78-01-B2

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Our Country

Transcript I have disagreed with those in government on many of these broadcasts. I'm sure I will continue to do so. But just to keep the record straight, let me make plain my criticism is not directed against this system of ours which is unique in all the world. I criticize those I believe are turning away from and repudiating the very principles which brought us greatness. They are instead, eroding individual freedom, robbing us of independence and the right to control our own destiny. I thought of this the other day when I read an account of a meeting to launch an Australian visitor here on a three-month tour of campus appearances. The visitor, Wilfred Burchett, is hardly a typical representative of the land down under. He has been identified as a collaborator with our enemies in two wars -- Korean and North Vietnam. A Russian K.G.B. defector testified he has been a Soviet K.G.B. agent. He is telling our college students what is wrong with America and his message is not just a complaint about bureaucratic ineptness. According to him, our system is the enemy of mankind, and those who believe in it are the dragons who must be slain before we devour all that is good and noble in the world. Well, I offer in rebuttal the words spoken a few years ago (when we were still involved in the Vietnam war) by a widely known and respected Canadian commentator who became angry at the rest of the world for, as he put it, kicking us when we were down. God bless him, Gordon Sinclair went on the radio and said, "It is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least appreciated people in all the earth". He said, "As long as 60 years ago, when I first started to read newspapers, I read of floods on the yellow river and the Yangtze. Who rushed in with men and money to help? The Americans did. Germany, Japan and even to a lesser extent Britain and Italy were literally lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars in aid and forgave other billions in debts. When the franc looked to be in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans again who propped it up. "When distant cities are hit by earthquakes it is the United States that hurries in to help. Managua, Nicaragua is one of the most recent examples. "The Marshall plan, the Truman policy, all pumped billions upon billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent war-mongering Americans. "I can name you 5,000 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 help when the Americans were in trouble." - UNQUOTE. Mr. Sinclair said he wouldn't blame us if we thumbed our nose at the rest of the world. I'm grateful to him, but I hope there'll be no nose thumbing. I hope we'll keep right on being the first to arrive when help is needed. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening.		Details Batch Number 78-01-B2 Production Date 01/09/1978 Book/Page RPtV-252, SihoH-47 Audio Youtube? No
		Added Notes