This post-Vietnam period, when the Watergate scandal played out on television and in newspapers, marked a new era from which an innate, widespread political cynicism surfaced. Confidence in the country's future seemed to erode on a daily basis. The withdrawal from Vietnam in 1973, with devastating casualties and no victory, was only one reason why.

The economy had also started to sink, and with it went consumer confidence. In the mid-1970s the cost of living was roughly one-third higher than it had been in 1960. The stock market was sagging, and in 1971 unemployment hit 6 percent while inflation continued unabated. By 1974, consumer prices had soared more than 10 percent and unemployment was nearly as high.

The American conviction of the lower and middle class upward mobility began to falter during this decade. It became widely apparent that many within the lower strata of the socio-economic hierarchy were not going to have a better life than the one their parents created for themselves. No longer was everyone going to move forward together.

Republican Gerald Ford rose to the vice presidency when his successor Spiro Agnew resigned in disgrace. The affable Ford then had to step in as president when Nixon resigned rather than face impeachment. Ford, tinged with his pardon of Nixon and mired in inflation and fuel shortages, lost re-election to outsider Jimmy Carter. Carter, a Democrat, benefited from being an outsider with no ties to Washington. But, he soon found himself mired in economic crises and the Iranian hostage crises

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"Pentagon Papers"
This was a government study of U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia, commissioned by Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara in June 1967. The 47-volume, top-secret study covered the period from World War II to May 1968. A team of analysts who had access to classified documents wrote it and completed it in January 1969. The study revealed a considerable degree of miscalculation, bureaucratic arrogance and deception on the part of U.S. policymakers. In particular, it found that the U.S. government had continually resisted full disclosure of increasing military involvement in Southeast Asia air strikes over Laos, raids along the coast of North Vietnam. It showed offensive actions by U.S. Marines had taken place long before the American public was informed. On June 13, 1971, The New York Times began publishing a series of articles based on the study. The Justice Department obtained a court injunction against further publication on national security grounds, but the Supreme Court ruled that constitutional guarantees of a free press overrode other considerations and allowed further publication. In 1971, the government indicted Ellsberg, a former government employee who made the "Pentagon Papers" available to The New York Times, and Anthony J. Russo on charges of espionage, theft and conspiracy. On May 11, 1973, a federal court judge dismissed all charges against them because of improper government conduct.

Emergence of gonzo journalism
Gonzo journalism is, in essence, an extension of "The New Journalism" championed by Tom Wolfe and George Plimpton during the 1960s. The best work in the genre is characterized by adding novelistic twist to reportage with usual standards of accuracy subjugated to catching the mood of a place or event. In Thompson's work there is usually a distorted viewpoint brought on by the author's consumption of drugs and alcohol (usually recorded in the article for posterity). As such, much of his output (including the seminal "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas") must be regarded as fiction rather than journalism.

The public becomes increasingly skeptical of the government and media
A cultural change in the U.S. was reflected in the new manner in which media institutions reported on government officials. New and younger idealistic publishers took over many of the nation's most prominent newspapers; and their reporters, likewise idealistic, challenged authority within the newsroom and public officials with equal vigor. In 1968, Agnew publicly challenged the "hard-line" some journalists took. In the wake of the Watergate scandal, the American public was left with suspicion of motives for both the government and media.

Journalism organizations and Codes of Ethics
Because of a rising mistrust of the media, many major journalistic organizations and many individual news organizations established codes and standards. These rules were put into place to limit the involvement of their journalists in activities thought to "embarrass their organizations."