In this speech, Waldo Frank explains how he envisions a future in which the United States and Latin America become a spiritually and aesthetically unified America. Frank begins by declaring his intention to speak the truth about his country (the U.S.) and also to address the reciprocal problems of U.S.-Argentinean relations; and he promises to speak frankly, even though he anticipates that his hosts will disagree with him on some points. Frank explains that he has come to Argentina as an artist, with the desire to create a new America. This America, as he sees it, is “an organism” with potential that can only be realized by its artists across all disciplines. It will consist of entirely new, humane cultures where ideas and mutual understanding will flow freely among different regions and countries. Frank envisions this project of creating a new America as analogous to that of creating a work of art. Art, as he defines it, constitutes a kind of beauty that consciously participates in life. In addressing criticism of the United States, Frank claims that his own criticism of the U.S. has always been inspired by love of country. He defends the U.S. against outside critics by reminding his audience that the United States’ vices are simply the characteristics of the modern world. Generally, Frank argues that all of America (North to South) shares a special capacity to recreate itself because of its long history of mysticism and radicalism (a history he traces back to Jesuit and Puritan colonists). Frank ends his speech by affirming his love of the United States, and by reminding his audience that it is the responsibility of their generation to realize by means of both integrity and wholeness an “América íntegra.”

Waldo Frank was a novelist, historian, and critic active in New York. His growing interest in Latin America during the 1920s coincided with his increasing involvement in politics. Frank delivered this speech at a dinner in Buenos Aires during his 1929 tour of Latin America, and speaks to a group of Argentinean artists about his vision for a unified America in which the United States and Latin America share the common goal of establishing humane, aesthetically and spiritually enlightened societies. Frank addresses his audience as his peers—a younger generation of writers and other kinds of artists. He also acknowledges adversarial aspects of the United States and Argentina’s relationship. Frank defends the U.S., while also acknowledging how the extreme pace of its modernization has created problems. In general, Frank articulates his vision for a new, unified America in spiritualist and aesthetic terms. He seems to believe that if artists (defined very broadly by him as creative people in a variety of disciplines) take on the project of creating a new America according to standards of beauty and aesthetics, more humane and open forms of government will form in the region, and that these countries will be more open to exchange with one another. It is of note how Frank declares himself a mystic and a naturalist, and how he uses words such as “light,” “beauty,” and “essence” to sketch his vision for a new America.