Contemporary Literature, 1970 to Present
Historical and Social Context
In the wake of the counter-culture movement of the 1960s many Americans
became increasingly distrustful of the federal government. Investigative reporting
in print and on television, along with photojournalism, contributed to the public’s
lack of confidence in official reports and rhetoric about government actions at
home and abroad. An economic downturn and rising inflation in the 1970s ended
a period of growth and prosperity that had begun after World War II, further
threatening the confidence and sense of well-being of many Americans. The
increasingly unpopular war in Vietnam led to protest marches and sit-ins, many
on college campuses, across the nation. President Richard M. Nixon had prom-
ised to end U.S. involvement in Vietnam when running for office in 1968, but
his decision to invade Cambodia, announced on 30 April 1970, led to the public
perception that the war was escalating. On 4 May 1970 Ohio National Guard
troops fired on a group of unarmed students at Kent State University in Ohio;
four died, and nine others were wounded. Nixon issued a statement describing
the deaths at Kent State as “tragic and unfortunate” but also placed blame on
the antiwar demonstrators. Through his press secretary the president announced
that “This should remind us all once again that when dissent turns to violence,
it invites tragedy.” Ten days after the Kent State shootings, police fired on stu-
dents demonstrating at Jackson State University in Mississippi, killing two and
wounding twelve. Photographs of dead and wounded students galvanized public
sentiment against the war, and more than nine hundred colleges and universities
were shut down by student strikes. The last American ground troops departed on
29 March 1973, and the war ended with the fall of Saigon to North Vietnamese
troops on 30 April 1975.
Nixon had become a symbol of political corruption in 1973 when details of
his involvement in covering up the break-in at the Democratic National Com-
mittee headquarters in the Watergate hotel and office complex in Washington,
D.C., came to light. To avoid impeachment, Nixon resigned in 1974—the first
U.S. president to do so. Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward described the events
that led to the Watergate cover-up and Nixon’s resignation in All the President’s
Men (1974). Vice President Gerald R. Ford assumed the presidency and later
pardoned Nixon of all charges related to the Watergate case. James Earl “Jimmy”
Carter, the relatively unknown governor of Georgia, was elected in the 1976 over
Ford largely because he seemed untainted by Washington, D.C., politics. During
his single term the nation suffered shortages and rising prices for fuel; inflation;
high interest rates; a growing national deficit; and the Iran hostage crisis. These
events further eroded many Americans’ faith in government and eclipsed Carter’s
accomplishments: his promotion of international human rights; his key role in
the Camp David Accords, which led to a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel;
and his efforts to secure the release of the fifty-two American hostages held by
Iranian militants at the American embassy in Tehran, who returned home the day
Carter’s successor, Ronald Reagan, took office.
In response to problems at home and abroad, many Americans turned inward
and became preoccupied with self-awareness, a trend that inspired Tom Wolfe’s