Nativist extremists also felt the war’s millennial optimism
Evidence
It is important to realize that during the years from 1915 to 1919, 100 per cent Americanism shared in the heady optimism that flourished during the war and collapsed soon after. If the guardians of an exclusive loyalty had nothing else in common with the cosmopolitan, democratic nationalists, at least they felt a common exaltation. Despite the obsessive fears that tortured the 100 per centers, they too looked forward to a brave new world once the nation had passed through its ordeal. — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 1616
Categorization
- XREF: This collapse-and-defensive-turn parallels the reader’s question about what happens to threat-hardened groups when the world doesn’t deliver victory — links to the general solidarity literature. — connects to: Totalitarian movements justify present terror by reckoning in millennia rather than generations; Nazi ideology deliberately operated on millennial time scales to justify extreme measures — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 2762; Prewar nativism revival prepared groundwork for the war years’ greater passions — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 949 (+1 more)
Broader Connections
- Totalitarian movements justify present terror by reckoning in millennia rather than generations
#expands(0.85) - Nazi ideology deliberately operated on millennial time scales to justify extreme measures
#expands(0.85) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 2762 - Prewar nativism revival prepared groundwork for the war years’ greater passions
#corroborates(0.80) — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 949 - Nativism is a distinct phenomenon, a defensive nationalism of perceived national crisis
#qualifies(0.75) — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 971