The Century: America's Time - 1976-1980: Starting Over

(Intro)

On July the 4th, 1976, the United States

celebrated it's 200th birthday.

"In my family it's always been a custom on

the 4th of July to read the declaration

of independence out loud.

It's quite a document.

(INAUDIBLE) the soaring beauty of it."

Americans had not stopped believing in

their nation's ideals. But not even the

bicentennial could conceal a certain

national discomfort. After a certain

domestic international crises, Americans

were no longer so sure of themselves.

"It was difficult. We've got an unelected

president, we've got Nixon pardon

hangin' over us. We just lost a war."

"But - celebrating our 200th birthday,

everyone wanted to be positive,

and they were. It was the nigh of

reconciliation in our country."

Many Americans hoped that this

celebration of a glorious history

would spark an American renewal.

"My family was an immigrant family

we came here with practically nothing."

"My wife was expecting, it was important

for me personally that my child was a

child of- of 1976."

"The hopes and dreams I had for myself

and for my country were with him."

"I believed that America was gonna turn

around and become the land of the free

and the home of the brave."

"And they'll chose to come back to being

that nation of glory. I believed that

with all my heart."

In the late 1970's, there was an uneasy

feeling that perhaps the nation's best

days were over. America's prestige in

the world had been tarnished in the

Vietnam war, the Watergate scandal

had eroded people's respect for their

own leaders, and the 1973 oil embargo

had sapped the economy, causing a

baffling combination of high inflation

and high unemployment. Faced with these

setbacks which forted expectations and

undermined many dearly held beliefs.

Americans began to pursue separate,

individual paths to happiness.

And in the process, they lost a clear

sense of national purpose.

(Music)

"Can a government be decent and honest,

and purposeful, and compassionate, and

filled with love? Can it be a source of

inspiration and pride?"

In the 1976 presidential race, an obscure

candidate tried to restore trust in

government.

"My mother said to me all along, 'He's

gonna be president. (INAUDIBLE) I'd

never lie to you, I see it.' "

Jimmy Carter was a one-term governor of

Georgia and a peanut farmer from the town

of Plains. With his strong Christian faith

and sense of moral rectitude, he represent

-ed the traditional values that so many

Americans seemed to have lost touch with

in a decade of upheaval.

But even as he campaigned against the

mistrust in Washington establishment,

he faced an uphill battle against voter

apathy. Especially among the young.

"We didn't care about who was elected

president. Matter of a fact, most of my

friends - most of the people I hung out

with, our interest in politics waned

incredibly, starting in the early 70's

because we had lost the big cause, which

was the Vietnam war."

(Music)

"All of these people who had been

interchanging the world, tapping the

environment, stopping the war, making

racial harmony, discovered that- That they

couldn't change the world. Where did they

end up? They end up in these huge rooms

where they're dancing like sheep listening

to mechanistic music."

It was a new sound, disco, that drove away

the blues and set off disco mania.

Some 20,000 discos sprang up around the

country, the most famous ones in

New York City.

"Studio 54 was a place that everybody

wanted to go to."

But not everybody could get in.

The doorman would point, and the crowd

would separate, and I'd walk in."

(Disco music)

"I really didn't understand why I and my

friends were part of the chosen, but it

was an amazing feeling - You felt like you

were at the pearly gates, except you

didn't have to die."

The ultimate in escapism, Studio 54 was a

hangout for celebrities who danced to

music with a driving beat and lyrics

stripped entirely of a social purpose.

In the 1970's, the so-called beautiful

people partied as if there were

no tomorrow.

"There was a lot of drinking, there was a

lot of drugs, and I did see people sorting

the dry carpeting and saying, y'know,

'Is this coke or dust?' "

"It was almost as though people felt that

the rules no longer applied to them.

And I think that in many ways, it was like

the end of the roman empire."

(Disco music)

The quest for a better society had narrow

-ed into a desire for self improvement.

"It was in the 70's that the vogue for

self examination, and self study, and self

exaltation began to play such a big part.

Something I'd finally call the 'me'

-decade. The lure of self examination- it

became very big. You put yourself on stage

and just the ordinary circumstances of

daily life become the stuff of drama.

And I'm convinced that it's one of the

appeals of the feminist movement."

As women demanded a better role on a

larger stage, a growing number of them

decided to abandon their role as

housewives for paying jobs.

In the domestic upheaval, it often caused

a full half of American marriages ended in

divorce.

In the 1970's it sometimes seemed that

everyone was going in their own, often

unorthodox direction.

(Rallying)

But like explorers of unmapped territory

who longed for the familiarity of home,

Americans elected a president who

represented traditional, small-town

values - Jimmy Carter.

On inauguration day, the new president set

off to prove that all Americans were his

neighbors.

"We had never seen the president get out

and start walking down, you know,

Pennsylvania Avenue and other people were

just screamed and we just cheered on the

deviant."

"It was very refreshing, I think President

Carter brought to this country a whole

feeling of hope."

Hopeful as it was, the new administration

was about to face a series of debilitating

challenges.

(Suspenseful music)

In 1977, the nation suffered through the

coldest winter in 40 years.

"We were buried for weeks in Niagara

falls. We built tunnels all through our

yards so it looked like a- a mouse's maze

underground that lead to the street.

But though we didn't know where the street

was until we hit the curb."

"The first couple days it was okay, but

after that the store had no supplies and

so it was a lot harder to get food and

stuff for the kids and- and the family."

(Suspenseful music)

The extremely cold weather this winter

has dangerously depleted our supplies and fuel oil

and forced hundreds of thousands of workers off the job