Historian: Inauguration chaos has Civil War-era parallel

There’s no apt comparison to the inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president in the last 100 years, according to one Connecticut historian.

In fact, the only parallel in American history may be as far back as 160 years, at the outset of the Civil War. Or that, at least, is the opinion of Thomas Balcerski, a Connecticut presidential historian, author and professor at Eastern Connecticut State University, who has shared his views regularly in recent months on outlets like CNN and CSPAN.

“In my research, the last time an incoming inauguration of a president was met with this level of violence and real threat to the life and safety of the president and members of Congress would have been 1861,” Balcerski said.

Balcerski is perhaps

uniquely qualified to comment on the current moment and its historical antecedent because of his familiarity with James Buchanan, the country’s 15th president and subject of Balcerski’s most recent book, “Bosom Friends: The Intimate World of James Buchanan and William Rufus King.”

Buchanan’s last months in office after the 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln were possibly the most tumultuous of any presidential transition period. Buchanan, who did not seek reelection, presided over a country fracturing along racial and ideological lines.

It was during that time, between November and March 1861, that seven Southern states seceded from the Union and formed the Confederacy, setting the scene for the Civil War fought over slavery that would ravage the country for four years.

Buchanan, according to Balcerski, refused to act to reunify the nation and threats on the life of the newly elected Lincoln ensued.

“Sharpshooters were positioned on roofs of buildings and cavalry accompanied Lincoln’s carriage along the way to the Capitol,” Balcerski said. “But really, by comparison, the number of troops then was small.”

The scale of the safety measures this time around is considerably larger than even in 1861, Balcerski said. The number of National Guard troops in Washington is double that required for the inauguration of outgoing President Donald Trump and exceeds the number of National Guardsmen deployed across the entire Middle East.

The long-held tradition of peacefully transferring presidential power has been shattered by Trump and an extremist faction of his supporters and the nation’s capitol has become a war zone, Balcerski said.

“I don’t think we understand in Connecticut how bad it is in D.C.,” he said.

Still, Balcerski said there is cause for some hope despite the chaos. As polarized as the country has become along political lines, the discord in the country is not nearly as pernicious as the ideological chasm created by slavery, he said. Trump, he said, is limited in his powers with just hours of his term remaining. And with a new administration, Balcerski said, there will be new opportunities to sow the seeds of unity.

“Absolutely there’s cause for optimism,” Balcerski said.

Balcerski