Basic HTML Version
The local top official of Ambassador College in London, Mr.
Raymond P. McNair, Deputy Chancellor, was made to appear to be
living in excessive luxury and opulence, supposedly made possible
by "DEMANDING" tithes from 19-year-old boys. Mr. McNair has been
resident in England for the past seven or eight years. He gave up
a much nicer home in America, though certainly not "luxurious," to
live in a small terrace-house of no higher standard than the
average working-class wage-earner in England. This college-owned
cottage is very old and was purchased in 1959 for well under 2,000
pounds. He and his family have a very small living-room -- the
average working-class wage-earner in America would consider it
"tiny." His three children are forced to sleep in one very small
bedroom. He was reared from childhood by parents on an Arkansas
farm -- very common and ordinary -- and yet much nicer than the
home in which he lives now.
Then Mr. McNair was accused of having a cashmere overcoat. I
didn't know that was wrong, but this writer surely tried to put it
in a "wrong" light. If he has such an overcoat, I have not seen
him wear it, but he is wearing, instead, an ordinary low-priced
overcoat. But if he has a good-quality overcoat, THAT IS HIS
BUSINESS! He has earned it! And NOT ONE PENNY of that 19-year-old
boy's tithe -- or a single penny of ANYBODY'S money in England went
into anything Mr. McNair has. HIS SALARY IS PAID FROM THE UNITED
STATES! Yet that "feature writer" made it appear that he lives in
luxury from money extracted from people in England! Was that
honest? Or was that unethical, dishonest, and DIRTY? YOU ANSWER!
And, oh yes! Mr. McNair was accused of driving a "big"
Jaguar car. Mr. McNair saved out of his American salary (not a
penny of it came from the people in Britain) for five years to
purchase that car. Mr. McNair occupies an office of dignity and
stature. He is required to make business contacts with many
business firms -- with men who drive such cars. Even so his car
is already nearly three years old and was purchased with American
DOLLARS -- not money from the British people. The responsibilities
of his office require such a car.
Then there was the inference that the main College building is
"too luxurious." The carpets were supposed to be so thick that the
young "feature writer" apparently had to wade through them. And of
course that's not true. But though this "feature writer" was
subtle and clever enough not to say so directly, the inference was
that the tithes "DEMANDED" from 19-year-old boys go to provide all
the so-called "opulence." THAT IS AN UNTRUTH!
In June, 1959 Mr. McNair heard of this property through an
Estate Agent. He was told that it was a "white elephant" on the
owner's hands, who had bought it with the entire multiple-hundred
acre estate at public auction. It had, indeed been a fine mansion
built in 1925 by one of England's richest men. The last member
of the family had died two years before. It was going to rack and
ruin. I was in London at the time. Mr. McNair and I went out to
inspect it. We waded hip-high through the weeds which had been let
grow unchecked. The house needed repainting inside, and the floors
sanding and refinishing. We purchased it, and several acres, for
the ridiculously low price of 8,000 pounds! We didn't know it then