50

Following their brutal Civil War, the player to watch is the re-United
States. Union soldiers of lofty ideals have won a righteous war to end
slavery, and now millions turn their energy westward – from sea to shining sea. It is a frenzy of industrial state-building. Railroads are laid for fathoms. Cities balloon. Passion erupts.

European empires conquer every nook and cranny of the planet, but America is quickly putting on muscle. We are already, though unrecognised, the world’s greatest power. Pioneers master the frontier from Nebraska to Alaska, and there’s no halt in sight. Though a great cataclysm will be required to shake Europe’s foundations and influence, America will be prepared to become the leading power.

The Gilded Age is burning itself out. America is known throughout the world
as the land where streets are paved with gold. Carnegie and Rockefeller lead
the world in steel and oil, creating unprecedented national fortune. Yet
underneath that fine filigree, there is panic. Banks foreclose, and strikes
blaze from Chicago to New York. With an influx of new immigrants and no more
frontier to conquer, we have outgrown our vast continent. The itch for
empire has begun.

Many of our elites, influenced by England, are enamored with imperialism.
European powers have gobbled up Africa and Asia, and their colonies greedily
extract sugar, rubber, gold, and blood. America has focused inward for
decades, but prospects from Cuba to Hawaii beckon. It isn’t long before we
seize upon the moribund Spanish Empire. America has caught imperial fever.
Like most drugs, it feels good in the beginning.

The forces of evil coalesce. Fascism grips Germany and Italy as a brutal
panacea for the shame of defeat and the hardship of the Great Depression.
Japan too, learning from the West and taking racism to new levels, is
ravaging Asia. As the aggressors encroach, free people from Austria to China
crumble one by one, and a shell-shocked America must thwart these rogue
regimes.

As Hitler conjures his armies upon the Polish border, preparing to unleash
the blitzkrieg eastward, Roosevelt wrings his hands. His New Deal, while
grand and innovative, has demonstrable flaws. Americans remain hungry in
shantytowns nationwide, and the President cannot distract from his task at
hand with a war’s worth of death and sorrow. Perhaps he can stay neutral and
finance the war from afar, but with Churchill set to take office in Britain,
we will see the limits of soft power.

Europe has completed its second act of self-immolation, and the United
States holds the keys to the postwar world. Truman’s atomic arsenal remains
a powerful advantage—how long will it last? WWII has imparted two lessons:
first, we believe that only a free and stable global economy can prevent a
relapse into anarchy; second, an aggressive ideology overseas has killed
400,000 Americans. Europe still retains its spirit, and the spark of Revival
remains alive, though dormant. For now, we will need to take inspired steps
on behalf of freedom and democracy.

Stalin has different aims. America may have escaped relatively unscathed
from the war, but the Soviet Union is decimated. Stalin will not allow
another Nazi Germany to rise, and he ‘liberates’ Eastern Europe as a buffer
to ensure security. Truman sees aggression. Stalin sees prevention. Two
ideologies opposed. The next 50 years’ scene is coldly, grimly set.

Washington fears a domino effect from one nation’s fall to a world of
Communist holdings. Thus, American funding pours overseas from Iran to
Vietnam. What’s more, the Suez Crisis has demonstrated that US realpolitik
will prioritize puppet regimes over her ancient allies. What started as an
ideological dispute has turned to war—not fought by either belligerent, but
by the governments of the third world. We must regard this as an error. It’s
a show of atomic one-upmanship, as schoolchildren practice fallout drills,
and the great Space Race is on.

Meanwhile, Elvis is on the radio at the Interstate Diner. Marilyn Monroe is
the envy of all, rock n’ roll takes root, and the average American can
afford Cadillacs by the bushel. It’s a honeymoon in Hollywood, and America
continues to bust all human records of prosperity, happiness, and power.
Glamour in the California sun. Beach Boys, baby.

On November 22, the Beatles release their chart-topping second album With
the Beatles, and Kennedy is assassinated. Consternation gathers in Saigon,
where the US has backed a bloody coup and continues to send special forces.
We have unwittingly set upon a slippery slope, but America has stayed
mesmerized by the young President. Everything comes to an abrupt end at
12:30pm in Dallas, and doubts erupt from Civil Rights to Vietnam. The
innocent prosperity of the 50s is giving way to a new era of global conflict
and cynicism.

The arms race is getting out of hand, and we stand on the precipice of
nuclear Armageddon. With Americans still reeling from last year’s Cuban
Missile Crisis, we realize to our shock that we are vulnerable. We stay
glued to their televisions, waiting for updates on situations near and far.
Yesterday Cuba, today Vietnam, tomorrow outer space. As the ratios of our
victories diminish, Kennedy’s admonishment to “pay any price, bear any
burden” begins to beggar doubt.

I now abandon all objectivity to honor a personal hero. In January 1965, Winston Spencer Churchill dies, all the while aware that the Empire he stewarded is liquidating. Lincoln never had to see such a grim fate. I mourn for his dolor. Few men are such valiant soldiers of freedom. Few men have the gumption to spit in the face of evil. Few men must suffer the ache of witnessing their homeland slip away. And now, we must take heed.

The world is complex going forward, and in his words, “never in the course of human history has so much been owed by so many to so few.” Britain is adrift. They commence their swan song, lacking a hero and his direction. But they are nevertheless bathed in glory. From a small island home, they have repulsed the enmity of an entire continent. They remain cognizant that the moment at Churchill’s final breath was indeed “their finest hour.”

I do not ignore the complexities of praising such an Empire. The gallant English soul has not always led righteous marches. Both of my ancestral peoples, the Irish and the Indians, have undergone the yoke of British rule. But I forgive, and I admire. Great men like Churchill are worth remembering, and conquering the world is no easy thing—one to be applauded.

The wise sense impending defeat. Nixon has decided to seek “Peace with
Honor” in Vietnam—so we start bombing. We slowly learn the limits of might
and the power of conviction against all odds. Nixon’s negotiations are far
too flaccid to resolve anything, and the peace protests only worsen.

But America’s dignity remains intact, and even amidst this defeat we strike
a great victory. We have sent Americans to the moon, putting a decisive end
to a 30 year Space Race. We are rising to meet the challenges of a 70s
economy, where capital transcends borders and American multinationals
dominate. There will be mistakes, but we are preparing for greatness when
the Cold War finally ends. We embrace our past foe China, which poses
threats yet unknown. We are becoming the world’s first hyperpower. It is
Revival at its finest, or perhaps one might call it triumph. In the
seeds of every victory…