If you travel around the world--or even listen
to the news each night, you know that many
nations enjoy trashing America.

Gordon Sinclair, a Canadian TV commentator,
is sick of that and he wrote: "This Canadian
thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans
as the most generous and possibly the least
appreciated people on 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. Last
spring, 59 American communities were
flattened by tornadoes. Nobody helped.

"The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy
pumped in billions of dollars into discouraged
countries. Now newspapers in those countries
write about the decadent, warmongering
Americans.

"I'd like to see just one of those countries
gloating about the erosion of America build
its own airplane. Does any other country have
a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet? If so,
why don't they fly them?

"Talk about Japanese technocracy and you get
TVs. Or German technocracy and you get cars.
Talk about American technocracy and you talk
about men on the moon.

"I can name you 5000 times when 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?

"This is one Canadian who is tired of hearing
the Americans getting kicked around." So
wrote Gordon Sinclair.