You could have heard a pin drop.

At a time when our president and other politicians tend to apologize for our country's prior actions, here's a refresher on how some of our former patriots handled negative comments about our country. 
  
 

 

JFK'S 

Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, was in  France  in the early 60's when 

DeGaulle decided to pull out of NATO.  DeGaulle said he wanted all US  

military out of France as soon as possible.

 

Rusk responded, "Does that include those who are buried here?"

 

DeGaulle 

did not respond.

You 

could have heard a pin drop.

 

 

When in  England  ,at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the 

Archbishop of Canterbury  if our plans for  Iraq  were just an example of 

'empire building' by George Bush.

 

He answered by saying,

"Over the years, the United States has sent many of 

its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom 

beyond our borders.  The only amount of land we have ever asked for 

in return is enough to bury those that did not 

return."

 

You 

could have heard a pin drop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

There was a conference in France where a number of international engineers  

were taking part, including French and American.  During a break,  

one of the French engineers came back into the room saying, "Have you 

heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft 

carrier to  Indonesia  to help the tsunami victims.  What does he 

intend to do, bomb them?"

 

A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly:  "Our carriers have three 

hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are 

nuclear powered and can supply emergency  electrical power to 

shore facilities; they have three  cafeterias with the capacity to 

feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand 

gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a 

dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and 

from their flight deck.  

We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?"

 

You 

could have heard a pin drop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

A  U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included 

Admirals from the U.S., English, Canadian, Australian and French 

Navies  At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large 

group of officers that included personnel from most of those countries. 

Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a 

French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many 

languages, Americans learn only English. He then asked, "Why is it that 

we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than 

speaking French?"

 

Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied, "Maybe it's because the 

Brit's, Canadians, Aussie's and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't 

have to speak German."

 

You 

could have heard a pin drop.

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

AND 

THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE...

 

Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane.

At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport

in his carry on.

 

"You 

have been to France before, monsieur?" the customs officer asked 

 sarcastically.

 

Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France

previously.

 

"Then 

you should know enough to have your passport ready."

 

The American said, "The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it."

 

"Impossible.. 

Americans always have to show their passports on arrival in France !"

 

The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look.  Then he 

quietly explained, ''Well, when I came ashore at  Omaha Beach  on D-Day in 

1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find a single Frenchmen 

to show a passport to."

You 

could have heard a pin drop