Why the American Lost Trust in the Federal Government Since the 1960s? - Research Paper

Introduction

Most of the American citizens had no reason not to trust the federal government since a random poll done in 1958 indicated that 73% of the entire population believed the country's leadership to do what is right always. However, these numbers have dropped drastically since the mid-1960s because of series of crises and political scandals involving various individual leaders and sectors. Only 19% of American citizens in Washington trust the federal government to act rightfully at all times. In the entire country, only 20% support the leaders' decisions (Fiorina, p. 565). The rest of the population have been significantly polarized and feel that the federal government's leadership has to put in more and substantial effort to prove to the people that it can be trusted once again. The political distrust in the country has been influenced by a series of events including unpleasant decisions by some presidents. Some of these occurrences are the Vietnam War, Watergate saga, stagflation, recession, the partisanship and resignation of former President Richard Nixon among other recent events such as the September 11 attack in 2001. The distrust has significantly affected the relationship between the government and its citizens, and it has become difficult for the people to support its ideas or decisions (Hetherington p. 801). Therefore, it is the responsibility of the individuals and organizations in power to ensure that appropriate strategies are implemented in the attempt to recover the people's trust before no one is left to support the government.

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The Vietnam War

The American-Vietnam War ended in 1975 and left significant scars in the lives of many people since many died, others lost their loved ones, and many were left with permanent injuries. Consequently, the war did more harm to the American people since it cost them their relationship with the federal government. The country did not just lose the war, but it also lost the support of a significant percentage of its population. Most of the citizens lost faith in their government's integrity and competence. They could not believe that their leaders could lie to them, but with what happened during and after the war, the American people had no reason to trust their representatives in power (Hetherington). Starting 1969 US Presidents including Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon lied and concealed to the public and congress fundamental information regarding their war strategies and its apparent scale. However, the truth came out later from some people working within the government offices such as Daniel Ellsberg, who was a military analyst at the time, revealing that whatever the executives were telling were mere lies and the people should not believe them. Although the presidents attempted to defend these concealments and lies as decisions made in the quest to protect the country's interests and its programs, the American citizens felt that they had every right to know the truth regarding the war. Hence, they could not trust any politician was capable of telling the truth.

The Watergate Scandal

In the midst of the Vietnam War, the executive concealed the truth of a major political scandal that involved a break in of five burglars into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in 1972. The administration led by President Nixon denied its involvement in the conspiracy and this encouraged the National Congress to investigate the matter leading to a constitutional crisis. The investigations revealed that top officials in Nixon's administration had been directly involved in the break-in and the media took every chance it had to spread the news across the nation. Consequently, the House of Representatives felt that they had no faith with President Nixon and the process to impeach him began. He could not bear the humiliation, and he resigned in 1974. The political scandal and the events associated with it indicated that the federal government was incompetent and was failing in its mandates. The American citizens had another reason not to trust their leaders as they felt that the individual meant to lead them were the facilitators of criminal activities. It was during this decade of 1970s that the trust in the federal government fell drastically from 80% to approximately 25%.

Stagflation and Recession

During the 1980s, America faced a significant economic downturn, and it affected the lives of many citizens. The oil prices rose worldwide leading to augmentation of a lot of commodities' prices. Also, the rate of unemployment in the country increased of which implicated the lives of people adversely. The stagflation led to economic recession countrywide, and the American citizens felt like the federal government was partially responsible for whatever was going on in the nation. Furthermore, people trust their leaders with their wellbeing; hence, with the apparent situation in the country, they felt that their able representatives had failed them (Nye). The failure led to public political distrust since the citizens believed that the leaders could not protect them and their families anymore. It became difficult to trust every institutional that was connected to the economic downturn either directly or indirectly of which saw that only 29% of Americans believed the government during this decade and the other that followed.

The Partisanship

American citizens have always been divided across political lines for many decades where they are those who support the Democratic Party while others rally behind their Republican leaders. The partisanship has significantly contributed to political distrust in the country such that the people in the opposition does not believe the government can make the right decisions and deliver the best anytime and always. The ruling party tends to have more trustees from its supporters compared to those from the opposition. For example, during President Reagan's reign, 52% of Republicans trusted the government could do the right thing almost every time while there were only 35% of Democrats and the total for the entire country was 42%. On the other hand, 34% of Democrats and 25% of Republicans trusted the government during Bill Clinton's reign, and there was a total of 29%. The figures indicate that the partisan split affects the public trust the federal government receives from the citizens despite other factors contributing to the fall and rise of the numbers (Fiorina p. 572). However, the trust within the republicans and democrats has significantly fallen over the recent last reigns including G. Bush and B. Obama's administrations. By the end of 2008, only 12% of Democrats and 19% of Republicans could trust the federal government by the end of Obama's reign 26% of Democrats and 11% of Republicans had faith in his administration. Although these figures have been partially influenced by other factors such as wars and economic crises, it is evident that partisanship has affected the trust of the American citizens in the executive.

The Iraq War

The war was started during the Bush's administration through manipulation and duplicity that a significant part of the Islamic culture consisted of terrorists and criminals who were supposed to be wiped entirely from the world. The American government believed that Iraq was one of the hiding hubs of some of the most dangerous terrorists; hence, it took its troops and weapons to them. Billions of money were wasted during the attacks, approximately 50, 000 Americans were killed, and a lot of Iraq's citizens lost their lives and properties. The damages lead to increased opposition against the war in 2003, and this led to significant drop in the number of American citizens who trusted the decisions of the federal government. Total public trust in the country was 36% with 51% of Republicans and 25% of Democrats and indication that the war was influencing the faith of the people in their government (Nye).

The Attacks of September 11, 2001

The attacks were conducted systematically in the US by the Al-Qaeda terrorist group on four targets where many people lost their lives, and lots of properties were destroyed. The attacks boosted the patriotism and national unity of the American citizens' countrywide (Chanley p. 470). Moreover, it led to a significant increase in the public trust in the federal government which stood at 60% according to a poll conducted by the Gallup Organization. The people felt that they needed to support one another during such grieving times and also to sympathize with the individuals and families affected during the attacks. The attacks were one of the few things that ever saw the American people coming together as one rallying behind the incumbent government regardless of the ruling party.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Despite the past events and decisions that have been made by various individuals and organizations in government that have created dividing lines among the American people and lead to increased distrust on the reigning administrations; leaders have the obligation of gaining back the citizens' faith. They have to formulate better and effective strategies that can recover the people's trust to avoid unnecessary consequences such as economic downfall because of lack of unity within the country. The government's leadership does not have a choice if it must see its people succeed and prosper together as one nation; it has to make them believe in it again. It should ensure that the gaps that exist because of partisanship are closed to allow the citizens to speak with one voice regarding economic and political development. Additionally, it should make effective decisions aimed at improving the lives of the people and mending those that have been broken by past events. Undoubtedly, regaining the faith is not a simple task since the people must be provided with attractive incentives to show their cooperation towards supporting the leaders' ideas and decisions. Therefore, it is the duty of the individuals and organizations concerned to put together the best ideas that are meant to influence the citizens either directly or indirectly. By doing this, most probably they will begin seeing their government from a different perspective, and it will have made a significant step in recovering the lost trust of the American citizens.

Works Cited

"The Long Decline of Trust in Government, and Why That Can Be Patriotic." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia, 19 Jan. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2015/07/04/upshot/the-long-decline-of-trust-in-government-and-why-that-can-be-patriotic.html.

Chanley, Virginia A. "Trust in Government in the Aftermath of 9/11: Determinants and Consequences." Political psychology23.3 (2002): 469-483.

Fiorina, Morris P., and Samuel J. Abrams. "Political polarization in the American public." Annu. Rev. Polit. Sci. 11 (2008): 563-588.

Hetherington, Marc J. "The political relevance of political trust." American political science review 92.4 (1998): 791-808.

Hetherington, Marc J. Why Trust Matters: Declining Political Trust and the Demise of American Liberalism. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 2007. Print.

Nye, Joseph S., Philip Zelikow, and David C. King, eds. Why people don't trust the government. Harvard University Press, 1997.