By Christopher Young,
Contributing Writer,
Everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing when the news filled our collective screens, America as an institution was under attack. The attacks on The World Trade Center buildings in New York City, the Pentagon, and the subverted attempt by hijackers to attack the U.S. Capitol Building on September 11, 2001, pierced our national consciousness. All total, 2,977 lives were lost. From the first crash, into the World Trade Center Building 1, to the crash of United Airlines Flight 93 into the Shanksville, Pennsylvania field just one hour and seventeen minutes had passed. On many levels, life in America has never been the same. The country came together. The bright light of unity extinguished any divisions, at least for a time.
Many events have brought Americans together in the same or similar ways. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 brought the United States into World War II. Over two thousand lives were lost that day. The country came together. Enlistments in the armed forces skyrocketed. Our national economy pivoted to support the war effort. In 1945 the Allied Powers defeated the Axis Powers. Over 405 thousand American lives were lost in the battle to prevent totalitarianism, imperialism, and fascism – global dominance.
In 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded before our eyes just 73 seconds into flight, and the country paused to mourn and grieve the loss of the seven crew members, including a schoolteacher from New Hampshire. In 1995, the stunning bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City – 186 dead, including 19 children. America stood as one. Help came from every corner. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast. It had been Category 5 (175 mph), yet weakened to Category 3 (125 mph), before making landfall. The devastation claimed 1,800 lives. Reports vary, but at least 1.5 million were displaced. The response of the U.S. Government was a horrible failure, yet Americans from all 50 states came to the aid of the stricken region. Regular people opened their homes to refugees, ad hoc work crews arrived, funds poured in, and feeding stations sprang up. Political divisions and social divisions ceased. For a season, just like in the aftermath of other events, Americans stood as one, grieving, resilient, and determined to help.
Conversely, there have been many events where our country was sharply divided. The Colonists were divided over breaking away from Great Britan. Most sources indicate that only 25 percent wanted independence, the vast majority remained neutral. Just prior to the Civil War, pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers in Kansas did unthinkable battle – some sources called it guerilla warfare being waged – would Kansas be admitted to the Union as a free-state or a slave-state? In the end Kansas became a free-state, and hundreds died in the process.
The Civil War claimed the lives of 600,000 as a divided United States raged on. Eleven Southern States seceded from the Unites States to form the Confederate States of America. The slaveholding Confederacy was an economic juggernaut, supplying 75 percent of the world’s cotton. Using his authority for good cause, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation mid-way through the war, freeing all slaves in the Confederate States. This country has never fully recovered from the horrors of slavery, a direct and ongoing impact of division. What is known as The Gilded Age which included the labor movements of the late 19th century divided America – massive industrial advancement created a classist society – wealthy business owners battling the very workers that delivered their immense profits on their backs.
Leading up to World War I the country was divided over entering the war – often referred to as The Isolationism Debate. The U.S. Government responded by cracking down on the dissent and on free speech. The grossly unpopular Vietnam War lasted from 1955 to 1975 and claimed the lives of over 58,000 Americans and a reported two million Vietnamese. Running in parallel, The Civil Rights Movement sought to end the legal racial segregation and discrimination against African Americans still surging 91 years after The Emancipation Proclamation.
Despite winning nearly 63 percent of the popular vote and nearly 68 percent of the electoral vote in the 2008 Presidential election, conservative resistance rose vigorously toward the policies of the nations first African American President, Barack Obama. The modern Tea Party was formed. In the next mid-term elections, 63 seats changed hands to Republicans, who seized control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Despite the conservative uprising, in the 2012 Presidential election, President Obama won over 51 percent of the popular vote and nearly 62 percent of the electoral vote.
Now, in the era of Trump, who never secured 50 percent of the popular vote in 2016 or 2024, per The American Presidency Project at University of California – Santa Barbara, we see clearly that fear and division have fueled the masses – instead of presidential performance. Do Americans and our country’s longstanding problems benefit from the divisive behavior of a president? Does creating existential threats (boogeymen) solve anything? As culture wars rage on, major corporations’ pedal outrage and misinformation, leading to higher levels of public engagement, and therefore, monumental profits. We are never helped by division, and yet, here we are again.
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