“We have got to understand that all our lives the danger, the uncertainty, the need for alertness, for effort, for discipline will be upon us. This is new to us. It will be hard for us. But we are in for it and the only question is whether we shall know it soon enough.”

A former head of the U.S. State Department, Dean Acheson, made this statement on June 4, 1946. Spoken over six decades ago, the words remain relevant.

The United States had just emerged victorious from World War II as the world’s remaining “superpower.”  (Sound familiar?) Understandable that the country wanted to rest and enjoy prosperity. Yet the Cold War confrontations with the Soviet Union were just beginning. For over forty years, we inhabited a MAD world (Mutual Assured Destruction).

We made mistakes, but responsible (if not always perfect) leaders kept us from detonating the nuclear war we feared. When the communist world collapsed, the United States was, once again, the world’s remaining superpower. We were, however, respected more for our inclusive government, for allowing dissent, for our burgeoning middle class, for our ability to engage in civil discussion, for a democracy that worked for its citizens.

We talked of a peace dividend, but within the decade, attacks from radicals left us little time to enjoy “peace.” Challenges come from Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, and North Korea, to name a few.

How well will we carry out this round? Do we even realize what the contest is about? Can we manage without unwise resort to power politics? Or can we discipline ourselves as a people and choose the moral high ground, those characteristics that once made us the envy of the world?