"If nominated, I will not run; if elected, I will not serve."
I wonder if WWII wasn't the last of the proud moments, with an incredible energy directed at a real enemy with nearly universal pride. The good times ran from there and the lack of a universal comeupance, ala the Depression to bring folks back to what matters seems to me to be a turning point.
Everybody that lived through the Depression took something from the experience, IMO, that was similar.
Viet Nam provided divisiveness, showing the huge gap in individuals' perceptions of exactly the same events. Korea provided neither patriotism nor great division and showed the mindset of the war-jaded Americans.
Ike's America was the good times without a tab to pay for quite a while and there is nothing worse than free time to corrupt a society.
But I could be wrong...
art
