"The high-water mark of the American Empire was...." Pretend you're a historian and fill in the

[pampango]

40. Militarily: August 29, 1949 - the date of USSR's first atomic bomb test

Prior to that date the US had a nuclear bomb monopoly for 4 years and had shown the willingness to use them. That was a very potent combination.

Politically: FDR's New Deal programs during the Great Depression, the groundwork he laid for a more open, interdependent world after WWII and LBJ's achievement of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Economically: The New Deal (again), the multilateral organizations after WWII (again) and the Marshall Plan for Europe.

Civil Rights: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 obviously and, second, the Immigration Act of 1965 which reversed the racist restrictions of the 1924 Act and contributed greatly to the multicultural society we have today.