He revitalized the economy with an austerity program, reformed Roman law and standardized it with the "Justinian Code" which became a foundation for much of western civil law thereafter. He was a true Roman, who spoke Latin as his native tongue, the last ruler to do so. He rejoined the west with the Byzantine empire, launching a golden age of Byzantium.
The renewed empire became prosperous and strong but was stymied in the end by a crippling epidemic of bubonic plague. And, as always with the Romans, when he died there was no clear preparation for succession.
Will America produce a Justinian renewal? She certainly could.
The Roman Empire really fell in 1453, not 496.
Throughout its history it had multiple renaissances.
You have a much more approving view of Justinian’s career than I do. IMO his reign was a classic example of imperial overstretch. His conquest of N. Africa was a success, but his conquest of Italy succeeded primarily in almost completely destroying what had been a functioning classical society up to then, even if ruled by “barbarians” rather than the empire. The see-saw destructive war in Italy was almost entirely a result of Justinian’s jealousy of Belisarius and failure to properly support this talented and loyal general.
Justinian wasted immense amounts of money on ego-gratifying, even if beautiful, building projects such as Hagia Sophia. He also greatly over-taxed the population.
Justinian’s attempts at over-expansion probably were a major contribution to the empire’s eventual decline and Muslim conquest of half of it.