th
# 70 • OCTOBER 19 , 2015
already an ardent NIAF supporter, became the first Italian American (and
the first woman) to be nominated as
a Democratic Vice Presidential nominee in 1984; and Antonin Scalia was
nominated to the Supreme Court in
1986. To keep the Italian American
community at the head of the national consciousness, NIAF supported
countless conferences in these years,
many in partnership with long-established Italian American groups such as
the Order Sons of Italy in America. In
the hope of exposing our history to an
even wider audience, NIAF played an
early role in supporting “The Stonecarvers,” a documentary film that examined the work of the Italian American stone carvers who worked on the
Washington Cathedral. The film won
an Oscar in 1985, though NIAF is still
waiting for the trophy!
accurately to NIAF’s own mission.
The increased prominence and electoral relevance of the Italian American
community was cemented in 1984,
when NIAF’s 5th Biannual Congressional Awards Dinner was attended by
President Ronald Reagan, Vice President George H.W. Bush, and their Democratic rivals Walter F. Mondale and
Geraldine Ferraro. NIAF’s continued
growth and expansion of its activities
mirrored this trend of the larger Italian
American community. When Victor Sal
Sciggs, one of NIAF’s earliest scholarship winners, observed about his family that they “didn’t come here to forget their heritage, but to nurture it and
to pass along these ideals to their children,” it could not have applied more
In October, 1985, in a landmark moment for the organization, Frank Sinatra, the sole honoree at NIAF’s 10th
Anniversary Gala Dinner, told the assembled crowd that to him “the NIAF
award was special because it came
from family.” President and Mrs. Reagan joined Frank and Barbara Sinatra
on the dais that evening, and the President praised NIAF’s work in honoring
the American Dream. In 1986, in order
to further strengthen the ties between
the United States and Italy, NIAF initiated a student exchange program with
Italy through a cooperative project
with USIA. NIAF would send 15 Italian
American students to Italy, and Italy
would send 15 students to the United
30 | WE THE ITALIANS
www.wetheitalians.com
1985–1995: The Italian American Decade
In 1985, in celebration of its first decade at the forefront of the Italian
American community, NIAF launched
major new activities aimed at Americans of Italian heritage, aged 18 to
40, through a newly established Youth
Activities Division. NIAF also announced the creation of a national Media
Institute to help the national and local
media seeking an accurate and authentic portrayal of the realities of Italian American life and contributions to
America. The Institute emerged from
a 1983 conference on ethnicity and
the media, jointly hosted by NIAF and
the Commission for Social Justice of
the New York Sons of Italy in America.