Instances of Threat Headlines in Major Newspapers Before and After a Presidential Election

Throughout history, it has been repeatedly shown that if a group of people has an enemy to fear, whether real or imagined, they will be more likely to blindly follow whatever leader takes control. Not considering the character of the leader, a population of fearful people will support whoever promises freedom from fear and conquest over the perceived threat. There are countless examples of otherwise rational people who have been willing to give up freedom for real or perceived security. The Nazi party, before the start of World War II, assisted in setting fire to government buildings in order to later blame it on the communist revolution and scare the people of Germany into submission. 

Saddam Hussein, during his regime, employed thousands of people whose assignment was to seek out and report impending threats to the government, in order to use those threats in propaganda methods. The red scare in the United States succeeded in coercing the American people into ignoring the first amendment of the constitution and approving the Espionage Act, a law that made it illegal to speak out against the government. The violent leaders of the Taliban were welcomed into power by the people of Afghanistan because a violent government was preferable to the chaos and fear of civil war. In the present study, newspaper headlines were searched for words that implied a direct threat on the United States.