1979

"The symptoms of this crisis of the American spirit are all around us. For the first time in the history of our country a majority of our people believe that the next five years will be worse than the past five years. Two-thirds of our people do not even vote. The productivity of American workers is actually dropping, and the willingness of Americans to save for the future has fallen below that of all other people in the Western world."

-- President Jimmy Carter, national television address, July 15, 1979

When Jimmy Carter delivered that astonishing bit of national navel-gazing -- which would later be termed his "malaise speech" -- I reacted pretty much as most Americans. I gave him points for honesty.

If you dust off the microfiche you will discover that the speech was Topic A in the July 16 newspapers, crowding out other news items like the continued fallout from Disco Demolition Night three days earlier, and the election of a young up-and-comer as president of Iraq. The editorial reviews were largely positive, and Carter enjoyed a moderate bump in his public approval rating.

What, after all, could you argue with? In 1979 the country was running low on future, and the first step to wellness is to recognize you have a problem. That shiny Tomorrowland promise of postwar America had become an unintentional joke, as laughable as a 1952 Sex Ed film. The New Frontier increasingly looked like a vain effort to collect a few moon rocks. The National Spirit had bloated and OD'd on the toilet like Elvis in a bicentennial jumpsuit.

So no, I didn't fault Jimmy Carter when he bemoaned our empty addiction to consumption. The stuff we consumed was pretty shabby; vinyl roof Ford Granadas and Scooby Doo, CB anthems and Quiana shirts. Our taste in leaders was even worse; when you elect four straight failures into the White House, the problem isn't them, it's us. Although Carter was one of those failures, at least he had the courage to call us on it.

Maybe he was right. We needed to buck up, work together, psychologically adjust to the new realities. We needed a careful 6-point federal plan to manage our dwindling reserves of future. Less is more, small is beautiful. Some parts are edible. It was disappointing, but thank God we didn't elect that senile right wing Dr. Strangelove B-movie actor from California, whazzisname, in '76.

I was 18 at the time, a staunch Democrat like Dad and Grampa, and I sincerely believed all of it. I was riveting livestock trailers together for $4.75 an hour; after taxes and Machinist Union dues, six hours' wages might fill the tank on my Nova SS. At the end of the week, maybe a dime bag or a Ramones LP. I was to begin college in 40 days; why, I wasn't quite sure. It seemed pointless to dwell on things four or five years out.

...

Today I am twenty five years closer to my death, and yet the future seem a thousand times bigger and grander and more glorious than it did to me in July 1979. And I credit a washed-up B movie actor who naively insisted, against all available data, that the future wasn't limited.

It took until 1984, but I eventually came to accept the simple lesson that Ronald Reagan knew all along: the future doens't just happen. We can create it.

Thanks Teach, and Godspeed.

Comments

[Justagoober]

Godspeed, indeed. Not too shabby of a job for an ex-actor who had to work with an adversarial Congress.

[LHM]

I was 16 at the time and I have absolutely no fond memories of Carter at all.

I will never as long as I live forget his impotence in the face of the Iran hostage crisis.

LHM

[Dick Nixon]

For the uninitiated, a "powerglide" is a 2-SPEED automatic transmission. Yikes.

[low rate credit card offer]

Drinking makes such fools of people, and people are such fools to begin with, that it's compounding a felony. Robert Benchley (1889 - 1945)

[papertiger]

Spiro T. Agnew was Nixon's elected VP. Agnew resigned about a year before Nixon did.
Gerald Ford was the first non elected Vice-President, chosen under the 25th Amendment.

[biff]

great post hawk
one of the best i've read

[red clay]

azul, i seem to remember Ford was elected to the office of vice bucket of warm spit.
but i drink a lot, so i could be wrong.

[Arty]

Nice post hawk.

By the way, I liked Scooby Doo and still doo.

[azul93gt]

Great piece but America technically didn't elect Ford. If he's in fact one of the four losers that you have in mind.

[iowahawk]

"...I hope to god you still have that Nova SS"

O Lord, if you only knew. First car (at age 15) was a '69 Chevelle coupe, 307/powerglide. $1400. Sort of a dog but I juiced it w/ Hooker headers, a Holley 4bbl, air shocks, N-series Mickeys on Cragar SS rims.

The next year I swapped it (and a little cash) for a '67 GTO. The previous owner had roached the stock Goat 400/4, replaced it with a 428 SD TriPower (3x2 Rochester GCs) from a '64 Grand Prix. Solid lifters, lumpy-ass Crower bumpstick, Hurst V-gate, Muncie M-22 Rockcrusher, 4.11 12-bolt. I still have the barely-over-13 timeslips. Still, I couldn't touch my big bro's torque monster -- a 70 Chevelle SS 454 LS-6.

After that, the '73 Nova SS 350/350TH. In all honesty it was a pig, what with the catalytic converter & 5mph bumpers. By '73 even the "SS" option had been downsized to 215hp and single exhaust.

For those of you who didn't follow any of the above: go feng shui some furniture, you big pansies.

[Darren]

I can remember seeing J. Carter wearing that stupid sweater and telling us to turn our thermostats down (for the good of the Motherland, I suppose), Dad agreeing, and Mom all but laughing in his face. Had he lived, I bet he woulda' changed his tune, or else been sorry he didn't. Nice piece Hawk.

[Darren]

I can remember seeing J. Carter wearing that stupid sweater and telling us to turn our thermostats down (for the good of the Motherland, I suppose), Dad agreeing, and Mom all but laughing in his face. Had he lived, I bet he woulda' changed his tune, or else been sorry he didn't. Nice piece Hawk.

[Mud Blood & Beer]

As someone who was eleven at the time, all I can say is that I hope to god you still have that Nova SS.

[Frank J.]

Remember, I was born that year. That makes all the difference too.

[Rusty Shackleford]

"The stuff we consumed was pretty shabby; vinyl roof Ford Granadas and Scooby Doo,"

Shouldn't that read "was pretty shaggy"?

Good work.

[Val Prieto]

Thanks Iowahawk. Excellent.

[AxL]

Dude, admitting you were a Democrat is like admitting that you used to molest farm animals. I mean, I'm glad you're over it and all...but sheesh. How did this seem like a GOOD idea?