Collapse of institutional trust in the 1970s resulted from multiple converging failures: the My Lai Massacre, Vietnam defeat, Watergate, decimation of American manufacturing, New York bankruptcy, and the Iranian hostage crisis—each event demonstrated that American institutions were not basically functioning as promised.
causalpending
Speaker
David BrooksEvidence Quote
“There's the My Lai Massacre, there's defeat in Vietnam, there's Watergate, there's the decimation of American manufacturing, there's bankruptcy in New York, there's hostage taking in in Tehran. People lose faith in the idea that our institutions are basically functioning.”
Source
How America Recovers from All This | Yale Conversations with David Brooks | Yale University— Yale Jackson School of Global AffairsCreated: 8/12/2026, 6:23:19 PM
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