ABSTRACT
The sanguine spirit that has characterized American thought is faced with the fact that for a generation societies in Europe have been negating civilized achievement. A traditional coherence in society has been broken down in the dislocations of war. The courage and moral restraint necessary to start history on its ordinary and progressive course again may lie beyond the capacity of democratic citizenry. One proposition needs to be affirmed: Civilization has been constructed by men going beyond themselves or their customary impulses. Both secular and theological interpretations of history and politics take the fruits of history as suggestive at least of social dynamics. Security as a symbol in politics is profoundly evocative because of the latent pessimism of the popular mind, as demonstrated at least by movements of violence and anti-intellectualism in European politics, and to some extent in America.
