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America has not become great because it has always been militarily strong, but because it has known how to change. Even in the 18th century, when Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton were drafting the foundations of the republic, the idea of religious tolerance and the separation of church and state was revolutionary.
On January 1, 2026, the first day of this year, New York witnessed a scene that a few decades ago might have been scandalous but that today passed as routine news: Zoran Mamdami was sworn in as mayor of the largest city in the United States, his hand on the Quran. The first Muslim to hold this office. Politically declared as a democratic socialist, he appeared before an audience where representatives of all religions, communities and political currents were present, a living panorama of what America has been and continues to be. That moment was not simply a formal act, but a summary of American history in a single photograph: a city built by immigrants, led by a son of immigrants, in the name of a society that believes that differences are assets.
America has not become great because it has always been militarily strong, but because it has known how to change. As early as the 18th century, when Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton were drafting the foundations of the republic, the idea of religious tolerance and the separation of church and state was revolutionary. At the time, many European countries were still embroiled in religious wars, while the American Constitution guaranteed freedom of religion. This paved the way for Jewish communities to settle in New York and Philadelphia, Irish and Italian Catholics to settle in Boston and Chicago, and later Muslims to build mosques in Detroit and Dearborn.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, millions of immigrants passed through Ellis Island. Among them were the future families of people like Irving Berlin, the Jewish composer who would write iconic American songs, and Enrico Fermi, the Italian scientist who would later contribute to the Manhattan Project. When Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, the American government became a haven for brilliant minds like Albert Einstein, Leo Szilard, and Eduard Teller, who, under the administrations of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman, helped create the scientific superiority that would shape the fate of World War II.
The civil rights movement is also a story of diversity. When Martin Luther King Jr. marched on Washington in 1963, he was joined by Jewish rabbis like Abraham Joshua Heschel, Catholic priests, white students, and activists from diverse communities. Texas-born President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, officially ending segregation. Without this joining of forces from diverse communities, America would have remained hostage to its divisions.
In recent decades, the technological revolution has shown how crucial new waves of immigrants are. Sergey Brin, born in the Soviet Union and raised in a Jewish immigrant family, founded Google. Sundar Pichai, born in India, became the CEO of the same company. Elon Musk, born in South Africa, created Tesla and SpaceX. These people, supported by America's open-minded policy towards talent, built industries that today define the global economy.
American culture is a passport to diversity. Louis Armstrong, the grandson of African slaves, made jazz a universal language. Bob Dylan, of Eastern European Jewish descent, changed folk music forever. Hollywood was built by immigrant producers like Louis B. Mayer and Samuel Goldwyn. And today, from Beyoncé to Lin-Manuel Miranda, American art is a melting pot of histories and influences that knows no borders.
In this picture, Zoran Mamdami is not an exception, but a continuation. He comes from a long tradition of New York leaders with immigrant roots, from Fiorello La Guardia, the son of an Italian father and a Jewish mother, to Michael Bloomberg, a Jew from Boston, to Bill de Blasio, of Italian descent. Mamdami adds to this list a new dimension, that of the Muslim community, which for decades has been a silent part of American urban life, often underestimated and stigmatized.
When he was sworn in on January 1, 2026, many saw it as a sign that America still operates on its fundamental principle: that anyone, regardless of faith or background, can reach the top if society gives them the space. This is the true meaning of American greatness. Not the greatness of military bases or Wall Street stocks, but the ability to engage, to listen, and to allow a country to be continually reshaped by the people who choose it as their home.
America is great because it is open to the world and because it has understood that its strength lies not in uniformity but in mosaic. From Jefferson to Johnson, from Einstein to King, from Brin to Mamdami, its history is the story of a nation that became strong not by closing in, but by opening up. And for that very reason, the swearing in of a Muslim mayor on the first day of 2026 is not just news, but a new chapter in the great book of American diversity.
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