WHEN WAS AMERICA GREAT? - A FASCINATING QUESTION!

By Edwin Cooney

In a recent column, writer Margot Sanger-Katz focused on Donald J. Trump’s slogan “Make America Great Again!” by wondering, “When was America Great?”

Approximately 2,000 registered voters were asked that question and their answers were fascinating.  Most said that the year 2000 was America’s greatest year.  We had a Democratic president, but that year a Republican president succeeded him.  Republican responders tended to say America was great in 1955 or, understandably, in the 1980s while Democratic voters asserted that the mid 1990s were America’s greatest years.  A few voters said 2008 was great even with the simultaneous occurrences of the national recession and the election of President Obama.

Hillary Clinton supporters tended to insist that the mid 1990s were the greatest years while Bernie Sanders voters suggested that the late 1960s were America’s greatest years.  There were scattered votes for 1776, 1789, 1800, 1860 and 1960.  

If someone was to ask me, and no one has, I’d choose an era rather than a specific year.  Before being specific, I think it’s a good idea to define what we’re looking for.

First, it’s important to separate the term “great” from the term “perfect.”  America has never been and never will be “perfect.”  It may become “more perfect,” the stated goal of the Preamble of the Constitution, but perfection needs to first be achieved by humankind before any nation state can proclaim political, social, economic or moral perfection.

Second, I’m convinced that greatness must be inclusive of the hopes, dreams and needs of the whole society, not just for the rich or the poor, the educated or uneducated, the Conservative or the Liberal, etc.

Third, America has to be a benefactor abroad just as we were in World War II, during the founding of the United Nations, as we administered the Marshall plan for the reconstruction of Europe, and performed other peace-strengthening tasks and programs.

Finally, I think America can only be great when it is in the mood to be great.  To be great is to be magnanimous at home as well as abroad. An angry nation is hardly in a position to listen to the hopes, fears and needs of sister nations.  Nor is an angry resentful America capable of inspiring, let alone nurturing, humankind.

America performed great tasks before it was truly great.  Such tasks included the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, passage of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and settlement of the North American continent (although that process had a very ugly side). Other accomplishments: Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation, the great railroads were constructed, and there was a steady movement toward gratifying human rights here at home.

It’s my opinion that America was the greatest between 1933 and 1969 during the Franklin Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower and Johnson administrations.  We gave and even guaranteed enough to each other to energize our capacity to share with the rest of the world.  This period included the opening of the United Nations, the Marshall plan, the Berlin airlift, and the establishment of NATO under Harry Truman.

Under Dwight Eisenhower, SEATO (the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization) was established, Brown vs. Board of Education (1954) was decided, the interstate highway system was created, and the National Defense Education Act was adopted.

The Kennedy administration established the Peace Corps and the Alliance for Progress to assist the economies of Central and South American nations, envisioned landing on the moon, and, utilizing determination and restraint, prevented a super power nuclear disaster during the October 1962 Cuban missile crisis.

LBJ oversaw passage of the 1964 Civil Rights bill, the 1965 Voting Rights bill, fair housing, truth in packaging, and Medicare legislation.

Even with the close of this era, Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, G. H. W. Bush, Clinton, G. W. Bush and Obama all proposed and signed legislation reflecting elements of American greatness.

The reputation for greatness usually is bestowed on nation states or empires once they have passed into history.  We have all read in our high school history texts of the great civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire and, of course, the magnificent British Empire which brought us into being.  These civilizations contributed such gifts as the domestication of animals, the creation of legal codes, great literature, and the founding of democratic institutions.

The years 1936 through 1969, I believe, showcased America at its highest level of greatness.  The American people and people all over the world benefited as Americans grew materially comfortable.  Even as they did so, their heritage began to warn them that there was still more work to do.  That warning was for this era of political and social discontent through which we’re currently passing and I’m sure it is derived from that social conscience handed down to us by Franklin, Washington, Jefferson, and Madison with later assists from Abraham Lincoln and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

When we admire the successful both at home and abroad who encourage and support the ambitions of working men and women, who in turn insist upon nurturing the poor, who then are energized and dignified by limitless potential, we will once again indeed be a nation of incredibly great people!

When that day comes, we will have reached an even longer era during which America will possess greatness. May that greatness be everlasting.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY