Simon Kalmas - May 25, 1982
Being a U.S. Citizen
What kind of work do you do here?
I'm the same in sheet metal.
Mm-hm.
I was doing heating and air conditioning. Where else in the world can a man--I know, because I've been these places--can a man come in with not a penny in his pocket and to be frank and honest about it, not even a decent pair of pants on his tuckus-- to come to that and be able to retire after thirty one years, being in a country. Where else? Can anybody do it Germany? Can they do it in, in England? Even so, you know, England's supposed to be a democracy. Can you do it in France?
Have you become a citizen?
Oh yeah, a long time ago. A long time ago. I was in the country, I believe, four years. That's what the requirements was. Four years and I got my citizenship here. Even so, even so I don't care to go to elect a president because I was very much disappointed in 1956. When damn Eisenhower ordered the Israelis, the British and, and, and the French out of the Suez area--I don't know if you remember that, that he ordered them out of there. We wouldn't have that mess that we--in the Middle East that we have now if their presence would have been there. He ordered them. I said, "Oh, heck with it."
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