China has never seen such a moment, when its pursuit of a larger role in
the world coincides with America’s pursuit of a smaller one. Ever since
the Second World War, the United States has advocated an international
order based on a free press and judiciary, human rights, free trade, and
protection of the environment. It planted those ideas in the rebuilding
of Germany and Japan, and spread them with alliances around the world.
In March, 1959, President Eisenhower argued that America’s authority
could not rest on military power alone. “We could be the wealthiest and
the most mighty nation and still lose the battle of the world if we do
not help our world neighbors protect their freedom and advance their
social and economic progress,” he said. “It is not the goal of the
American people that the United States should be the richest nation in
the graveyard of history.”
-- Evan Osnos, The New Yorker
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