(Seattle Times – Michael A. Meighen)
As Canada and the United States continue to refine joint stewardship of our border in the post 9/11 world, it will help decision makers in both countries if they reread twin speeches delivered on the subject on Aug. 18, 1938.
Students of Canadian-American relations know that it was on this date President Franklin D. Roosevelt, arguably the greatest U.S. chief executive of the 20th century, visited Canada to accept a degree from a Canadian university.
After leaving Kingston, Ontario, he traveled to the border community of Clayton, N.Y., and officially opened the international bridge that unites our two countries at the Thousand Islands region.
At the crossing between us, FDR spoke of the need for “common sense” to guide both nations as they administer the border. All these years later, any objective analysis reveals there is a real need for Roosevelt-style common sense at our border today. Read more here.
Sen. Michael A. Meighen of St. Mary’s, Ontario, is a Canadian delegate to the Roosevelt-Campobello International Park Commission, established by Canada and the United States to preserve Franklin Roosevelt’s home on Campobello Island, New Brunswick.
