If you want to understand the global cachet held by the United States at the end of the Cold War, consider this tidbit: Former President George H.W. Bush convinced the Group of Seven to hold its 1990 meeting in Houston. In July.
The mercury was in the triple digits, but that didn’t stop the leaders of the free world from assembling for an outdoor ceremony at Rice University. Giant air-conditioners helped with the weather somewhat, but those just led to a different problem. To prevent the mechanized breeze from causing any sudden wardrobe malfunctions, so the story goes, staffers had to sew fishing weights into the hem of Margaret Thatcher’s dress.