It took years of focused effort among many nations to bring the NPT into force fourdecades ago and to sustain it as the most widely embraced nuclear agreement in history.
Encouraged into the field by Elizabeth David, fourdecades of his scholarship and erudition were recognized last year when he was awarded the Erasmus Prize.
If this plan fails to provide a satisfactory return over fourdecades between entering the work force and retiring, it will be because the U.S. economy goes into a long-term funk.