The Open Question

In my view, the United States has suffered a defeat at Geneva.

The issues of life and death come home in the end to nations as to the individual persons who make up nations. Since neither individuals nor nations can live forever, since there is a temporality about their fate that is beyond human control, the problem confronting them is not primarily whether they will live or die, but whether their mode of action is such that they comport themselves with honor and valor and virtue, whatever the outcome may be. The horror of life today is that the very meaning of these ends is almost forgotten. Therefore, the direction of American statecraft heads not toward heroic victory or tragic defeat, but toward a whimpering amalgam of farce and pathos.

FS

About the Author

Frank S. Meyer

Frank S. Meyer was a senior editor of National Review.

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In my view, the United States has suffered a defeat at Geneva.

The issues of life and death come home in the end to nations as to the individual persons who make up nations. Since neither individuals nor nations can live forever, since there is a temporality about their fate that is beyond human control, the problem confronting them is not primarily whether they will live or die, but whether their mode of action is such that they comport themselves with honor and valor and virtue, whatever the outcome may be. The horror of life today is that the very meaning of these ends is almost forgotten. Therefore, the direction of American statecraft heads not toward heroic victory or tragic defeat, but toward a whimpering amalgam of farce and pathos.