Trump's divided inauguration day recalls Lincoln's in 1861, Nixon's in 1973

On possibly the most politically polarized Inauguration Day since the Civil War, Americans celebrated, mourned or simply marveled at the ascension of Donald Trump. Roughly half the populace was happy and excited, the other half sad or even scared. 

The most famously angry people in U.S. politics – Trump voters – were filled with hope. Democrats, so hopeful eight years ago, were now the angry ones.

In a speech that, given the forum, was strikingly populist, Trump was less concerned with healing America than making it great again. But he said unity would come through a revival of patriotism and nationalism, and "a new vision'' that "will govern our land. It's going to be only America first! America first!'' 

"A new national pride,'' he said, "will heal our divisions.'' But he did not mention those he defeated; he excoriated the Washington political establishment; and he offered no specifics, besides a promise to rebuild infrastructure. 

His supporters were delighted. Watching at a bar and grill on Long Island, Gene Dunn – so ardent a Trump supporter that he took his son out of school to attend the candidate’s announcement last year – summed up his reaction in one word: “Relief. … America is now in the hands of a president who’s beholden to no one. He’ll make every decision in the best interests of the USA.’’

They came from across the nation with their hopes and dreams.  

John Sack, an unemployed carpenter from Erie, Pa., hoped Trump’s “America first’’ policy will translate into jobs. His mother, Deborah Boland, who comes from a family of military veterans, hoped Trump will strengthen the military and improve services for its members. Steve and Ann Murad, who came from Grand Rapids, Mich., with their five kids – all decked out in red sweatshirts with Trump’s image – hoped Trump could revive manufacturing in the Midwest.

A.D. Amar, a Seton Hall University business professor born and raised in India, watched the speech with other Trump supporters outside the Capitol. He said it showed Trump really believes in the populism he espoused in his campaign: “It gives me hope for this country. It’s the beginning of the end of American decline.’’

President Trump's Inauguration Day: All the highlights

But a continent away, on Puget Sound, Cheryll Greenwood Kinsley couldn’t bear to watch – the first time since 1960 she hadn’t followed an inauguration on TV or radio. She said she cried with joy during Barak Obama’s inaugurations, but “now I feel quite the opposite.’’

“Often I’ve disagreed with presidents-elect. Still, I’ve watched their inaugurations and listened to what they had to say. I’ve always been prepared to give them a chance,’’ she said. “But it’s different with this one. I believe he’s totally unqualified, in terms of knowledge, comprehension, and temperament.’’

She had plenty of company. Clinton voter Rich Langan of Ashwaubenon, Wis., also boycotted the speech – “I’m in mourning’’ -- as did Jules Shindel, a community organizer who was at the Montana state house in Helena, pressing the legislature, she said, “to provide for marginalized groups abandoned by the incoming administration.’’

One Clinton voter who did watch (at her home office in Naples, Fla.) was both skeptical and hopeful. “In terms of unifying all people and parties – only time will tell,’’ said Heather Nigro. “A 17-minute speech is not enough to gauge that. Today is just the party before the work begins on Monday. I’m waiting with bated breath.’’

Give Trump a chance, said Omar Marquez, a college student from Sioux City, Iowa. "He's not president yet. The country is divided, and it's been under Barack Obama. ... I'm very optimistic for the future."  

For those yearning for unity, there were a few grace notes. None was more poignant than the presence of Clinton, her dreams crushed, at the elevation of the man who had led campaign cheers of “Lock her up!’’

The contrast with the last change of administrations could not have been starker. In 2009, Obama was elected with a solid margin of victory, and many Republicans and conservatives took pride in what an African-American’s election said about the American Dream.

Eight years later, there were many reasons for the political cleft. The inflammatory election campaign traded on voters’ fears. Trump won despite losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton and despite historically low approval ratings. He continued to spar with Democrats and critics through the transition, traditionally a period for a president-elect to mend fences.

Many members of Congress boycotted the inauguration and some prominent performers refused to entertain. Friday’s crowd also was much smaller than the one for Obama’s first inauguration.

Protests added to the aura of discord. Violent clashes between police and demonstrators, some of whom faulted Trump’s stands on climate change, race, immigration, treatment of women and the Middle East, led to scores of arrests. Some protesters damaged storefronts in downtown Washington.   

Few if any Inauguration Days had been so contentious since 1861, when president-elect Abraham Lincoln had to sneak into Washington for fear of Confederate assassins; seven Southern states already had seceded from the union.

The nearest precedent in living memory was Richard Nixon’s second inauguration in the Vietnam War year of 1973. Tens of thousands of demonstrators besieged Washington and scores of members of Congress boycotted the swearing in.

But Nixon, unlike Trump, had been re-elected in a landslide. And by Jan. 20 the war was beginning to fade as an issue. Nixon had suspended the bombing of North Vietnam and resumed peace talks that would, within months, end U.S. combat.

Historians grasped for comparisons.

Other presidents were elected without winning the popular vote. But George W. Bush worked assiduously to court the opposition during his transition after the 2000 election. He entered office with a much higher favorability rating than Trump, the only president-elect whose popularity, as measured by polls, dropped between Election Day and his swearing-in.

Other presidents clashed with their immediate predecessors. But despite the stony silence in which Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt rode to the Capitol in 1933 – the president wouldn’t even look at the president-elect – it was clear the country was behind the Democrat.

Other presidents took office having waged divisive or dirty campaigns. But Andrew Jackson’s victory in 1828 was so decisive it hardly mattered that President John Quincy Adams was so bitter over his defeat he didn’t even attend the inauguration.

This week Thomas Wright traveled to Washington from Salt Lake City with his wife and four kids. He said Friday that despite it all, Trump would be a unifier – unlike Obama.

"I had high hopes that he would unify the country,’’ he said, “but he was very partisan. The first thing he did was come in and force Obamacare, he divided the Congress, and we've had a dysfunctional government ever since."

Now, he said, "it's dramatically different. I think people are ready to start working together. I think Congress is ready. I think the president is ready. … I think our world partners are ready. … The dysfunctionality has to end. No one can stand it."

His 13-year-old son Thomas Jr. was gazing in amazement at the Capitol dome. "It must've taken forever to build," he said.

Contributing: Nicholas Pugliese and Dustin Racioppi, The (Bergen County, N.J.) Record; Jason Noble, The Des Moines Register; Joey Garrison, the Nashville Tennessean.