Defining the '90s: a time of hope

Noblesse Oblige
    By Jay Munir

If you've ever listened to "Sunday night at the '80s" on KC 101, you've probably heard the DJ declare, "You know you're a child of the '80s if..." followed by a piece of cultural trivia familiar only to those of us raised in that decade of Izod, Benetton, and big hair. Now, as the last decade of the 20th century draws to a close, historians will attempt to label another decade and the generation that grew up in it.

While popular American culture identifies the 1980s with prosperity, greed, and Ronald Reagan, pinning labels on the 1990s is more complex. The fall of communism, the eviction of a Republican administration from the White House, and stock exchange highs are all part of the '90s ethos. Yet most Americans find it hard to capture this decade with a few simple labels. Yale's Class of 1998 is the first class whose members entered high school in the 1990s. Thus, our student body is filled with many who will look back at this decade as the best years of their lives. As children of the 1990s, how will we be remembered?

It is impossible to predict how people will look back at this decade. But Yale's next graduating class has good reason to enter the "real world" with more optimism than previous generations. Quite simply, life in America in 1998 is better than it has been for some time. Skeptics will say that the preceding statement sounds like a 1980s Republican commercial, and that many of the problems that have dogged American society since World War II are still unsolved. Yet there is reason to believe that things are improving.

The President of the United States has always been associated with the time period in which he ran the country. President Bill Clinton, LAW '73, embodies the spirit of the '90s in the same way Nixon is associated with the '70s and Reagan with the '80s. Like the decade itself, Clinton is certainly flawed. He has confessed to dodging the draft, using illegal drugs, and cheating on his wife. His approval ratings remain high because Americans are satisfied that he is handling his job well by improving the country's overall condition. Crime rates are dropping, personal incomes are up, and, according to most surveys, people are more confident about the direction in which the country is headed than they were ten years ago.

Clinton's experience signals an important shift in the American national attitude. By focusing on the President's job performance rather than his personal character, the American public seems willing to move toward a society in which the separation of the private and public spheres of an individual are better respected. This trend will make it easier for people who don't fit traditional definitions of respectability to be judged by the contributions they make to society in their public lives through employment, community service, or other means.

A weakening of traditional social stigmas is not the only thing that the next crop of graduates can look forward to. Unlike our parents' generation, we leave college free from the specter of being drafted to fight a war in a foreign land. Instead, we can direct our energies toward fighting domestic enemies like poverty and racism. Despite continuing setbacks, opportunities for women and minorities have never been greater. Economic prospects for young people have not been this strong since the days immediately following World War II, and the American adage that each generation will do better than the preceding one seems alive and well.

Maybe we will eventually be able to reduce the 1990s into a few simple labels. For now, however, life in the '90s seems too complex to be summarized, and this is a good thing. The world is better off if it cannot be reduced to the polarized order of the Cold War. The 1990s are marked by people working to improve both their individual prospects and society's overall condition. Life in America is flawed, but it is certainly improving. Reagan won the 1984 election by declaring that it was "Morning in America." I think his declaration was 15 years too early.

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