I will always remember the hope that briefly existed, in late 1976 and early 1977, that the country would make a clean break from Nixon’s paranoia, start speaking honestly about our history and our responsibilities, and realize the possibilities of redemption, regeneration and renewal that existed just off the horizon in the Sixties. The Democratic administration of that era, while led by eminently decent people, squandered those possibilities by making unpopular and ineffective policy choices on the major issues of the day: placing a greater emphasis on low inflation-the main economic concern of the rich-instead of full employment, the choice that gave Reagan the “misery index” to work with; by not proposing any significant increases in social spending or even to restore the funds cut by Nixon; by betraying its generally positive record on human rights with its all-out, bitter end support of the Shah of Iran, the choice that ended up causing the U.S. embassy takeover and the hostage situation that gave Ted Koppel his big break in show business. There was a real chance that the country could have found the path, but the chance was lost almost as sound as it was seen. By the summer of 1978, we were doomed to Reaganism and nothing could have stopped it.