By Captain Stelios Tatsis
Go ahead—open Fort Knox and check if there is any gold left.
If there is, revalue it.
Use it to pay off the national debt and restart our economy on the foundation of gold reserves, the way it was before Nixon—and after him, the puppet President Ford—disengaged the dollar from gold.
That decision shattered the world’s faith in the U.S. dollar.
Let’s truly Make America Great Again.
That slogan is not new. It was first used by Pat Buchanan many years ago.
I want back the America I first met when I arrived in December 1967.
I was so proud to become an American citizen in 1970.
Back then, America stood for different values—values that were strong, and protected.
I still remember the first time I reached the shores of this great country.
It was 1956. I was an apprentice deck officer aboard a Greek tanker named Donna MYRTO.
When we arrived in Newport News, Virginia, I wrote a letter addressed simply to:
The President of the United States
Washington, D.C.
In that letter, I inquired about the possibility of staying in the United States to attend university.
I explained that I was a good student from a poor family in Greece and that my dream was to study here and return home with a better future.
But I never received a reply.
That dream remained a dream.
Instead, I built my career at sea and eventually became a captain.
In 1955, I met my wife in Greece. She was born there, but she was an American citizen because her father had served as a U.S. veteran in World War II.
We married, but life at sea meant we were apart too often. We didn’t want that kind of life.
So we made the decision together to return to America and raise our family under one roof.
In 1970, three years after my arrival, I applied for citizenship.
I still remember being called forward by the officer. On his desk was a massive book labeled “Blacklist”, and next to it was an envelope.
He asked me, “Do you recognize these?”
With tears in my eyes, I said yes.
I told him, “I know my name is not in that book. And I know that envelope contains the letter I wrote to the President in 1956.”
The officer looked at me and said:
“Because of that letter—and because of the principles you’ve lived by—I will not ask you any questions. Instead, let me congratulate you. America is proud to have citizens like you.”
That was the America I first met.
And that is the America I want to pass on to my children—and their children.
– Captain Stelios Tatsis
