Birthdays are worth celebrating—especially America’s. This is why since January, The Vandenberg Coalition has published a series of videos commemorating the anniversaries of, and extracting lessons from, landmark documents and speeches in U.S. foreign policy history. The first three installments—Senator Arthur Vandenberg’s “Speech Heard ‘Round The World,” George Kennan’s Long Telegram, and the Truman Doctrine Speech—offer a roadmap from the beginning of the Cold War for formulating a strategy to triumph over today’s daunting foreign policy challenges.

In 1945, Senator Arthur Vandenberg argued that America needed a postwar strategy grounded in principles, pragmatism, and public support. His January 10 address emphasized that America must first play an active role shaping the postwar world, in instances “consistent with legitimate American self-interest, with constitutional process and with collateral events which warrant it.” He was praised widely for aligning the American public’s willingness to engage abroad with a realistic strategy rooted in American freedom.

George Kennan’s Long Telegram addressed the next challenge: understanding our adversaries. In February 1946, Kennan illustrated that the Soviet Union’s hostility resulted from a fusion of Russian historical insecurity and Marxist-Leninist ideology, and argued that American success would “depend on [the] degree of cohesion, firmness and vigor which [the] Western World can muster.” Kennan wrote that building a formidable military, trusting American institutions, and exercising strategic patience would serve America well against the Soviet Union.

President Harry Truman reminded us that bold execution matters just as much as strategic planning. At least in part influenced by Vandenberg and Kennan’s ideas, President Truman urged Congress to authorize $400 million in security assistance to counter communist influence in Eastern Europe in a speech delivered on March 12, 1947. Truman reinforced that American foreign policy must match our strategy by supporting American principles abroad in the face of totalitarian threats.

Together, these leaders shaped a successful Cold War grand strategy built on public support, discerning our adversaries’ motivations, and steadfast confidence in the power of American values abroad. As President Ronald Reagan later predicted in his 1987 “Tear Down This Wall” speech—the subject of our next video—American liberty backed by economic strength, military power, and strong alliances would prevail over the Soviet Union. Ultimately, these visionaries were right: after 40 years, the United States was able to outclass and outmatch the Soviet Union and win the Cold War.

This lesson is no less relevant today as we commemorate our semiquincentennial while considering today’s strategic challenges. American values remain an advantage worth harnessing, adversaries must be understood with clarity rather than wishful thinking, and long-term challenges demand leaders willing to act with boldness and conviction. The leaders responsible for our Cold War strategy laid the foundation for our victory. The question before this generation is whether we possess the confidence and resolve to do the same.