ABSTRACT
Power can be exercised in the forms of instrumental coercion, institutional structure or ideas and information. Confronted with evident evils and desperate conditions, people with power had moral and immoral choices to make. The United States avoided entering both world wars. As Europe's strength and cultural confidence waned during the war, the United States was left relatively unscathed and able to assume a larger international role. The American journalists who witnessed the rise of totalitarian regimes had mixed impressions. Communists asserted that their principles of enforced equality overrode the liberties of individuals. Fascists expected fundamental rights to be given up for the ambitions and greatness of the nation as determined by domineering leaders. The United States played a leading role in the postwar human rights revolution, but sometimes delayed or resisted participation in the resulting international agreements and bodies in order to preserve its ability to act unilaterally without repercussions.
