Wallace was speaking to a women's college in the middle of World War II, and he made a direct argument for women's unique capacity in building peace. He connected education, character-building, and the communication of enthusiasm — arguing that 'the majority of women throughout history have demonstrated a unique capacity' in these areas. His broader argument was about the relationship between education and peace. He warned that Germany's descent into Nazism had begun in its schools — 'schools of death' that taught racial superiority and the right to dominate by force. The lesson was clear: 'When the education of youth goes wrong, sooner or later all goes wrong.' The cure was equally educational: after the war, the liberal tradition within Germany had to be given the chance to rebuild its schools, or the cycle would repeat. Wallace's prophecy about the importance of not abandoning German youth after the war proved remarkably prescient.