The American Century was about to begin, but clearly no one wanted to pay for it. A certain schizophrenia was at work here: We wanted to be the policemen of the world, particularly in Asia, but we certainly did not want to get involved in messy, costly foreign wars. As Acheson once noted, the foreign policy of the United States in those years immediately after the war could be summed up in three sentences: “1. Bring the boys home; 2. Don’t be Santa Claus; 3. Don’t be pushed around.”
