A French-born and French-educated PhD engineer, my wife first came to the United States for post-doctoral study, then married an American and then become a US citizen. Her idealization of America began when her vacationing parents sent her a post card from New York City in 1969. The image of Manhattan’s skyline from the Brooklyn Bridge coupled with that summer’s images from the Apollo moon landing cemented her future. She was going to be part of America’s exceptionalism when she grew up.
