What Is an American?

Two thousand years ago, when Western civilization was bounded by the laws and legions of the Roman Empire, the proudest words a man could utter were: "I am a citizen of Rome." A century ago, when the world was girdled by the British Empire, the Englishman's voice sounded from the earth's far corners: "I am a British subject." Now, in the middle of the 20th Century, the most arresting tones of history said something else: "I am an American."

What did the phrase mean? The U.S. citizen would vociferously deny that he was the subject of any government--even in name. His government belonged to him; what his nation did, it did only with his consent and by his will. He was least of all a spokesman of imperialism. But when thousands of U.S. school children celebrated "I Am an American Day" each spring, they spoke for the greatest power on earth.

The Power. As it had once looked to London and to Rome, the world now looked to the U.S. for hope and leadership. It was an open secret in the rest of the world that 20th Century civilization would be guided in large part by the heart, the wisdom and the power of the U.S. The secret was spread in every foreign newspaper, before every meeting of foreign ministers, repeated sometimes with hope and gratitude, sometimes with sneers and hatred.

Facing this friendly and unfriendly world, the American sensed his country's power. The evidence was not only reflected from abroad; it was all around him. He saw it in new highways and new bridges; in factories, schools and hospitals springing up everywhere; in the dust-streaked tractors clanking through the spring plowing. He read of it in the plans for a 6-billion-electron-volt atom-smasher at the University of California (see SCIENCE). He heard it in the farmer's talk of a bumper wheat crop--the fifth bumper crop in a miraculous row.

The Heart. Last week in San Jose, Calif., newsboys delivered pledge cards to every home in town, as their part in a nationwide drive to raise $60 million for the United Nations Appeal for Children. Citizens of Aiken, S.C. began block-by-block canvassing to collect food & clothing for their adopted French city of Morlaix. Girl Scouts were campaigning to assemble 100,000 clothing kits for Europe.

Americans were responding. Item: a carload of clothing for Europe from the students of Missouri's Park College. Item: 40 home-made wash dresses shipped off by the Ladies Relief Society of the Mormon Church in Indianapolis. Item: a triple boost in the number of CARE packages sent abroad last year. The plight of Europe had touched the hearts of men, women & children in the U.S., a nation which had come from Europe.

The Wisdom. The U.S. was strong; it was generous. Was it also wise? History would have to judge; at least the people of the U.S. were showing their capacity to learn. Though they were still busy with their own affairs, Americans were beginning to understand the hard lesson they had first learned at Pearl Harbor: that they were also citizens of the world and that good citizens are responsible citizens.

Americans were beginning to understand what it meant to say: "I am an American." It meant more than owning the atom bomb, or having steak for dinner, or the inalienable right to yell "Kill the ump." It had begun to mean: "I am a citizen of a privileged and therefore obligated nation. I am no longer the prodigal son of Europe. I am my brother's keeper. But only free men can be my brothers."

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