There’s nothing like a war to jolt America out of isolationism. In fact, sometimes it seems that nothing but a war will jolt America out of its isolationism. The strong isolationist cast to public opinion in the nineteen thirties was only changed by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the U.S. declaration of war. In the wake of that terrible conflict, and the slow boiling conflict of the Cold War that followed, the engagement of the U.S. with the world at large was at its height. The U.S. championed the establishment of international institutions, such as the United Nations. It took a hand in reconstructing war torn nations under the Marshall plan, took tentative steps towards the development of an international system of justice with the Nuremberg war crimes tribunal and gave institutional legitimacy to the idea of human rights by supporting the Geneva Convention. Some of the worst suffering in human history came about because of that globe spanning war, and in the subsequent flood of Cold War arms and Cold War political intriguing into the Third World, many more would suffer. Paradoxically, it was this period, in which the U.S. was drawn into international conflict, that the U.S. was also most deeply involved in peaceful international cooperation. So now, on the eve of a new, in some respects terrifying, "Shadow War," on terrorism, the Bush administration seems to be thinking better of its previous trend of thumbing its nose at international treaties and institutions. The new isolationism of the U.S. sublimed in an instant in the heat of jet fuel explosions lighting up the eastern sky. The outside world - hungry, foreign, dangerous, non-Western - became impossible to ignore. The brooding, furious violence of Shadow War America may be remembered with regret by generations to come, and be followed by another withdrawal into isolationism. It is my hope, however, that the expressed desire of the U.S. to work cooperatively with governments around the world for justice is a sincere and lasting one, and not merely an expedient for orchestrating a single military campaign. The threat of terrorism is only one of many problems the world faces today: AIDS, starvation, and political violence take as many lives, if not more. When the dust settles from this war, the world must go about its business. Whether we go about our business more or less united as nations will depend in large part upon the scope of America’s vision.