Ours Was the Shining Future

Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist David Leonhardt explores America’s postwar boom and its economic stagnation after 1980.

The American Dream

The phrase “American Dream” first entered the US vernacular during the Great Depression. The term, coined by historian James Truslow Adams, refers to the notion that the United States offers unique opportunities for everyone to achieve upward mobility and overall improvements in living standards. For many Americans,  after the Depression, the American Dream was a reality. People grew wealthier and lived longer.