1974-1980: the "Malaise" of the American Society

Résumé du document

Reagan's slogan during the presidential campaign of 1980 was «Are you better off than you were four years ago? ». This slogan used the people's disappointment of Carter, presenting Reagan as the man going to erase the catastrophic four years of Carter's presidency. So the election of Reagan represented the repudiation of Carter and of the «malaise» of the 1970s.

The first sign of this malaise is the strong climate of distrust in power. The Watergate scandal brought this distrust in the presidency, and on the 8th of September 1974, Ford gave to Nixon his «full, free and absolute» pardon for any crimes which he had committed or “may have committed” during his Presidency, accentuating this skeptical climate by showing that Ford would have pardoned Nixon, no matter what he did. Skepticism was also rising towards the CIA, as the «Operation Chaos», a massive illegal domestic intelligence operation against antiwar activists and other dissidents, was revealed; leading to congressional investigations. Gillon in The American paradox shows the consequences of this distrust which are a new adversarial way for the media to deal with the leaders and an attempt of Congress to control the presidency, with the Budget and Impoundment Control Act and the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1974, limiting the influence of money in campaigns.

This distrust in power was accentuating by the lack of leadership of Ford and Carter. Ford was often presented by the press as ridiculous and stupid. Carter listened to his pollster, Patrick Cad dell, who told him that American people was suffering a spiritual crisis and that it needed a restoration of values. So Carter was at first a reassuring figure during the 1976 campaign because of his rural roots, his religious believes, his attack against the establishment, his claim on his new face, his morality. But very soon, the media realized he won't be the savior, and everyone was asking what Carter was doing at the presidency. On July 15, 1979, following the advice of Caddell, Carter delivered a speech to the nation, talking about the «crisis of confidence» and of the «malaise».

Extraits

[...] Secondly, Carter agreed to welcome the fallen Shah of Iran for a cancer treatment. In response, in November 1979, fifty Americans were taken hostage in the American embassy. After long months of status quo, Carter ordered in April a rescue mission in which 8 soldiers died and 2 helicopters burnt in the desert. This failure conveyed the idea that the US was unable to defend its citizens. To finish, Carter overreacted to the invasion of Afghanistan by soviet troops in December 1979. [...]

[...] In 1979, there was a monetary brakes leading to the rise of the prime interest rates and to the slowdown of the economy. After a rise of spending, Carter submitted to Congress a «lean and austere budget». In addition to this economic crisis, a real energy crisis was taking place under Carter presidency, the Iranian revolution rising prices of oil and gas, and truckers' strike provoking a shortage of gas. IV) The failure of the US in Vietnam The failure of the US in Vietnam accentuated this malaise. [...]

[...] To conclude, the period from 1974 to 1980 was a period of malaise-ridden because of the distrust in power, the lack of leadership, the bad economy, the failure in Vietnam, and the events in the Middle-East. That's why the election of 1980 was seen as a repudiation of those years. But the 1980 election represented also the triumph of conservatism which was the result of a long process. Bibliography: Steven Gillon, The American Paradox: A History of the United States since 1945 (Wadsworth Cengage, 3d. [...]

[...] III) Bad economy Another sign of this malaise is the bad economy. The Ford presidency saw a declining productivity and a declining competitiveness in world market, facing the competition from Western Europe and Japan (for example, the US automobile industry was declining). The Arab oil embargo damaged the economy as the price of oil was quintupled between 1972 and 1979. The inflation, defined by Ford as the «public enemy number was rising. To fight inflation Ford wanted budget cuts and tax increase. [...]

[...] 1974-1980: the “Malaise” of the American Society Reagan's slogan during the presidential campaign of 1980 was «Are you better off than you were four years ago? This slogan used the people's disappointment of Carter, presenting Reagan as the man going to erase the catastrophic four years of Carter's presidency. So the election of Reagan represented the repudiation of Carter and of the «malaise» of the 1970s. Distrust in power The first sign of this malaise is the strong climate of distrust in power. [...]