An Alternative History for America at 250¶
JOHANNESBURG—In this, its semiquincentennial year, let’s give America its due. By the turn of the 20th century, it was a leading industrial power and achieved global primacy after the two world wars. It built the post-1945global governance system—the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (which became the World Trade Organization)—that helped prevent a third world war and advanced decolonization across Africa and Asia.