Anniversaries mark important milestones in the development of a professional association. They provide an occasion for documenting, reflecting, and celebrating the past, and envisioning the future. In this issue the profession celebrates the centennial of the MENC: The National Association for Music Education, 1907-2007. The purpose of this article is to examine the final quarter of MENC's first century, 1982-2007, in the context of national and global developments. One could approach MENC history over this period without looking beyond the organization out into the greater society. Increasingly, however, scholars and historians of music education are coming to realize that studying the profession in isolation from the larger worlds which intersect, overlap, and shape it, can lead to meanings that are incomplete and that lack depth. Political scientist Thomas Friedman states: Today, more than ever, the traditional boundaries between politics, culture, technology, finance, national security and ecology are disappearing. You often cannot explain one without referring to the others, and you cannot explain the whole without reference to them all. (1) In a similar vein, I approach music education and MENC activities in this period using the breadth of Friedman's global approach, and beginning in 1982 when MENC was celebrating its seventy-fifth anniversary. There were four elements of that celebration that I consider prophetic, each one pointing ahead to some of the major themes and accomplishments of this last quarter-century. The first element is collaboration. The 1982 conference was held February 10-13 in San Antonio, Texas, and was hosted by the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) and Texas Music Educators Conference (TMEC). In the opinion of many observers, this collaboration was a positive development. Don Dillon, then executive director of MENC, wrote that the TMEA and TMEC put aside long-standing philosophical differences and worked as a team.(2) A second element worthy of note was the size of the conference. The event went down in history as the largest gathering of music educators, with an attendance of 14,800. Yet another element was musical diversity, since the occasion was celebrated with a Mexican fiesta and mariachi band. The fourth element was external funding, as Phillips Petroleum funded an audiovisual presentation to mark the anniversary celebration. In the spirit of marking the significance of the anniversary, Dillon wrote in the final issue of the Music Educators Journal for that year: This issue closes the volume, but it also opens the door to the next school year, 1984, the turn of the century, and the MENC centennial in 2007. (3) And now, I turn to look at some of the developments that have transpired since Dillon's statement. The Political Landscape Shapes Music Education In terms of global political developments in the last quarter-century, the period can be divided roughly into three segments: the breakdown of the Cold War regime, which came to a climax with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989; a post-Cold War period in the 1990s, during which new democracies were formed and names and borders of countries shifted; and the period since September 11, 2001, which has been characterized by a new era of patriotism. In what ways, if any, did these political developments impact trends and developments in music education, as reflected in MENC's agendas and activities? How did MENC advocate for music education in its relationship with the government? Beginning with the seventy-fifth anniversary in 1982, there is clear evidence of increased visibility of music education in the arena of the federal government. A statement documenting MENC's seventy-five years of growth was read into the Congressional Record on January 28, 1982, by Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah. In turn MENC received a letter of congratulations from the White House on its achievements. …