Theodore White, the famous presidential correspondent, wrote a memoir at the end of his career called AMERICA IN SEARCH OF ITSELF, THE MAKING OF THE PRESIDENT 1956-1980. His main theme in this work was that the presidential contest had in fact become an important means by which Americans defined themselves and created an identity for themselves in history. Surely the statement we all know: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country” accurately reflected the public mood in 1960, although it might attract significantly fewer enthusiasts today. The Campaign of 2016 has searched for the soul of America as few campaigns have, and results have frightened, indeed often terrified, intelligent political observers. What has happened, and why? Are we that different today than half a century ago? How and why have Donald Trump’s Populist based calls to build a wall across Mexico, not allow Muslims into the United States, and deport undocumented migrants to their homelands received so much support? Have popular media products like talk radio and cable news created a new culture for politics? Have the internet and iPhone essentially restructured the way democracies work? Have our cultural values shifted so much that individualism has eclipsed social concerns as a basis for political action? As competing visions of America engage each other, has polarization destroyed even the possibility of common ground?
About the presenterRobert R Tomes
Robert R. Tomes is a Professor of History and a Senior Vincentian Fellow at St John’s University. He holds a Ph.D. in History from NYU and a Professional Diploma in Ed. Administration from City College. He is the author of Apocalypse Then: American intellectuals and the Vietnam War; New York City, A Brief History; and American Issues, a two volume documentary history of the United States, now in its fifth edition.