In April 1949, Winston Churchill spoke before a crowd of 14,000 in Boston Garden for MIT's "Mid-Century Convocation." TR published the speech, excerpted below, the following month. As we look to a new century, we're mindful of the lesson Churchill learned in this one: The seductive "brain buzz" of technology must be tempered by ethical codes.

We entered this terrible Twentieth Century with confidence. We thought that with improving transportation nations would get to know each other better. We believed that as they got to know each other better they would like each other more, and that national rivalries would fade in a growing international consciousness. We took it almost for granted that science would confer continual boons and blessings upon us....