I learned a lot from my interview with Mr. Hense Elysee. We talked about many things including Nixon, Reagan, Vietnam and many other events that came to light during that time. He talked about how he felt betrayed by the government and how angry he was with some of the things that went on. I learned that the American public lost faith in the government and decided to take things into their own hands with protest and other types of “rebellion”. They wanted to know what was going on, but the government did almost everything possible to keep it’s affairs secret. Vietnam also made the American public wary and hesitant to get involved in foreign affairs, even though American officials continued to do it. It gave Americans the feeling that the government did not care about it’s civilians and that it only cared about looking good in front of the rest of the world and keeping it’s title as a world power. I talked about both Watergate and Contragate with Mr. Elysee. These events gave light to the American politicians “dirty tricks.” Though Mr. Elysee doubts that this is the first time that politicians have done things that were frowned upon, he says that this is the first time that is was widely known. He sometimes felt ashamed to be an American because instead of other countries looking at us as a world power, they were looking at us as a greedy, money hungry nation. And all Americans fell into that category, it was not separated by race or gender. His answers helped me answer the essential question because he gave me insight into how it felt being an American at this time. The frustrations, the victories and the ups and downs. Though I do wish I had gotten more personal opinion and less facts, hearing it from someone who was there mad it so much clearer to me.
