From this point of view, area studies represent but a slight increase of detailed knowledge over that which the average student acquires before he begins specialization in any linguistic or historical field. This knowledge must be supplemented by detailed studies in one of the accepted fields of learning if the student is not to remain a talented amateur. But there is another aspect of area studies which has given them their vogue at the present time. The global complexion of World War II brought home to the American government, all far-sighted educators and even to members of the general public, the tremendous ignorance which existed in the United States concerning all parts of the world except some sections of Western Europe. It was urgently necessary to prepare, in the minimum time, relatively large numbers of individuals to serve throughout the world. The involvement of the Soviet Union and the Nazi overrunning of the states to its west further emphasized this need. Area studies were the result. These studies were definitely geared to educate men and women who could be quickly called in case of need. That need still exists and undoubtedly a large percentage of the students who enter such concentrated programs hope to put their knowledge to practical use, for the most part, outside the universities. There is still a great demand for area courses and if ever the Iron Curtain were lifted and free commercial relations reestablished, we would speedily find that even with all these courses, the demand would outstrip the supply. But, it seems likely that area studies will diminish in popularity if Slavic and other East European studies find their rightful place in the undergraduate curriculum and provide students with a real appreciation of the significance and general culture of the area. If that were so, they might continue with still greater detail, for an area study including the entire Soviet Union and the satellites becomes almost a contradiction in terms. It would be the same as if a student selected North and South America for a single area study. It becomes very little more than a brief survey of conditions in some particular field. This danger has appeared already in places where area studies have been given on the Slavic lands and have tended to become mere adjuncts of certain phases of Russian and Communist politics and thought.