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Vietnam, both a Democratic and a
Republican administrat.ion lived with the
war "on their hands" and both learned
that there were no easy solutions.
Pragmatic solutions were attempted
- and the policy of containment is defi–
nitely pragmatic. But pragmatists did
not carve out the vastness. of a beautiful
young America in the western wilder–
ness. Pragmatists did not assault the
beaches at Normandy, or roll across the
French countryside in the tanks of Pat–
ton's Seventh Army.
And while Americans had begun to
learn of such
a
thing as a "limited war"
with "limitcd objectives," the American
servicemen could scathingly note that
there is no such thing as a " limited bu l–
let" and that once you're in the front
lines a battle is a battle and you can be
killed, regardless as to how "limited" it
may be labeled by a politician.
Following the Korean debacle, Amer–
icans entered into a new age of
affiuence such as they had never known
before. Around the comer was the dec–
ade of the "soaring sixties" along with
the many sore sicknesses which were
partially the direct result of our increas–
ing wealth.
Prosperity and Decay
President Eisenhower said,
10
his
State of the Union message, January 7,
1960: "America did not become great
through softness and self-indulgcnce.
Her miraculous progress and achieve–
ment flow from other gualiti<:s far more
worthy and substantial: adherence to
principies and methods consonant with
our religious philosophy; a satisfaction
in hard work; the
reddineJJ
10
Ittcrifice
for II'Orthll'hile
ca111n;
the courage to
mcct every challenge to her progress; the
intellectual honesty and capacity to rec–
ognize the tme path of her own bcst
intcrest." And it was only
a
few days
previous to this outstanding speech,
which seems in retrospect somchow
prophetic, that the late cconomist,
Rogcr
Babson said: "The test of a nation is thc
growth of its peoplc -
physically,
intellectually, and spiritually. Money
and so-called 'prosperity' are of very
little account ...
"Babylon, Persia, Grecce, Rome,
Spain and France all had their turn in
being the richest in the world. Instead
of saving them, t heir so-called prosper–
ity ruined them.
"Our nation is now rated the richest,
but it could casi ly become a second-class
nation and head downward. Money will
not save us. Crops wiU not save us.
Stock exchanges and banks will not save
us. Already our gold at Fort Knox is
diminishing.
Only a Jrllle spil'itllall'evíval
u-hírh
chan,~es
the delire! of 011r people
will !ave
111.
We must be filled with a
desi re to render service, to seek strength
rather than security, to put character
ahead of profits. Even the democracy
for which our fathc rs fought and bled
cou ld result in our downfall."
Jt was only two weeks previous to
these prophetic statements that anothcr
famous American, historian George
Kennan, said before a Washington
audience: " If you ask me - as an histo–
rian - whether a country in the state in
which this country finds itself today,
with no
highly developed 1ense of
Juttional p11rpose,
with the overwhelm–
ing accent of life on personal com–
fort and amuscment, with a dearth of
public services and a surfeit of pri–
vately sold gadgetry - with a chaotic
transportation system .. . with insuf–
ficient social discipline even to keep
its major industries functioning without
gricvous interruptions - has over the
long run good chances of competing
with a purposeful, serious and dis–
ciplined society such as that of the
Soviet Union,
1
must say that the
answer is 'no.' "
Coming at the cnd of thc dccadc of
the 50's, and at lhe beginning of
the 1960's, such striking words seem
profoundly prophetic. We now have the
Iesson of the past decade to view in
rctrospect.
Change in American Spirit
The American spirit took a definite
nosedive in the beginning of the 1950's.
Somehow a gradual disintegration of
pride in American power, a gradual
flagging of patriotism, aod a gradual
willingness to do business with one's
own enemics crept into America.
Americans were building their busi–
nesses and their homes, but they weren't
building pride. They were making
money, but they were growing spiritu–
ally poor.
Their will had been tested, and had
been found wanting.
The ghostly, unknown power of the
Soviet Union was always a guestion
mark. But Soviet willpower never was.
At the very time when the highest order
of patriotism was required to save a
nation from its own self-imposed sick–
nesses, thc spi rit of the nation became
ever weaker.
And the spirit of a nation is mea–
surcd by its national character.
A new book by Andrew Hacker
entitled,
The End of lhe Ameríca11 Era
was revicwed in the book section of
Time
magazine for June
l,
1970.
Hacker said, "A willingness to sacri fice
is no longer in the American character,"
and went on to say that "what was once
a nation has become s imply an agglom–
eration of self-concerned individuals.''
In one chapter, Mr. Hacker labels our
self-seeking citizens with the scathing
headline, "Two hundred million egos."
He said: "We are in a stage of moral
enervation ... we are no longer capable
of being a great power ... bccause
u-e
lack the wí/1."
About
42%
of Americans hold the
vicw that the United States is a sick
society.
The causes for this sickness are listed
as lack of sufficient law enforcement,
riots and murder, laxity of courts,
breakdown in morals, shunning of reli–
gion, poor upbringing, lack of individ–
ual initiative, and general sellishness.
Those who disagree, including the
super-patriots who want to hear nothing
except "what's right about America,"
insist that only a smaU nwnber of
indi–
,.;dllttls
are really sick - that too much
publicity is given to the evils in society,
and that society is really no worse than
it has ever been. They see America as
only a littlc "confused," perhaps tempo–
rarily procrastinating, but not
real/;
sick.
But Amcrica
IS
really sick - the
diagnosis is spiritual cancer, and the
disease could be fatal!
In the next issue, we shall review
what has happened to our pride in our
power as a result of nearly ten years in
Vietnam, and assess the American spirit
of today in the light of the decade of
the 1960's. O