Confidence Crisis at the 1970s - Essay Example

The Watergate Scandal was a political scandal, and it involved the members of the Nixon administration engaging in clandestine activities, such as eavesdropping on the conversations of his political opponents, and an attempt by President Nixon to cover it up (Borstelmann, 39). This was a breach of the privacy of Nixon’s opponents, and a breach of the constitution, which was protecting the privacy of Americans. Furthermore, this was a breach of the law, which required any investigative authority to use get a warrant, before engaging in any surveillance activity that may lead to the breach of the privacy of an individual (Hamilton, 356).

The cold war is another factor that led to the emergence of the crisis of confidence in the United States.This was an ideological war, between the United States and the Soviet Union. This was a crisis because the American economy was experiencing a decline during this period, and the levels of unemployment were high. There was an increase in poverty, and the standards of living were on the decline. Americans started thinking about whether the Soviet Union was right, in their ideology of communism (Borstelmann, 23).

However, this was solved, with the restoration of the American economy in the late 1970s, to 1980. Therefore, the major factor that led to the crisis of confidence was the Vietnam War.