World War II ended. Einstein entered the last decade of his life. His emaciated face was covered with wrinkles, and his deep-set piercing eyes had witnessed the debacles of two world wars of the twentieth century. His homeland Germany, as well as many other countries, was in ruins. The holocaust had slaughtered millions of his kindred Jewish people. The atomic bombs had turned entire cities to cinders. The war was ended. Gone was the wartime spirit of unity, and on the world stage was now the rivalry and enmity of the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. The Soviet consolidation of its military victory and expansion of its sphere of influence was conceived as a new political and moral war against the West. Likewise, in the minds of the Soviets, America tried to dominate the world and eventually destroy communism. Where was the new US-Soviet antagonism leading the world to? Einstein was concerned about the future. A person might live an isolated life, but everyone was part of and connected to the whole world. Einstein felt strongly that his world fame carried a worldwide responsibility—for world peace and social justice (Fig. 12.1).