Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
One of the more striking things about the United States is the sense that it is
in decline. Donald Trumps main theme is that he would make America great
again and that it has been in severe decline over the last decades. It was an
effective campaign theme because it touched on a deep American dread. In
Europe you will find a different sensibility, which is that while Europe has
problems, they are nothing compared to the problems in the past the
Soviet threat, Nazi Germany, the mass slaughter of World War I. Europeans
look at their past and are grateful to be living when they are. Many
Americans feel a sense of a lost greatness and a looming catastrophe.
This sensibility is not new. During the 1970s, there was a deep and oft
stated sense that America was in decline. At the end of the Vietnam War the
enemys flag flew over a capital we had been defending. During the same
time, there was a massive social and cultural divide. The culture of the
lower-middle class and that of the graduates of the best universities were in
sharp contrast. On the whole, it was the lower middle class that fought the
war and supported it. The universities were the center of antiwar sentiment
and contempt for those who supported the war. The contempt was mutual.
The economic situation was catastrophic for many. Unemployment and
inflation were both around 10 percent for a good deal of the decade. Interest
rates were in the high teens, and buying a house was out of reach for many.
At the end of the decade came the Iranian Revolution, with Iranians taking
American diplomats hostage and the United States helpless to protect them.
The disaster at Desert One followed a task force sent to rescue the
hostages collapsed, with planes destroyed and men dying before the rescue
attempt began.
The sense of decline was rampant. It could be seen in crime and decay in
the cities, the surge in Japanese exports to the United States, and the sense
that the Baby Boomer generation, unable to settle into family or career, was
destroying the fabric of society. The feeling was that the Japanese were
surging ahead of the United States economically, the Soviets were surging
ahead militarily and we were held in contempt by the world.
That was some 40 years ago and clearly the sensibility was wrong. What
followed was the Japanese economic crisis, the collapse of the Soviet
Union, recovery of the hostages from Iran and the United States emerging
as the only global power. Interest rates plunged, as did inflation, and we
came into a period of intense innovation and economic growth.
Having passed through the 1970s, as we did, it would seem reasonable that
it would serve as a benchmark. A lost war, an extended economic crisis and
social stress had not led to catastrophe. Yet, there are few lessons taken
from the 1970s to provide some perspective. Similar circumstances are
expected to yield the same dreaded disaster.
The sense of dread is more than a response to a particular time. It is also
not that Americans lack the ability to use history to frame our concerns
although that may be the case. It has deeper roots, particularly in the 20th
century. Two events, about 12 years apart, have left a permanent scar on
the American psyche. One was the collapse of the stock markets in October
1929 and the following depression. The other was the attack on Pearl
Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 and the following war.