So you think America had a troubled winter? Striking truckers, gasoline shortages and long lines at the pumps, food prices up 30 per cent and a President in deeper trouble than any President since Andrew Johnson and Herbert Hoover.

But suppose your constitution was only a year and a half old and your political system seemed to depend mainly on the art of one adroit and very energetic man. Or that the political coalition which alone could provide some inclusive national direction was eroding, leaving only splintered, regional parties as a plausible alternative. Or that economic resources were becoming so scarce that wherever policy-makers turned they found a nearly empty barrel.