“the american experiment in self-government was now facing what was, excepting the civil war, its greatest and through [out] the world the free way of life was in thirty-three days while franklin roosevelt celebrated his fifty-first hundred thousand massed storm troopers and national socialist marched through the darkened streets of waving swastika many had deserted freedom, many snore had lost their nerve. but roosevelt, armored in some inner faith, remained calm and inscrutable, confident that american improvisation could meet the future on its own he was calm and the collapse of the older order meant catharsis, rather than [the] crisis could change from calamity to challenge. the only thing america had to fear was fear itself.”
arthur schlesinger jr., the crisis of the old order, 1957
the “greatest test” that schlesinger was alluding to was
a.) the people of asia and africa achieve their independence from their colonial rulers
b.) solving the economic problems of the great depression
c.) how to rid the world of the threat of the spread of communism
d.) the issue of the decline in morals and values afflicting america