Adolf Hitler was confident that the Berlin Olympic Games of 1936 would showcase the superiority of the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Aryan race to the whole world. Jesse Owens, an American black athlete, proved Nazi propaganda wrong about the inferiority of ethnic Africans. Owens won four gold medals in track and field events, setting olympic records in three of the events. He became the first American in Olympic track and field to win four gold medals in a single Olympics. Much was made over Hitler not shaking Owens hand, but the German leader did stand up and wave to him. Owens later remarked that when he returned to the United States, he also wasn’t invited to the White-house to shake the President’s hand.