How on earth did the United States change from a posture of hoping to maintain a deadlock with the USSR, to a push for victory? The inside story of this shift, one that changed the course of world history, is only coming out in dribs and drabs. Perhaps if the world of academic historians were not so heavily populated by leftists, we would have much more attention paid to the question. But as matters stand, we have precious few insights on the dramatic story of the defeat of an evil, repressive, aggressive force, one as deadly as Nazism, but not recognized as such by most bon pensants of our time.

One of the most important sources of insight is Herbert E. Meyer, who played an integral role in shifting the paradigm. In part 3 of his conversation with Powerline’s Steve Hayward, Meyer discusses the process of turning around the national security bureaucracy, which, as he points out, had careers at stake in continuing the struggle, not in victory.

It is an education --  mostly not taught in our universities -- in under 9 minutes.