Captain America and the nation's conscience

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0:29This is America in Pursuit, a limited-run series from NPR and ThruLine. I'm Randa Abdel-Fattah. Each week, we bring you stories about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the U.S. that began 250 years ago. Over the past few months, we've been exploring how people have pushed and fought to make the promises laid out in the Declaration of Independence come true. And in so doing, they've defined and redefined what it means to be American. And what better example for understanding the identity of the nation than an American superhero?

1:09We shall call you Captain America. Captain America. Because of all the heroes, Captain America has always been a mirror into what it means to be American. One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. First introduced to comic readers in 1941 on the eve of the United States' entry into World War II, Captain America was depicted as a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, white super soldier. To this day, his superhero costume is red, white, and blue, with a giant white star on his chest. He's pretty much wearing the American flag. And his only superhuman power is his strength. He carries no weapon, only a shield.

1:59And he fights only when he must. He's not someone who has always known power. So he is someone who knows what it is like to be the one getting sand kicked in their face. He's on the side of the little guy. Time for Captain America to go to work. Bam! Many of us know Captain America from the Marvel movies he's in. But let's face it, out of all the superheroes, he doesn't have the coolest superpower. He can't fly or shoot webs or turn invisible. But what he does have going for him, aside from his super strength, are his morals. He's a character that all the other characters in Marvel look up to when they don't know what's the right thing to do.

2:47The right thing to do. I came here to save blood, not to shed it. In some ways, Captain America is someone many of us might want to be or might want to believe in. Kind of like America itself. We want to live in a place that stands up to bullies, that knows right from wrong and calls out injustice. You are never going to be Superman unless you suddenly find a lot of money from somewhere. You are never going to be Batman. But there's always that chance, isn't there, that you could one day be Captain America. Justice will always triumph.

3:29You, me, any one of us. We could be the good guy doing the right thing. But what happens when what's right isn't so clear? How does a comic book hero designed to represent America's values survive in a changing world? On today's episode, ThruLine producer Devin Katayama brings us the story of what happened to Captain America after World War II, and what his identity crisis tells us about what it means to be an American today. That's coming up after a quick break.

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5:28Like all superheroes, Captain America has an origin story. And his goes like this. The scrawny guy named Steve Rogers is too weak to volunteer for the army. But he's got grit. So when the U.S. government asks him to be part of an experiment, he doesn't hesitate. Don't be afraid, son. You're about to become one of America's saviors. They inject him with a serum to give him super strength. And... There! It is done! We shall call you Captain America. During World War II, Captain America fought Nazi saboteurs and Japanese soldiers. Come on out, you skunk. He epitomized American power and identity, wearing a red, white, and blue costume that looked like a reimagined American flag.

6:22Justice will always triumph. But after World War II, when the U.S. emerged as a global superpower, Captain America didn't have a clear enemy. Captain America, without a big war that the country is involved in, almost becomes directionless. This is Danny Fingeroth, who wrote the book A Marvelous Life, The Amazing Story of Stan Lee. Stan Lee is one of the most well-known comic book writers in history. But at this time, he struggled to find an enemy worthy enough for Captain America, and Cap disappeared from comic books in the 1950s. But then, 10 years later, in 1964, Stan Lee brings Captain America back.

7:06Stan somehow made this appearance of Captain America the most important event of my life. I bought three copies. That's right, I invested 36 cents. But all of a sudden, this American war hero was in the middle of the civil rights movement, the women's rights movement. A war in Vietnam was going on. So where does Captain America fit into all this? Cap became this like Hamlet kind of character, just always with his hands stapled to his forehead in grief and anguish. I don't belong in this age, in this year, no place for me. By the late 60s, Marvel was also printing letters from fans inside the comic books, where they would debate who Captain America should be and what he should stand for.

7:57His roots belong in the past, not now. No one but a dreamer can think the world is safe and peaceful. It became known as the patriotism-centered controversy. Captain America is not a superhero. He's a super American. Stan saw things were changing, and he also saw that his audience was changing. So it was a big problem for somebody in entertainment like that. You know, if you take a stand on an issue, you potentially lose half your audience. So Stan Lee tried to play it safe. But there was a lot of pressure for Captain America to be something more than a relic of World War II, which is what happened when the next generation of Captain America writers took over.

8:40I always wanted a secret room like Batman had, you know, where you'd go through the grandfather clock and go into the cave or whatever. This is comic book writer Steve Englehart. I met up with him at his home in Oakland, California. And so, we built this. It's a bookcase that's a secret door. Englehart wrote Captain America comics for Marvel in the 1970s, after becoming a conscientious objector during the war in Vietnam. So here's this anti-war writer in charge of writing for a war hero. And Englehart begins to wonder if maybe where the writers perform went wrong, was trying to equate Captain America with the American government or military.

9:23Instead, Steve thought, What if he stood for American ideals? The stuff that transcends whatever America's doing at this particular time. And then? They caught the Watergate burglars breaking into the Watergate Hotel to burgle the Democrats. The incident raises a number of serious questions about the credibility of politicians and political groups. Englehart was hooked on this story, as was most of America, and he asked himself. If I were Captain America, what would I do? The Secret Empire. Steve writes a story that parodies the scandal. So I recast stuff. Nixon's right-hand man was Haldeman, who had been an advertising guy.

10:10And I came up with a character called Harderman, who was an advertising guy. And Nixon's re-election committee was the committee to re-elect the president, which was known as Creep. And I came up with the committee to regain America's principles, which is known as Crap. And he doesn't say it explicitly in the comic, but the head of the secret empire is basically Richard Nixon. Nobody is in doubt, really, who that's supposed to be. Captain America one day discovered that there were ads being run by the Committee to Regain America's Principles saying that Captain America was a vigilante, not to be trusted.

10:52Then Captain America got thrown in jail. But he breaks out of jail and chases the head of the secret empire. Into the White House, into the Oval Office. All right, mister, into the line. It appears that my gamble has finally failed. Captain America wins, of course, but he's also broken. So to have that guy find out that the president was a crook, I saw the possibilities of that guy being disillusioned. And Steve Rogers stops being Captain America and instead becomes a superhero called Nomad. He doesn't want to stand for the America that he just saw. Less than a year later, Steve Rogers went back to being Captain America.

11:40He could stand for ideals even if the president was a crook. But Steve Englehart had forever changed the idea of what patriotism could mean to Captain America. That he could love his country and also not love what his government was doing. And that mutating identity would become the constant as new writers came in. The iterations that followed have often been a response to the moment they're born in. up until the present moment. Cap's been more militant. He fought terrorism after 9-11. Then he was critical of Guantanamo Bay. There have been black Captain Americas, a native Captain America. In the latest Captain America movie, Cap teams up with a superhero originally named Sabra, an agent for Israel's National Intelligence Agency, Mossad.

12:27After getting backlash, the studio decided to call her Ruth and had her work instead for the United States. These debates about what Captain America should stand for, who he should fight for, and what is right or wrong, they're all part of the conversation we continue to have about who we are and who we want to be.

12:50They all ask us, if we were Captain America, what would we do?

13:17That's it for this week's show. If you want to hear the full-length episode all about the origins and many transformations of Captain America, check out the full-length episode, Does America Need a Hero? And join us next week for a look into how America got sold on the prosperity gospel. God says it. I can have it. I believe it. That settles it. The story of what happens when religion, capitalism, and television collide. That's next week. Don't miss it. This episode was produced by Kiana Moghadam and edited by Christina Kim and Julia Redpath with help from the ThruLine production team. Music by Ramtin Adablui and his band, Drop Electric.

14:01Special thanks to Julie Kane, Irene Noguchi, Beth Donovan, Casey Miner, and Lindsay McKenna. I'm Randa Abdel Fattah. Thanks for listening.

14:29This message comes from Mint Mobile. If you're tired of spending hundreds on big wireless bills, bogus fees, and free perks, Mint Mobile is for you. Shop plans at mintmobile.com slash switch. Taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details. This message comes from Grainger. For the ones who get it done, Grainger offers the professional-grade products you need to get the job done. with fast delivery and access to technical product experts ready to help you meet any challenge. Call, click Grainger.com, or just stop by. This message comes from Takeoff by IXL, the K-5 core math curriculum that continuously differentiates learning.

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