11:45 a.m. June 5, 1973 CFRB, Toronto radio personality 73 year old Gordon Sinclair delivered an impassioned editorial he later titled "The Americans". This was rebroadcast on a small number of American radio stations and then spread rapidly before being released on record with "Battle Hymn Of The Republic" under the reading..

Byron MacGregor (Gary Mack) was the News Director at CKLW in Windsor/Detroit and he recorded it as the version most are familiar with. The Detroit Symphony plays "America The Beautiful" in the background. The single peaked at number four on Billboard and sold in the millions. All proceeds went to the American Red Cross.