Well back then we thought everyone in charge was evil. Back then we had Krutschev, Nixon etc. Always nuclear war looming. And Reagan with this trickle downs, the Bush wars over made-up WMDs etc.

I don't think there was ever really a positive period. Maybe the 90s which was kinda the high point. Economics were good, America and NATO was the undisputed world power, nobody took global warming seriously yet and the internet was promising a great future.

Then after 2000 we had the dot com crash, 9/11, the resulting wars, Russia becoming an enemy again, the financial world crisis, the rise of the internet as a surveillance tool, global warming, the pandemic, exploding house prices everywhere.

Really pretty much exactly after the change of the century everything turned to shit.