In 1942, with World War II raging, the U.S. government recognized the strategic importance of developing a nuclear weapon before the Germans did. Under the auspices of the Manhattan Project, an international team of atomic scientists was recruited and set to work in facilities across the country. The first nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima three years later.

The military action remains controversial more than six decades later, but it illustrates how a nation can muster historic results in comparatively little time when political leaders call for it and provide the resources.

It is not the only example. NASA was only three years old when President John F. Kennedy in 1961 announced that the agency should strive to put a man on the moon by 1970. The aim was visionary but fueled by desperation -- the Russian space program was well ahead of its American equivalent at the time. Kennedy convinced Congress to fund the effort and on July 20, 1969, American astronaut Neil Armstrong took his "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

Why the history?

Our nation faces a historic crisis because of its dependence on foreign oil. Auto makers have demonstrated an unwillingness to solve the problem and congressionally mandated increases in fuel efficiency will likely provide too little relief -- too late. The Bush administration has relied on tired proposals to expand drilling and calls for increased production from the overseas oil conglomerates.

Both Barack Obama and John McCain have energy plans that would be an improvement, but may still not be ambitious enough.

McCain has called for a $300 million prize for the inventor of hybrid technology more affordable. McCain may be onto something, but the plan falls short -- the sum would be an inadequate incentive to encourage the revolutionary technology required. Obama says he would like to invest $150 billion over 10 years in clean energy.

The size of the investment may matter less than the vision. Our nation's leaders may want to look to their history books for a plan. The answer may not require shepherding the world's top scientists out to a desert outpost and setting them to work around-the-clock. But why not? The method has worked before.