Echoes through history

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MARY REICHARD, HOST: Up next, remembering Charlie Kirk through the lens of history. A week after his assassination, the United States Senate passed a resolution declaring today… October 14th … a national day of remembrance for the Christian conservative.

NICK EICHER, HOST: A day of mourning is part of American tradition when honoring those lost to political violence. And that’s not the only ritual the nation followed over the last month. WORLD’s Emma Eicher reports.

EMMA EICHER: On April 4th, 1968, Senator Robert Kennedy addressed a crowd of people at a park in Indianapolis. The speech was spur of the moment—Kennedy had no cards in front of him, no prepared words.

ROBERT KENNEDY: I have some very sad news for all of you. And that is, that Martin Luther King was shot and was killed tonight.

The speech lingered in the public mind long after Kennedy spoke the words.

KENNEDY: In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it’s perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are. And what direction we want to move in.

Just two months later, Robert Kennedy himself would become a victim of political violence. He was shot and killed during his presidential campaign.

Since America’s founding, our country has witnessed the assassinations of less than ten national figures. Presidents Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley, and John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X.

JOHN WILSEY: Had those men not been assassinated, had they died peacefully in their beds decades later, this would just be a totally different country.

John Wilsey is a professor of church history at Southern Seminary, and author of Religious Freedom: A Conservative Primer. He says last month’s murder of Charlie Kirk continues the tragic legacy of high profile assassinations. There are obvious similarities …

WILSEY: He is a cultural leader and a cultural icon. He was connected to political movers and shakers.

And some stark differences.

WILSEY: I mean, if you want to see the video, all you gotta do is Google it. And it's not a grainy, eight millimeter film like Kennedy's assassination. It's as clear as if it were happening right in front of you.

The American government tends to follow a kind of routine in the aftermath of political assassinations. Flags are flown at half-mast, and national leaders call for unity.

The government also sets aside an official day of mourning.

President Lyndon B. Johnson declared such a day in the wake of John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

LYNDON JOHNSON: All who love freedom will mourn his death.

And Johnson did the same for Martin Luther King Jr. five years later.

The Senate carried on this historical tradition, declaring today a national day to mourn Kirk. Here’s Republican Senator Rick Scott introducing the resolution on the Senate floor.

RICK SCOTT: Let us honor Charlie by believing in the power of our ideas to win the day and leave this nation a better place.

The resolution serves to remember Kirk’s life as well as condemn all political violence.

ZACK SMITH: It showed a lot about Charlie Kirk and his supporters, that after this tragic event, instead of rioting or causing further political violence, they engaged in prayer and thoughtful remembrance.

Zack Smith is a Senior Legal Fellow at the Heritage Foundation. He says there has been a wide range of reactions since Kirk’s death. In some cases, people publicly celebrated the assassination.

SMITH: The political left is trying to justify this violence, trying to excuse it, trying to downplay its severity.

And there’s a modern reason for that. John Wilsey says many people commonly use politics as a moral compass. Just a few decades ago, that wasn’t the norm.

WILSEY: I think our culture today sees reality starting with politics, that politics is the starting point for the way we see the world. When politics is the starting point, everything is on one side or the other, and one side is evil and one side is good.

The division fueled a bipartisan concern over the apparent “surge” in political violence during the last month. President Donald Trump claimed the radical left was the main cause … while some mainstream media outlets blamed Kirk himself. Still others spun anti-semitic conspiracy theories.

Despite this, Wilsey says the American political climate is not much different from other developed countries.

WILSEY: Americans are just as politically violent as anybody else.

He also says it’s not a recent phenomenon. Political violence is common throughout all of American history.

WILSEY: When Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 there wasn't some kind of navel gazing about like, ‘what's wrong with us?’ Americans are human beings, and they have the same human nature as Russians do, or as Iranians do, or as Frenchmen do. And that political violence is not necessarily unique to them and not unique to us.

Along with traditional calls for peace and unity, some unique calls to action have appeared this time around. Supporters not only want to continue Kirk’s political work to honor his legacy but also encourage a similar passion for Christ and the gospel.

LUCAS MILES: I think that, you know, Charlie gave a lot of people a voice. He pointed the way for a lot of people on where to go. And I think that the world is grieving that.

Lucas Miles is the Senior Director of Turning Point USA Faith. He knew Kirk personally, and believes his influence on the younger generation was greater than just politics.

MILES: Charlie wasn't, I think, trying to point people just in some sort of political direction. I think Charlie was trying to point people up to the Lord, and he knew that if people were able to develop a real relationship with the Lord, that that would trickle down into the political realm.

John Wilsey says there’s historical precedent for peace after crisis moments. He quotes Mark Twain: “History doesn’t repeat itself … but it often rhymes.”

WILSEY: When we think about hope for the future, we can take some encouragement from the experience of previous generations, generations of Americans, that they can get past irreconcilable conflicts to the extent that they actually forge a new love of country as a result of those divisions.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Emma Eicher.

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