This experience also drove home to me that it is not easy to change government policies where foreign trade is concerned. The special interests are always on the alert and acting or reacting to gain their ends. Free trade, whose inherent advantages to the consumer should be so obvious, has no really effective constituency that can prevail consistently in the political arena against the special pleaders. Lethargy and inaction are likely to prevail when the problems don't appear pressing or far-reaching. So it was in 1970-71. U. S. agriculture was the most efficient in the world and prospered despite some limited access to markets in Japan and the Common Market. A few manufacturers were getting in trouble but most were prosperous. Those that had been really hurt were industries like shoe manufacturing that excited little general interest. Our trade balance was favorable. Our current account was very favorable. Against this backgound it is difficult to conceive that in a few short years the United States could go from the largest creditor nation in the world to a debtor nation and that we could be experiencing record trade deficits. All this suggests that something's broke and we better fix it - and indeed it is and indeed we should. In part we are the victims of our heritage. We are a vast nation richly endowed with natural resources and with a relatively well- educated, hard working, and talented people. We have had a form of government that has provided freedom, rule by law, and has rewarded good performance. We emerged from World War II the strongest nation on earth and virtually the only major power whose lands were unravaged by the hostilities. We were poised to supply the world but, alas, our potential customers had no money with which to buy. With wisdom and unprecedented generosity we initiated the Marshall Plan and launched the Free World on the way to recovery and renewed prosperity. This was the time when American industry should have moved boldly and intelligently into international trade on a massive scale. But we hesitated and the magic moment slipped by. 4.