Gordon Sinclair
Gordon Allan Sinclair OC (June 3, 1900-May 17, 1984) was a Canadian radio journalist and commentator.
Born in Toronto, Ontario, in 1922, Sinclair joined the Toronto Star as a reporter. He wrote four books about his travels as a journalist: Footloose in India, Cannibal Quest, Loose Among the Devils and Khyber Caravan.
In 1942, Sinclair submitted a number of brief radio reports to Toronto radio station CFRB, the station he would be associated with for the remainder of his career. In 1943, he left the Star and became a full-time radio personality. In 1957, he also began a career in television, as a panelist on the CBC series Front Page Challenge.
In 1979 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.
On June 5, 1973, following the American withdrawal from the Vietnam War, Sinclair recorded his most famous radio editorial, The Americans, an angry response to countries that were criticizing the American failure in the war. Sinclair most famously pointed out that when many countries faced economic crises or natural disasters, Americans were among the most generous people in the world at offering assistance, but when America faced a crisis, it often faced that crisis alone.
His editorial became a phenomenon on American radio, and was even released on record with all profits going to the American Red Cross. In 1981, when Ronald Reagan made his first state visit to Canada, he praised Sinclair as a figure who had given the United States a wonderful and inspiring tribute in one of its darkest hours.
The Americans was revived on the Internet in 2001, following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. (Some early e-mails falsely stated that it was newly written as a direct response to the collapse of the World Trade Center.)
His eldest son, Gordon Sinclair, Jr., was also a radio journalist.
Sinclair died of heart failure on May 17, 1984. A major Canadian award for journalistic excellence has been named after him.
Published Works
- Khyber caravan: through Kashmir, Waziristan, Afghanistan, Baluchistan and Northern India c1936. Simon & Schuster of Canada. ISBN 0671801783
- Will Gordon Sinclair please sit down. 1975. McClelland and Stewart. ISBN 0771081634
- Cannibal quest. 1935. Doubleday, Doran & Gundy.
- Loose among devils : a voyage from Devil's Island to those jungles of West Africa labelled "the white man's grave. 1935. Doubleday, Doran & Gundy.
- Bright paths to adventure. 1945. McClelland and Stewart.
- Will the real Gordon Sinclair please stand up. c1966. McClelland and Stewart.
- Foot-loose in India: adventures of a news chaser from Khyber's grim gash of death to the tiger jungles of Bengal and the Burmese battle ground of the black cobra. c1933. Oxford University Press.