Newt Gingrich says that “you cannot understand America without all the people who came here,” which is why the former House speaker is aiming to highlight the immigrants who have made the U.S. a “dramatically better country” with his latest documentary.
“I originally set out with the idea that while people are upset about illegal immigration, there’s actually a huge majority — about 73 percent — that favor legal immigration,” the Georgia Republican said of “Journey to America.”
A 2023 Gallup poll found that 68 percent of Americans surveyed viewed legal immigration as a “good thing” for the country.
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The documentary produced and narrated by him and wife Callista Gingrich, which premieres Tuesday on PBS at 10 p.m., features the stories of “nine individuals from diverse backgrounds who pursued the American dream and contributed to the fabric of our nation.”
“In a way, all of us have some ties to immigration in our own background. And so we wanted to take some human stories and show you people who had come to America legally, but who, in the process, had made us a dramatically better country,” Gingrich, 81, said.
Some of those stories include Hedy Lamarr, the Austrian-born actor who, along with being an accomplished film star, helped invent a groundbreaking radio technology to fight German submarines during World War II.
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who was born in Germany, is also profiled, in what is believed to be his final TV interview before his death in 2023.
“Journey to America,” Gingrich said, is a “cultural documentary with political implications” and is an attempt to “reset the conversation” around immigration.
“I’m very strong against illegal immigration because it is dangerous in a lot of ways, but I’m equally strongly in favor of ensuring the people who want to come here legally [can do so]… That’s part of what made America the extraordinary place it is,” he said.
In 1994, Gingrich said he wanted to “zero-out” funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Nearly three decades later, then-President Trump proposed cutting federal funding for public broadcasting. Asked if there was a sense of irony that his documentary is poised to air on PBS and if his views have changed, Gingrich replied, “I think everything has to be looked at as part of the process of getting back to a balanced budget, and that’s what drove us.”
“At the time, I was attacked for wanting to kill Big Bird,” Gingrich said of the yellow-feathered “Sesame Street” mainstay. The children’s show aired at the time on PBS stations across the country.
“Well, it turned out Big Bird made $800 million. Big Bird was not the problem,” Gingrich said with a laugh. “I think that it’s helpful to have people like PBS and it’s helpful to find ways to fund them.”
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Gingrich’s eponymous production company has produced several projects over the years, including “The First American” and “Nine Days That Changed the World.”
While his current focus is “Journey to America,” he soon may be getting ready to pack his bags to journey to another country. Trump announced last month that he was nominating Callista Gingrich as the next ambassador to Switzerland.
“People say to me, ‘Where do you want to go?’ And I basically answer, ‘Wherever Callista goes. I’m pretty happy just hanging out.'”
Gingrich said he took a weeklong course on “how to trail” or accompany an ambassador before his wife served as one to the Vatican during Trump’s first term.
“The point they make is: The ambassador is the president’s personal representative. You are not. When you’ve been Speaker of the House and a public figure, it’s kind of useful being reminded that there are barriers,” he cracked.
“We would go to these fancy dinners and they would have a little place card for ‘Ambassador Gingrich.’ And then they’d have a place card for ‘Consort Gingrich.’ And so I went from being ‘Dr. Gingrich’ to ‘Speaker Gingrich’ to ‘Consort Gingrich,’ all in one lifetime. But it’s great fun,” Gingrich said.
With his documentary honing in on history, ITK asked Gingrich how he himself would like to be remembered.
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“My dad served in the Army for 26 years,” Gingrich responded.
“When I was about 15 years old, we were living first in France and then in Germany, and I watched the French paratroopers come back and kill the French Fourth Republic. So I know what a real coup looks like.”
While living in Germany, he said, “It occurred to me that countries can die, that there’s no automatic guarantee.”
“You have to have a leadership which can figure out what you need to do to survive, figure out how to explain it so the American people give you permission, and then figure out how to implement it once you have permission,” Gingrich said.
“So I would like to be remembered as a citizen.”
