I'm doing a project on Miracle on Ice, and I am trying to figure it out. I mean, I know the history and such (Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Iran hostage situation, etc.), I am just having trouble putting it into words. What made US self image so low during this time?
PS I am asking in politics because it will get more answers.
sgatlantisrose
Favorite Answer
We had just lost a war to a third world power(albeit one supplied by the Soviets and with motivated troops). We had the Watergate scandal, where our president was revealed to be a paranoid thug with a fascination for recording(and deleting) conversations. Then we elected a president who talked about our malaise instead of our hopes and optimism, a president attacked by a rabbit while he was in a boat, and suffered the duel humiliations of the Opec boycott driving gasoline prices up and creating shortages around the country, and the the Iran Hostage situation, where an American embassy was overrun and our president made to look helpless. add to that the failed attempt to rescue them, and it is little wonder that by 1980 Americans were thinking we had hit a low poit
Anonymous
We had suffered a mighty blow due to Jimmy Carter and Liberalism