During WWII, this meant a collective unity against the Japanese and Germany, during the Cold War and Cuban missile crisis, it meant uniting against Communism and anti-capitalism, and in today's society it means unity against terror.

             Uniting a nation around a defining event is a powerful incentive for people to become motivated by emotion instead of facts. Hook and Spanier explore this notion in their explanation of the abundance of televised images which inspire a definitive, gut reaction either for-images of newly-liberated Iraqis celebrating their freedom, for example-or against-graphic pictures of war atrocities in the Sudan, to name one (Hook and Spanier, 2004). This emotional response, which is so similar to the one behind which the United States united after the images of September 11 were seen, can be an effective method to inspire a public sense of purpose and give meaning to otherwise confusing conflicts. The creation of a "national character," currently the dominant character trait being the export of democracy and the protection of our own, can aid the citizens of the U.S. (and any nation) to solidly support the decisions of its government.

             This phenomenon of a certain type of "national character" is not new. It has been evidenced in recent U.S. history, during the Cold War. During these years, the idea of communism as inherently evil and of capitalism and democracy as being the only true means of freedom inspired the American people to unite behind the threat of the Soviet Union. The spread of communism was enough to justify American intervention in wars like Vietnam, and although this conflict eventually split the nation bitterly, our involvement in it was based on the need to unite behind a common enemy, that of communism, which was being fostered in Southeast Asia. This policy of intervention when communism appeared to be gaining strength anywhere was demonstrated and supported as a foreign policy in our Cold-War era involvement in Latin America as well; threats to the national character of America must be fought at any price (Hook and Spanier 2004).