A major, anti-militarist movement had challenged the wisdom of sending America’s young men to die on European killing fields over a dispute that was not ours, but the idealistic Wilson decided an intervention was necessary to make the world “safe for democracy.” Our nation has been having that same debate ever since, from World War II through Korea, Vietnam, Serbia, and Iraq. Less than 100 days into an “America First” presidency, the intervention dilemma is back. President Trump
launched a barrage of 59 Tomahawk missiles last week after being moved by grotesque images of Syrian children dying in a chemical gas attack (See Main Stories and Controversy.) Now
his administration is warning North Korea’s provocative Kim Jong Un that he, too, may suffer the new sheriff’s wrath. (See The World at a Glance)