the resignation of a U.S. president and the Watergate scandal; the assassination of 4 U.S. ambassadors abroad; recessions bookended the decade in 1970 and the end of 1979 led to one in 1980, as well as a recession in the middle from 1973-1975; the energy crisis; the expansion of Soviet influence into Yemen, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Angola, Grenada, Nicaragua, Uruguay, El Salvador, and most notably their invasion of Afghanistan in 1979; not to mention even President Carter acknowledged the identity crisis America endured in the 1970s in his famous "malaise speech" delivered July 15, 1979, where he acknowledged we were experiencing "a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation." Ending the decade with the Iranian hostage crisis didn't help matters either.

Suffice it to say, more Americans than normal distrusted the U.S. government in the 1970s, and more Americans than normal lacked confidence in our country in most major aspects (economically, militarily, etc.). As for the 2000s, beginning with 9/11 and the enduring war on terror, including terrorist attacks throughout the world, the war in Iraq, the ratcheting up of tribalism in American politics, and the 2008 recession are a few significant factors that weigh down the 2000s when compared to the 80s and 90s.