Europeans made the USA
From Ronald Fletcher
Sir: David Mayger (Letters, 20 May) seems to be unaware that the history of his country has been written many times, and that the salient fact to emerge is that the USA was largely the creation of Europeans, among whom the British were to the fore.
It is deeply regrettable that in the 20th century one European power was so determined to impose itself on the rest of the world that it waged two aggressive wars in which America was reluctantly obliged to participate; but the notion that America could stand aloof from ‘foreign entanglements’ was exploded, I should have thought, at Pearl Harbor. America actually acquired two enemies (three if one includes Italy) for the price of one, and was even attacked by German U-boats towards the end of the war.
I hope that Mr Mayger will not stick to his promise to stay on his side of the Atlantic. As a native of London, living in Gloucester, I should be happy to introduce him to both cities. It is fortunate that many emigrants in the past ignored his advice to stay on this side of the Atlantic, otherwise we should have been deprived of the pleasure provided by Charlie Chaplin, Cary Grant, Alfred Hitchcock, Bob Hope and many others whom Mr Mayger no doubt regards as red-blooded Americans.
Ronald Fletcher Gloucester
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