McCain says political climate similar to ’30s, less divisive than ’60s

PHOENIX — Though America has been a divided country in recent years, U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said the political atmosphere resembles the 1930s rather than the openly hostile 1960s.

McCain said current political movements, such as the “America first” slogan used by President Donald Trump, resemble the isolationist politics of the 1930s when America wanted nothing to do with the world’s problems.

“We are going through a period of turmoil, politically obviously. We are seeing, in many ways, the 1930s — the isolationism, the America firsters,” he told the Today Show in an interview that aired on Thursday.

“Now, maybe some of the causes are different, but the fact is we are seeing the United States become much more insular and inward.”

Trump said his slogan was based on the time when Americans — recovering from the losses of World War I and the Great Depression — wanted the government to focus on domestic issues first.

The philosophy remained in place until 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and drew the United States into World War II.

The return to military involvement in conflicts in other parts of the world would eventually lead to U.S. troops fighting in Vietnam, where McCain was shot down. He said the political climate during that time was one of the most tumultuous in the nation’s history.

“I think we were more divided then because we were talking about body bags,” he said. “It was a period of real upheaval in our history and all of it with the backdrop of these brave young people who were over there serving and sacrificing.”

The nation was not only divided over the Vietnam War years ago, but also the Civil Rights Movement.

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