The country had just survived a war and a pandemic and was ready to move on. The times were turbulent, however. Crime increased, partly as the result of a major constitutional change that put unprecedented pressure on law enforcement. The culture war between white, Protestant, rural America and the more ethnically diverse cities became more intense and figured heavily in national elections. Religion and science came to be viewed as enemies, rather than complementary ways of looking at the world. New limits were placed on immigrants, who were now seen as a threat, rather than an asset, to a still-growing country. America did its best to withdraw from the rest of the world, while in Europe and Asia, extreme nationalist forces were becoming more visible and aggressive.
Is it the 1920s or the 2020s? One thing is for sure: we have been here before.