Livin' In America

Tom Lantos remembered.

Money quote:

After the war, Lantos was awarded an academic scholarship to study in the United States on the basis of an essay he wrote about then-president Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In August 1947, he arrived in New York City after a boat trip on a converted World War II troop ship. Onboard "there was a big basket of oranges and one of bananas," Lantos recalled. "I wanted to do the right thing, so I asked this sailor, 'Should I take an orange or a banana?' And he said, 'Man, you eat all the goddamn oranges and all the goddamn bananas you want.' Then I knew I was in paradise."

I heard him say this, on a CSPAN interview, I think.

God, how I love this country! Even its worst critics prefer to stay.