 Sewing the edge of an American flag at the Annin Flag Company. Verona, New Jersey, March, 1943. Photo: Library of Congress
 Thousands gather in New York's Union Square, to reflect on those lost. Photo: Joseph Rodriguez.
SLIDESHOW (will open new window) Patriotism
SLIDESHOW (will open new window) A Community Responds From September 11 through November, 2001, Margaret deNeergaard photographed her community's response to September 11. Photographs were taken with a digital camera from locations in Cobb County, Georgia, and the cities of Marietta, Smyrna, Kennesaw, and Roswell, Georgia. They are a part of The American Folklife Center's September 11, 2001, Documentary Project Collection.
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After the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, Americans joined in a spirit of patriotic mission. Sixty years later, following the September 11 attacks, many Americans flew flags and expressed intense feelings of national unity. But the differences in American patriotism post-Pearl Harbor and post-9/11 are as striking as the similarities.
"In this so-called war, everyone is silent. You don't really feel that the spirit is there, the same sense of mission." Journalist Helen Thomas
"It's much more subtle [after 9/11], it's much more nuanced than the, 'They
hit us, now let's mobilize and go hit them' kind of patriotism that was
called for in 1941 and '42." Historian Roger Wilkins
Short Audio Reactions (Real Audio)
1941: I never naturalized my tongue Jay Noreski, Washington, D.C. (0:39)
2001: The first time I shed a tear Adam Gospodarek, Madison, Wisconsin (0:39)
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