Some stages in history seem to resemble periods in the lives of individuals. As an individual is Born, grows and dies, so do societies undergo a similar cycle of birth, florescence and decay. And, like different individuals, different societies are charged with varying amounts of enthusiasm, moral fervor, faith in progress and the ultimate rightness of things --a conglomerate of moral values commonly designated by the inexact term, "idealism."

A great part of the nineteenth century was charged with consciousness of the great moral purpose of humanity. The idea of progress, the shibboleths so political democracy and individual liberty, and, later, the yeasty doctrines of Marx and of derivative socialisms-all were conceptions based on a faith in the fundamental worth of man, his capabilities for improvement, and an altruistic desire to speed that improvement. Similarly, in the past decade of the "thirties, the American people were forced by depression to solve common problems through common action, to see the social consequences of individual actions and to become mindful of the forgotten man, the little fellow, In each era, successively culminating in the new Freedom of Wilson and the New Deal of Roosevelt-there was an optimistic, morally charged striving for social ends by individuals.

Each of these eras of idealism was followed by a World War in which the idealistic striving for common ends reached new highs. The United States fought World War l, in theory at least, to save the world for Wilson democracy; it fought World War 11 as a matter o self-preservation of its democracy against a rising authoritarianism. After World War I, however, this notion returned to a complacent normalcy; materialism succeeded an idealism that had spent its energy in the right in this country reflects, in great measure, the fact that another unequalled war effort has once more expended and exhausted the moral energy within the nation.

It would be tragic, indeed, if another period of spiritual bankruptcy were to be foisted upon the United States and the world. What is called for is a 'tough-minded idealism,' to borrow Mr. Conant's phrase, that will utilize the moral and idealistic energy generated during the war for peacetime social goals, that will establish practical aims for common action. "Tough-minded idealists" are needed to lead and implement such a program. Only thus may this country preserve its moral leader shop among nations and continue to lead the way to peace and well-being.