He made something of a career of rescuing American leaders from disaster. Clifford was the last survivor of a remarkable generation of men who helped build the postwar world, a group that included Dean Acheson, John J. McCloy, Charles F. Bohlen, Robert A. Lovett. George Kennan and Paul Nitze are the only one of that generation left. Now nobody really controls Congress. Lawmakers are subject to far more rapid, far more direct influence from the public, through both organized and spontaneous campaigns by fax, phone and E-mail.
Every issue requires the building of new coalitions.
Most important, the kind of bipartisanship that prevailed during World War II and the cold war has all but vanished. Television has become the national political forum. The Cold War galvanized the nation and the parties but it is over. Things are far more fragmented. These were the men who built the postwar world.