I’ve been looking at reviews of a book called Moondust which is about the lives of the astronauts who walked on the moon after their moon landings. One of the reviews (from the Guardian) said: ‘A moving and thorough account of America’s last great act of optimism’.
That intrigued me. The '60s were a very optimistic time. Did national optimism die after then?
Ronald Reagan was the most optiimistic American ever, but I don’t think the Guardian wants to bring HIM up.
He may have been, but did he manage to convey that sense of optimism to the American people? And did he commit any *acts *of optimism? Or was he just a very jolly fellow?
Thinking we could win the Cold War, not just achieve a peaceful stalemate, is pretty optimistic.
If I remember correctly, wasn’t the solution to the Cold War - Star Wars - very contentious? Did it inspire and invigorate the American people?
Has anything happened between the moon landings and now that made American people feel great?
Electing a liberal black man as president, in spite of having a history of rabid racism and institutional oppression, and despite the near-constant PR we’ve gotten from inside AND outside this country that the US is little more than a reactionary empire-state?
Damn right he conveyed and inspired optimism. It helped that he was running against Jimmy Carter, who seemed to relish the idea of America’s inevitable decline.
Zombie Ronnie! :eek:
(Quick. Somebody make a web comic!)
What I’m trying to find out (and this is to fight my ignorance) is what did Reagan do to create that optimism? Or was it just his general attitude? What struck me about the moon landings was that they spanned a decade, and several presidents, so it was an act, not a person that made people feel better.
I don’t have good cites, unfortunately.
I think that after the moon landing came the general public awareness of the actions in Vietnam, as well as Watergate. Before this time, there was an idea that Government (the funder of Science) could make things happen.
After that, there was a distrust of people in government and after that (Reagan era) a distrust of funding government itself.
While I can be sympathetic to some of the ideas of fiscal conservatives (even though I don’t necessarily agree) things like space flight require a lot of funding. After that time, it was pressure to prove utility for government programs.
Think about it: back then, because we were trying to get ahead of the Soviets, we spent lots of money to try to send people to the moon. The moon is awesome, but won’t create jobs. Now, we have to show that jobs will be created or something. And not raise taxes. But still raise America’s respect.
If you were looking at the reviews with a view to buying Moondust, by the way, do. It’s a good read.
I was, and I have, from Amazon, for a penny + P & P. Thanks for the advice.
The '60s were an optimistic time for some… But more broadly they represented a real unravelling of the illusion of national cultural unity – of shared values and goals to be achieved collectively as a nation. Reagan was optimistic, but in ways directly opposed to the values of many. One might argue the same about Carter, or Ted Kennedy, or various other political figures.
The Moon landings successfully spanned that period of disintegration in part because they could be viewed through a variety of ideological lenses – as grand human endeavor to advance the species, or as demonstration of the superiority of American science and determination over the Soviets – and in part because they represented an objectively impressive and tangible achievement, such that even many who would have argued about whether the cost could better have been spent on other things had to admit being impressed when it succeeded.
Reagan was optimistic about a certain kind of America, one that gays and blacks and non-Christians have a difficult time reconciling with themselves. His America was the America of Falwell and Buchanan and I am happy his success was limited.
I keep on coming back to the fact it was the event, the action that was seen as being optimistic. The '60s space program went through three presidents (Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon). At least two of them weren’t seen as harbingers of great joy; it was the *event *that inspired people. Has anything else (not anybody) had a similar effect?
Seconded. Written by a British music journalist, but well researched and thoroughly entertaining and fascinating.