The death of the "liberal arts," however defined, is a motif of lament in American higher education. It became a popular leitmotif in the late nineteenth century. Over the past century, there have been heated debates about the future of the liberal arts curriculum, mostly based in a narrative of decline from a golden age just beyond the time horizon. But the ideal of a broad general education in the liberal arts has been resilient. One cause of that resilience is the organized defense of the liberal arts conducted by the Association of American Colleges (AAC), later the Association of American Colleges and Universities. This article looks at the history of liberal arts education within the first World War, the second World War, the Cold War, and the new century.