood captured the American spirit and shipped those images around the globe—our respect for liberty and self-reliance, our love for the underdog, our sentimental attachments to everything from our country to children, our generosity, and our sense of humor.
In these films were iconic actors who came to represent our country. Here, for example, is what actress Maureen O’Hara once said before Congress: “To the people of the world, John Wayne is not just an actor, and a very fine actor, John Wayne is the United States of America. He is what they believe it to be. He is what they hope it will be. And he is what they hope it always will be.” Other performers—Humphrey Bogart, Jimmy Stewart, Clark Gable, Elizabeth Taylor, Katharine Hepburn, and more—also seemed, both to their fellow citizens and to foreigners, quintessentially American.
