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Seen in a
Canadian newspaper... (1973)
America: The Good
Neighbor.
Widespread but only partial
news coverage was given recently to a remarkable editorial
broadcast from Toronto by Gordon Sinclair, a Canadian television
commentator. What follows is the full text of his trenchant
remarks as printed in the Congressional
Record: "This Canadian
thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most
generous and possibly the least appreciated people on all the
earth. Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy
were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured
in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None
of these countries is today paying even the interest on its
remaining debts to the United States.
When France was in danger of
collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and
their reward was to be insulted and swindled on thestreets of
Paris. I was there. I saw it. When earthquakes hit distant
cities, it is the United States that hurries in to help. This
spring, 59 American communities were flattened by tornadoes.
Nobody helped.
The Marshall Plan and the
Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars into discouraged
countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing about
the decadent, warmongering Americans.
I'd like to see just one of
those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United
States dollar build its own airplane. Does any other country in
the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the
Lockheed Tri-Star, or the Douglas DC10? If so, why don't they
fly them? Why do all the International lines except Russia fly
American Planes?
Why does no other land on
earth even consider putting a man or woman on the moon? You talk
about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios. You talk about
German technocracy, and you get automobi! les. You talk about
American technocracy, and you find men on the moon - not once,
but several times and safely home again.
You talk about scandals, and
the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody
to look at. Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and
hounded. They are here on our streets, and most of them, unless
they are breaking Canadian laws, are getting American dollars
from ma and pa at home to spend here.
When the railways of France,
Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the
Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and
the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old
caboose. Both are still broke.
I can name you 5000 times when
the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can
you name me even one time when someone else raced to the
Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even
during the San Francisco earthquake.
Our neighbors have faced it
alone, and I'm one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them
get kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their
flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their
nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles.
I hope Canada is not one of those." Stand proud,
America!
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