The US Federal Government helped rebuild Europe after World War II, conquered polio, faced down communism, attacked racial discrimination, reduced poverty among the elderly and put men on the moon. This volume explores the federal government's most successful accomplishments from 1944 to 1999, and anticipates the most significant challenges of the following half century. While some successes have come through major legislation or large-scale efforts, most have been achieved through collections of smaller, often unheralded statutes. Drawing on survey responses from 230 historians and 220 political scientists at colleges and universities across the US, this book ranks and summarizes the 50 greatest US government achievements from 1944 to 1999. The achievements have been ranked based on difficulty, importance and degree of success. It paints a picture of the most intense government efforts to improve the quality of life both at home and abroad. It also examines how Americans perceive government's greatest achievements, and reveals what they consider to be its most significant failures.