The attack on 9/11 caught America off guard. The prevailing weather conditions up and down an unsuspecting East Coast that day were symbolic of the nation at the time. It was crystal clear and calm, the skies blushing a wondrous shade of blue. We were fresh off two decades marked by peace and prosperity, the final victory in a decades-long cold war, and the demise of an evil empire. Political scientist Francis Fukuyama had famously written that, with the West’s victory in the Cold War, we had reached “The End of History.” Fascism and communism had been vanquished once and for all, and Western liberal democracy had been affirmed as the final and most successful form of government. We had reached the conclusion of “mankind’s ideological evolution.” Most of us saw nothing but good times ahead.
And then, it happened. Exactly 59 years, 9 months, and 4 days following Japan’s sneak attack on Pearl Harbor and 37 years, 9 months, and 20 days after the horrifying assassination of John F. Kennedy in broad daylight, the nation was brought to its knees once more by a terrorist attack on the homeland. This time, the assault was not on a distant outpost in the Pacific Ocean, but on the very heart of America’s financial, political, and military institutions. Those of us who were in New York on that unforgettable day have the memories burned into our conscience.
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