The images of President Joe Biden in Normandy marking the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion were poignant considering the nation is now so divided. As we look back in admiration, however, we should also remember that in the years before World War II, American society was more deeply fractured than it is today. In at least one aspect, this was true even during the war: The U.S. armed forces were racially segregated. After Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it is inconceivable that global war can again be the forge that welds the nation together. This reality means that somehow we must tolerate our divisions as we try to ameliorate them, incrementally, through our barely functional political process.

Source: Washington Post June 11, 2024 04:07 UTC