How They Hate New York!
According to a 1923 New York Times Magazine article, everybody at the time hated New York City. The writer, Charles Willis Thompson, declared "this situation well known to everybody outside of New York, and to a good many inside."
According to his interpretation, this delayed U.S. entry into World War I for "three wrong-headed years."
If New York favors a thing, the rest of the country is likely to oppose it unless the interests of the two most certainly run together. Most of the country was as angry as New York over the destruction of Lusitania, but its anger speedily cooled when it found how angry New York was.
The Lusitania was full of Americans from all parts of the country, but The Morning Sun headed its page streamer with a line somewhat to this effect: "Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt and Others Lost." Lord, how that must have pleased them out in Akron!
At least to some extent, this disdain of NYC elitism continues in the heartland today. There's a reason that Republican governors in Texas and Florida are shipping undocumented immigrants to several progressive coastal cities including NYC. Mayor Eric Adams recently declared that his city had "no more room."
In the immediate weeks and months after 9/11, the opposite phenomenon occurred. A common refrain, not just nationally but worldwide, was "We are all New Yorkers." Like most things in life, that sentiment couldn't last forever.
Donald Trump was a lifelong New Yorker and major cheerleader for the city, even defending it in a 2016 Republican presidential debate against Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. As the city moved strongly to the left, though, Trump officially changed his residence to Florida in 2019. It's hard to imagine a similar moment of Trump defending the city today.
How They Hate New York!
Published: Sunday, November 25, 1923