there would be no United States of America without France.
What Mr. Lockman seems to ignore – or is ignorant of – is that France did not help us during our revolt against England out of pure altruism, but as payback for the Treaty of Paris (1763) when the British received Canada from France and Florida from Spain. The resentment in France was similar to the resentment in Germany that helped lead to WWII.
The Spanish also helped us significantly, with the “loan” of 219 canon, 200 gun carriages, 30,000 muskets with 55,000 rounds of ammo, 12,000 bombs, 4,000 tents, 30,000 uniforms and $5 Million dollars.
Of course, as a journalist I can’t expect Mr. Lockman to know much history.