Loss of Confidence
Subtitle: Politics and Policy in the 1970s (Issues in Policy History, No 8)
Publisher: Pennsylvania State University Press
Published: August 1998
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 180
ISBN-13: 9780271018454
Subjects: American history: postwar, from c 1945 -; Central government policies; Public opinion & polls; c 1970 to c 1980; U.S. Government (General); Political Science; Politics / Current Events; Politics/International Relations; USA; Government - U.S. Government; Political History; United States - 20th Century; Political Process - Leadership; 1969-1974; 1974-1977; History; Policy sciences; Politics and government; United States
Description: As the oil shortages, inflation, and unemployment of the 1970s disrupted American lives and the Watergate scandal rocked the presidency, faith in the future of the nation and its leaders was severely damaged. This volume, which is the product of a unique collaboration of distinguished scholars from history and political science, offers a probing analysis of the causes, processes, and consequences of this erosion of faith in public solutions to our country's problems.

At the beginning of the decade, a confident American public and its leaders still embraced the government activism that was the legacy of the New Deal. But grave doubts about the efficacy of public policy - fueled by Watergate, Vietnam, stagflation, energy crises, and intensely controversial social policies - undermined this public trust as the decade wore on, until by the end tax revolts were breaking out across the country.

Describing government as the problem, not the solution, Ronald Reagan broke with tradition to set a political and policy agenda that has become dominant ever since. These experts from two disciplines bring their special insights to bear in dissecting the key developments of this decade that have transformed American politics in the last quarter of the century.