Last month, Armenia’s parliament elected onetime Prime Minister Armen Sarkissian as the country’s next president, replacing the long-tenured Serzh Sargsyan as formal head of state. The election was met with shrugs, and not just because real power now shifts to the prime minister, who is widely expected to be Sargsyan.

If you need a break from the tawdry soap opera of American politics these days, 2018 provides many milestones that recall actual American greatness, even instilling some hope for its renewal. Last week marked the 70th anniversary of the formal start of the Marshall Plan and a golden era of U.S. leadership.