Hathcock 1

Jessica Hathcock
Ms. Jordan
11/11/09
Eng 1

Source Review

The American dream has a number of meanings in our society today. Everyone

has their own opinion and belief behind the phrase. I am interested in how the American

dream has changed over time. Specifically, I want to look at each decade starting from

the 1970s and compare them to the 21st century. To do this, I had to ask different

questions like, “What important events occurred during the 70s, 80s, and 90s” or “What

was it like living in America during the 70s, 80s, and 90s.” Important events and new

technologies can completely change a nation and I want to investigate those important

events that occurred during each decade that led us to where we are today.

In the 1970s many new technologies and events occurred. The floppy disk was

born, VCR’s for at-home movie watching, MRI technology for medical diagnosis, and e-

mail was also established. One social issue that both Amitai Etzioni and Charles Gillis

wrote about was the mandatory bussing to integrate schools. Etzioni says, “Middle

Americans would generally like to see the quality of black education improve. But the

idea of sacrificing their own children’s education to a long-range improvement for blacks

appalls them. ‘They moved to the suburbs for their children, to get fresh air and find good

schools,’ says Frank Armbruster. But programs such as bussing ‘negated all their

sacrifices to provide their children an education.’” While Gillis writes about the busing,

he mentions that the busing often led to violence, but also says, “Many Northern school

districts had to resort to busing as a means to achieving integration, which resulted in

 Hathcock 2

heightened racial tensions. Yet despite its problems, integration of the public schools of

America was an important step towards equality among all the races.” Integrating schools

was one of the most talked about and focused on social issue. It seems like Etzioni had a

negative connotation while Gillis had a somewhat more open mind about the situation.

By the 1980’s, the integration issue was somewhat overcome, but perhaps was

just overlooked with the problems that developed with the 80s. Many important things

occurred during the 1980s, including; the end of the Cold War, the discovery of genes is

DNA, and the personal computer taking over. The top two issues that both Charles Gillis

and the US history textbook online talk about during the 1980s has to do with the

increase in drugs and the first large development of AIDS. The US History textbook talks

specifically about the increase of drugs in the 80s, “As reports of celebrities entering

rehabilitation centers and the horrors of drug-ridden inner cities became widely known,

First Lady Nancy Reagan's message to "Just Say No" to drugs became more powerful.

Regardless, newer and more dangerous substances like crack cocaine exacerbated the

nation's drug problem.” It is interesting to see where the phrase, “Just Say No” came from

since it such a widely used term today. Gillis backs this up in his writing by including

statistics at that time, “Prisons overflowed and violent crime rates which, in 1980, had

tripled since 1960, continued to climb with the appearance of crack in 1985. From 1985

to 1990 the use of cocaine addiction was up 35 percent, though the number of users had

declined.” He also goes on to say that a later decrease of the drug use is due to a huge

influence by Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” program. The wide use of drugs as well as

“free love” that had been developed in the 70s led to the second huge issue of society

during the 80s which was AIDS. The free love movement took a backlash when
 Hathcock 3

according to the US history textbook, “The sexual revolution was rocked by the spread of

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or AIDS. This deadly disease was most

commonly communicated by sexual contact and the sharing of intravenous needles. With

the risks of promiscuous behavior rising to a mortal level, monogamy and "safe sex" with

condoms were practiced more regularly.” Gillis says a brief statement about AIDS in the

80s, but he goes on to talk about the overall issues of the decade and the change that can

be seen, “Families changed drastically during these years. The 80s continued the trends

of the 60s and 70s - more divorces, more unmarrieds living together, more single parent

families. The two-earner family was even more common than in previous decades, more

women earned college and advanced degrees, married, and had fewer children.”

After the craziness of the 1970s and 1980s, the 1990s finally came and all in good

time. Charles Gillis describes this decade as “The merger decade”, when Nancy Reagan’s

attempts to lower drug use was really starting to show and efforts were being more

focused on gun control. This decade is mostly known for the flourishing economy that

was at an all time high. Gillis states, “The booming economy led to record low

unemployment. Minimum wage was increased to $5.15.” He also mentions the

unemployment rate which was down to 4.2% across the nation and our national debt was

merely 5.413 million dollars. Jacob Weisberg also writes of the booming economy in his

article, “In Defense of the 90s.” Weisberg describes the 90s in a very innocent light,

“Wealth exploded as never before… the decade that just ended was one of remarkable

economic, technological, cultural, social, and even moral advancement.” He also

mentions some how drug use lowered, “Violent crime, nonviolent crime, welfare

dependency, teen pregnancy, births out of wedlock, the number of children living in two-
 Hathcock 4

parent families—such things finally stopped getting worse and began getting better.

Fewer people drank to excess, smoked cigarettes, and did crack.” He briefly mentions the

drug use being lower, but when looking at all of the factors, it can be assumed that the

result of lower crime and people acting more responsibly is the result of lower drug use.

The timeline speak for itself from the 70s leading into the 90s and how different

movements affected the next decade.

Finally we lead into our current era, the 21st century. The most memorable event

that has occurred during our decade was the horrible tragedy of September 11th. Both

Jacob Weisberg and Cal Jillson speak on this matter in their online articles. Weisberg

begins with,” In a matter of days after Sept. 11, a cultural cliché was born. We had traded

in a decade of triviality for an era of profundity... American life has finally gotten serious

again.” Not only did the occurrence of 9/11 affect the citizens of our nation, but

government jumped on the ball also. Jillson writes of the tragedy, “The challenges of

9/11 shifted… privileging a larger and more powerful national government, but setting

off a fierce battle over civil liberties and domestic policy priorities.” According to the two

authors, this past decade has been mostly focused on the nation as a whole. It seems like

each decade has grown as a society and that from the looks of it, we are just striving to

better ourselves every step of the way.

Over the past four decades our nation has grown and changed. Along with it, the

American Dream has changed as well. Scott Johnson, author and creator of

Reliefloans.com defines the American dream in past tense, “According to what our

grandparents and parents told us, the American dream was: A secure job until retirement,

Buy a house, Pay it off as soon as you can, Retire comfortably.” This dream he describes
 Hathcock 5

is still alive somewhat, but it has merely shifted into a different shape. I would rather

follow the word of Cal Jillson in his description of the American dream and would hope

that every American would also appreciate his definition, “As always, we must keep our

eye on the goal; the American Dream envisions certain kinds of people in certain kinds of

settings. It envisions secure, well-rounded, responsible individuals competing on an even

playing field for the good things, material and intellectual, the fruits of the outer

plantation of the world and of the inner plantation of the human mind, heart, and soul,

that makes life rich and full...”