Cal Thomas - What would Walt do?

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Thursday, April 28th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. Here’s commentator Cal Thomas on politics and Mickey Mouse.

CAL THOMAS, COMMENTATOR: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the state’s Republican-majority legislature have revoked a special tax exemption and other privileges for Walt Disney World in Orlando. That after the company's current leaders and some of its employees protested another bill signed by the governor. It prohibits the teaching of gender issues to the state’s youngest students—kindergarten through third grade. Activists and the media have mislabeled it the “Don't Say Gay” bill, even though the word “gay” appears nowhere in the legislation.

Florida gave Walt Disney World tax breaks and extended other privileges nearly 50 years ago because lawmakers then believed it would create jobs, attract tourists, and produce sales tax revenue. And it has, with roaring success. The “most magical place on earth” brings the state $5 billion annually.

Until recently, the Disney organization stayed out of the culture wars and politics, preferring to maintain the vision founder Walt Disney had for what came to be known as “family entertainment.”

What would Walt Disney, who died in 1966, think of his company today?

In Neal Gabler's biography Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination, we learn that while Walt was sometimes opinionated, especially when it came to his anti-communism beliefs, he wanted to keep Disneyland, Disney World, and his animated characters free of politics and focused on fantasy and storytelling.

Gabler writes: "...Walt hadn't really been a conservative or a Republican or much of anything else for the better part of his adult life. ... He had voted for Roosevelt in 1936 ... and though he had supported Republican Wendell Willkie in 1940 ... he declined a request from the Willkie campaign for an endorsement, writing, '(A) long time ago I found out that I knew nothing whatsoever about the game of politics and since then I've preferred to keep silent about the entire matter rather than see my name attached to any statement that was not my own.'"

While researching the book, Gabler found a letter from someone lobbying Walt to make a film reel of flags with patriotic music. Walt responded, “I don't go in for billboard patriotism.” Joe Grant, who Gabler says accompanied Walt on several wartime visits to Washington, said of him, “He was very apolitical, believe me.”

But that wasn't entirely true. According to Gabler, Walt joined several conservatives, including Ginger Rogers, George Murphy (who later became a Republican senator from California) and Robert Montgomery “in forming a Hollywood Republican Committee to counteract the more liberal Progressive Citizens of America.”

Despite these instances, Walt Disney deliberately kept politics out of his films and theme parks. As Gabler writes, “In effect, despite his Republicanism, Walt Disney belonged to everyone.”

It’s too bad the current Disney leaders don’t follow that pattern. If they did, the company would not be suffering these entirely predictable consequences. If they don't reverse course, it could irreparably tarnish the Disney brand and what has long been considered a “magic kingdom.”

I’m Cal Thomas.

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