You guys want my autograph?
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.
America:
The Good Neighbor
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
the streets 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 automobiles. 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 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 those.
Stand proud, America.
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