If there was a moment in history that a power could have made a bid for global domination—for a new Rome to arise—this was it. And if there was ever a good reason to make such a bid, it was the nuclear-tinged competition that was arising with the Soviets the day after the guns fell silent in Germany. It didn’t happen. Instead, the Americans offered their wartime allies a deal. The Americans would use their navy—the only navy of size to survive the war—to patrol the global ocean and protect the commerce of all.
