If the 20th century was the American Century, 1946 may have been the American Year. Much of the rest of the world – Europe, the U.S.S.R., Japan, China and so many other countries were in ruins – while the U.S mainland had never been directly attacked save for a desperate Japanese effort to have submarines launch fire balloons to start forest fires in Oregon and divert the military. We were the only country with nuclear weapons; the Soviet Union wouldn’t test one until 1949.