JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – At 7:15 p.m., hours after the attacks on the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, 2001, members of Congress from both sides of the aisle came together to stand on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.
Congressional leaders addressed the attacks on the towers and the Pentagon and offered their condolences to families of victims, and following a moment of silence, the lawmakers spontaneously broke into song, belting out the words to “God Bless America” together.
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It was a remarkable show of political unity that marked the aftermath of the deadliest terrorist attack in American history. Similar scenes of unity and patriotism played out in neighborhoods and sports stadiums across the country in the days that followed.
“I think it’s important to go back in time, to remember what that was like, and for those who weren’t here to imagine what it was like to have those planes crash into the towers, and where the country was. The nation was in shock, there was a great deal of fear, and the nation very much came together,” News4Jax political analyst Rick Mullaney said. “It came together in a unified way, maybe unlike any of my lifetime.”
Mullaney compared the unity seen after 9/11 to the patriotism and unity witnessed during World War II.
Less than a year before, George W. Bush was elected president despite losing the popular vote in one of the most controversial and bipartisan elections in history, defined by the vote recount in Florida.
But that division faded away that fateful day in September when more than 3,000 American lives were lost. Bush went from losing the popular vote to having a 91% approval rating. The country, along with lawmakers, united to mourn and the vast majority, 88%, favored military action in Afghanistan, and the same goes for Congress.
“This sense that we were protected by two oceans and that we would never be attacked on our homeland was destroyed. That really did hit the American people hard, and the nation rallied,” Mullaney said.
That unity had political consequences, starting with the midterms in 2002.
Historically, incumbent first-term presidents never carry a majority in 2002, Mullaney said, but Republicans added to their House and Senate majorities.
“Contrast that with happened to President Obama in 2010, who lost 60 seats in the House, and President Trump in 2018, who lost over 40 seats in the House,” Mullaney said.
Then in 2004, Bush, who had lost the popular vote in 2001, won the majority vote — the only time in the history of our country where a president has lost the popular vote in one year and then come back to win the popular vote in the next election.
But now, 20 years later, the nation is in a very different place. Opinions on the coronavirus, immigration, taxes, infrastructure and countless other topics largely fall along party lines.
“That spirit of bipartisanship is gone,” Mullaney said. “That sense of unity is gone, at least for domestic policy. We are a divided nation. A lot has happened in 20 years, but clearly, Afghanistan illustrates the current political divide.”
So the question becomes, can the United States once again become united?
“Are we going to have that spirit of bipartisanship today? Very, very hard for us to have it, there’s just no question,” Mullaney said.
