Monday, March 29, 2010

FLG-who is he?







                                                RESUME2           
           
Frederick Lorimer Graham was born in Bay Shore, Long Island on July 20th 1915.
He attended the Buckley School in New York, the Loomis Institute (now The Loomis Chaffee School) in Windsor, Connecticut, Princeton University (class of 1937) and the Sorbonne in Paris. On graduating from Princeton, he taught on an exchange program at the College Colonial de Sidi Bel Abbes in Algeria. On returning to the States he was an advertising copywriter until, as a Reserve Lieutenant, he was called into the Army of the United States in August 1941. 
Graham was assigned to Fort Hancock and admitted to the Regular Army. He was then sent to Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. He was assigned successively to Allied Force Headquarters, Fifteenth Army Group, to Liaison at Seventh Army with General Patton, Fifth Army with General Clark. Subsequently recalled to AFHQ, he was sent to Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force in London as AFHQ liaison officer for political affairs. In this capacity he played a major role in preventing the Allies from imposing a military government in France. Major Graham was then transferred to the First French Army as liaison officer for political affairs.
Graham took part in the landings of Gela, Salerno, Anzio and Normandy and the campaigns of North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Normandy, France, Germany and Austria. After the Armistice, he became Chief of Mission to the French Zone of Occupation in Austria where he was intimately concerned with Franco- American relations. Among the delicate diplomatic problems was the emigration of the Eastern countries’ Jewish population to Palestine. He was, during this period, decorated by the Haggenau. Graham was a Lieutenant Colonel and was demobilized in 1947.
He married Colette Perrier in 1945. The marriage was dissolved in 1962.They had three children, Sylvia, Isabelle and Frederick. Sylvia died in June 2005, Isabelle, an Interior Architect is now studying, Frederick is a financier.
 In 1947, Graham returned to France became successively European Manager of Cabot Corporation and Witco Chemical Co. and established a business which eventually had 1000 employees in eight countries and which he sold in 1992 to an American Corporation.
In 1978, he married Anita Jaatinen of the Finnish diplomatic service. This has been an ideal marriage.
           Aside from his business career, Graham was closely associated with American patriotic affairs and Franco-American relations. He was elected President General of the Society of the Cincinnati in 1992, America’s first patriotic association of which George Washington was the first President General. The Society has a French branch originally organized with the approval of Louis XVI for those French officers who participated in the American Revolution. Franco-American relations are a prime concern of the Society.
Colonel Graham has received several American decorations including nine campaign medals as well as the French Croix de Guerre with Palm. He is an Officer of the Legion of Honor. He now resides with Mrs. Graham in Fribourg, Switzerland and has a home in France.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Immigration

     In 1987, I received a call from then Senator from Virginia, Paul Trible. He was calling a meeting to discuss two subjects, one of which was immigration. He said he was inviting me because of my many years experience in international matters.
     The entire question of illegal immigrants had gotten out of hand. Senator Trible told the meeting that the computer system of the Immigration Department was completely outdated, that there were an estimated 10,000,000 (yes, ten million) illegal immigrants in the country and that the department did not either know who they were or where they were.
    He continued by stating that a bill had been proposed in Congress to try and emerge from this immigration chaos. The principal clauses of the bill were that any illegal immigrant present in the United States prior to 198, not guilty of misdoing, who had been in the States for three years or more could apply for and receive citizenship. At the same time, the bill would provide for heavy fines for any employer engaging illegal immigrants. Paul said he had profound reservations about this bill but he saw no other solution. He felt the heavy fines for the hiring of illegal immigrants would prevent further illegal immigration.
After a general discussion in which I did not participate, Paul asked me why and wanted my opinion. I simply answered that I thought it would not work that as long as there were millions of poor people on one side of the border looking at the wealth on the other side, they would continue to cross that border illegally. Law enforcement was the only way to stop illegal immigration and no one in the government was ready to take the necessary strong steps. As to the fines for the employment of illegal immigrants, I said I could not be specific but that I was convinced those looking for cheap labor would somehow get around this clause. I was a dissident voice in the dark.
Not long after this law was passed, the forging of social security cards and drivers licenses prospered. Employers needing cheap labor, continued to hire illegal immigrants, their actions covered by the forged documents. Enforcement of the new law was weak and today it is estimated there are 10-20 million illegal immigrants in the country.
In 1987, some 7 million illegal immigrants became American citizens under this law. The Obama administration apparently wants to repeat this process.
The new health bill does not offer a solution but exacerbates the problem. No matter what the new bill says, it is an invitation to the millions in Central and South America who have no health insurance and live in poverty to come to the United States and to be supported at the expense of the American taxpayer. It is still the law that a hospital cannot turn away anyone going to the emergency room Thus, we shall not have 10-20 million illegal immigrants but 20 to 40 million.
It is the will of the Democratic party eventually to admit these people as citizens. This is no wonder, as Hispanics vote 80% for the Democratic Party. They already gained some 6 million adherents by the 1987 law. So, in time, we shall award citizenship to perhaps 30 or more million Hispanics. In so doing, we shall reduce the weight of the opposition.
Meanwhile, it is practically impossible for any European or other ethnic to immigrate to these United States. Each country has a small quota strictly enforced and I can testify to the brutality of this enforcement. Europeans who could contribute to our knowledge and to our economy, cannot and do not wish to take advantage of the lax controls along our borders. They wish to do things legally.
     If we are not to be hypocritical and if we are not to create a complete imbalance as to which ethnic groups are admitted to this country, we must act. If we do not have the will to really stop illegal immigration, we should increase the quotas of our European friends so for every illegal Hispanic immigrant naturalized, we naturalize a European.
     But what about the cost? The United States has an estimated 7-10 trillion national debt. We are on a slide to insolvency. Can we afford to give health care to illegal immigrants by the tens of millions?
     Does the American voter have a real understanding of what is at stake?