Fed: An early Thanksgiving for our American friends

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Fed: An early Thanksgiving for our American friends

America exerts such a profound influence that Australia can feel like the 51st state- so wrote AAP Senior Correspondent DOUG CONWAY last week. Having noted some of the drawbacks,he now declares a day of Thanksgiving for the manifold benefits that flow from the landof stars and stripes.

By Doug Conway

SYDNEY, AAP - What have the Americans ever done for us?

OK, so they saved us in WWII.

But apart from stemming the Japanese tide in the Pacific, what have the Yanks ever done for us?

All right, they did give us hamburgers and Coke, and rock'n'roll and jazz. That goeswithout saying.

And movies and musicals, and planes and cars and computers, obviously.

And political ideals, like Martin Luther King's dream of racial harmony and ThomasJefferson's pursuit of life, liberty and happiness, and Abe Lincoln's government of, byand for the people.

But apart from freedom and fun and fries and Ford and Frank Sinatra - oh, and showingus that it's possible to walk on the moon - what have the Americans ever done for us?

By now fans of Monty Python's Life Of Brian will have recognised echoes of that marvellous"What have the Romans ever done for us?" scene.

Let's admit it, we have a lot to thank America for.

What might have become of us had John Curtin not steered our ship of state away fromBritain during the dark days of the last world war?

US intervention in the Coral Sea was the best thing to happen to Australia on water,followed perhaps by the day Alan Bond won the America's Cup.

Half a century later leaders like Paul Keating were still fuming about Britain's "betrayal"

of Australia over the fall of Singapore.

The US alliance today may carry with it the threat of terrorism by association.

But would Australia be better off in a partnership with, say, China, Russia, Germany,France or Britain?

Or all alone?

Maybe it isn't such a bad idea for a remote nation of great wealth but only 20 millionpeople to align itself with the world's only superpower.

But whether fretting about war, terrorism, drought or who might win the next MelbourneCup, generations of Australians have been able to forget their woes and lose themselvesin the magic of American movies, TV shows, music and song.

Steven Spielberg has probably entertained more Australians than anyone, with the possibleexception of Walt Disney.

We have gasped in darkened theatres at a million special effects.

Australian hearts have throbbed at the sight of leading men from Clark Gable to BradPitt, and leading ladies from Marilyn to Meryl and beyond.

Different generations have been reared on westerns and cartoons, game shows and sitcoms.

Not all of the TV has been dross, either, as proved by evergreens like M*A*S*H andcurrent favourites like The Sopranos and The West Wing.

Our feet have tapped to Glenn Miller, the Beach Boys and Bruce Springsteen.

Elvis Presley has reigned as a rock king, even in death, and a helicopter sharing hisname and country of origin now helps save our skins every bushfire season.

There's no disputing the listening pleasure Eminem gives to today's teenagers.

Parents might close their ears to rap but they still close their eyes to appreciatethe sounds of Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Oscar Peterson and Stan Getz.

Australians have devoured writers from Ernest Hemingway and John Steinbeck to the eminentlyreadable Bill Bryson.

We have laughed as loudly at the Marx Brothers, Lucille Ball, and Bob Hope as at TheSimpsons and Jerry Seinfeld.

We have been enthralled by American sporting excellence, not so much in arcane specialtieslike baseball but in genuine global pursuits.

Just think of Olympians like Jesse Owens, Mark Spitz and Carl Lewis, or golfers fromBen Hogan, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer through to Tiger Woods, who may be the bestof all.

Think of tennis champions like Pete Sampras, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert and yes,John McEnroe, whose comments these days behind the microphone are vastly more illuminatingthan any he made on court.

Australia's ambassador in Washington, Michael Thawley, said in a recent speech: "Withoutthe United States, the world we live in would be nowhere near as congenial to our interests."

He noted that the US is our largest source of foreign direct investment, and Australiais the eighth largest investor in the US.

And that at one stage last year Australians were in charge of News Corp, Coca-Cola,Ford and Philip Morris as well as the World Bank.

It makes practical sense for Australians to better understand and appreciate America'sfiner attributes.

We've been in bed together for a long time already and for the foreseeable future,it's us and them - 24/7/52.

AAP dc/jc/de

KEYWORD: AMERICANS