Photo/Illutration Voters fill in their ballots at a polling place at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on Election Day on Nov. 5 in Simi Valley, California. (AP Photo)

It is well known that “High Noon,” a 1952 U.S. Western film, was among the top favorites of many U.S. presidents, including Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969) and Ronald Reagan (1911-2004).

President Bill Clinton must be an especially big fan, as he has, by his own admission, watched it more than 20 times.

In a nutshell, the film is about a marshal, played by Gary Cooper (1901-1961), who decides to protect his town from outlaws but none of the townspeople support him, including his newly wed wife, who is a pacifist.

Left to face his foes all alone, he takes up his gun. I wonder if this was the image in which the former U.S. presidents liked to see themselves.

One anecdote has it that in 2001, President George W. Bush broke into a broad grin when Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told him, “Cooper fought all alone, but this time the whole world is your ally.”

The Americans were about to start their “war on terror” in the name of their own justice.

Watching the U.S. presidential election updates on Nov. 6, I wondered anew: "What is the United States? What kind of persons are U.S. presidents?"

For striving to be tough and defeating outlaws with a gun, the marshal in “High Noon” definitely represents what America has traditionally stood for.

But surely, America is more than just that.

It respects freedom, values democracy and pursues diversity while struggling with discrimination. There is a gap between ideal and reality, but many different faces coexist in the spirit of tolerance.

Isn’t America supposed to be all those things, too?

In the presidential election, American voters turned inward and closed their minds, with the result that they became two solid lumps that would never mix.

It was Donald Trump who declared victory.

Will the division further drive the nation into chaos? How will he shake up the international community?

My worries are many and deep.

—The Asahi Shimbun, Nov. 7

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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