Today, Neither Left Nor Right Can Find

The American Financial And Military Commitment Really Only Kicks In With Korea. Not That Korea Was The Real Game For The Americans; Their Real Fear Was That This Was Just The Prelude To A Second Korea In Germany. We Now Know From The Soviet Archives That The Last Thing Stalin Was Going To Do Was Start A War In Central Europe. The Americans Didn't Know That, And It Was The Fear That He Might Which Transformed Nato From A Sort Of Shell Game Into A Real Military Alliance. That Total Commitment Basically Transformed The Marshal Plan Into Military Aid.

The Second World War Had A Precipitating Effect In That It Discredited The Empires, As Well As Bankrupting Them. Not Only Could You No Longer, If You Were A Colonial Subject Of France In Africa, Look To France As A Model Of Power And Influence And Civility After What Had Happened In The War. Nor Could The French Any Longer Afford To Run Their Empire. And Nor Could The British, Although They Were Not Discredited In The Way That The French Were.

As Citizens Of A Free Society, We Have A Duty To Look Critically At Our World. But If We Think We Know What Is Wrong, We Must Act Upon That Knowledge.

All Modern U.s. Presidents Are Perforce Politicians, Prisoners Of Their Past Pronouncements, Their Party, Their Constituency, And Their Colleagues.

My History Writing Was Based On What I Saw In Strange, Exotic Places Rather Than Just Reading Books.