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Is there a real and permanent change in American attitudes? Perhaps. Many Americans have been left out of the economic recovery; on the other hand, it would be utopian, or typically American, to think that all could be included. The measure that Yankelovich trusts is the poll on confidence in American institutions. At the time of John Kennedy's assassination, about two-thirds of those polled said they trusted that Government was run for the benefit of all the people. But as the nation lurched through the Viet Nam years, through Watergate and double-digit interest rates and inflation and the hostage crisis, the national confidence in Government sank until it reached only a little more than 20% in the last year of the Carter Administration. Since Reagan took office, the figure has been rising steadily. It now stands at ! between 40% and 45%, not an overwhelming endorsement of the Government, but surer. In his latest survey, Yankelovich found that as of December, 73% of Americans believed that "things in the country are going very or fairly well." When Ronald Reagan was inaugurated in January 1981, the figure stood at 26%.
THE DEFEATISM IS GONE
What has overtaken the nation, it seems, is a mood of more realistic optimism than the country felt at the start of the Kennedy years. Americans have put themselves through a great deal in the past 20 years, but they have also learned from the experience.
Americans learned, Yankelovich suggests, that they cannot solve every problem by throwing money at it, that they cannot bend the world to their will merely by sending out the fleet. But, says Yankelovich, "the defeatism is gone. There is a reassertion of the familiar kinds of American optimism and can-do spirit--in many ways more realistic than in the '60s."
Even the military is back--and honored. "Be all that you can be," says the Army. Some recruiting ads show young Americans tending killer technology, running their tanks as if they were video games, taking unashamed pride in the work they do. Applications to West Point rose from 9,180 in 1979 to 13,400 this year. The U.S. Naval Academy reports a comparable increase, and so do college ROTC programs.
The new enthusiasm reflects not only the fading of the memory of Viet Nam but the attention that the Reagan Administration has given to the defense budget. Military pay scales have increased 38% since 1980. "Before 1980," says Navy Commander Kendell Pease, "there were articles about enlisted men on food stamps. Now that's turned around."
The invasion of Grenada brought a surge of new enlistments in ROTC programs. The quality of military recruits is improving substantially. The motives for entering the service are not just economic now (the Army as a last resort for jobless youth). They are also patriotic. In his letter of application to West Point, a high school student from Florida wrote, "I will relish having the chance to serve my country in a position in which I can exert a positive influence."