At the end of the 20th century, Bill Clinton talked about building a bridge to the 21st century, but since we arrived in the 21st century, it seems like we've been building a bridge back to the 14th century, with a rise in religious fundamentalism, pandemics and wars, and the existential threat of manmade climate change.
The U.S.A. I knew as a kid (growing up in England) believed in progress, of moving forward, implementing bold projects both social and scientific. My grandmother was born in 1887, during the horse-drawn carriage era, and in her lifetime she saw the advent of the motor car, the airplane, radio, TV, and computers; most of them were invented and popularized in America. She was alive in 1927 when Lindbergh became the first to fly solo across the Atlantic; and in 1969, 42 years later, she witnessed Armstrong walk on the moon.
The U.S. seemed to be a place where anything was possible, a place where scientists, engineers, doctors lead the way and were held up as heroes. Henry Ford created a car that all could afford, and America went on to produce cars and products that were the envy of the world. Out of the Great Depression FDR created Social Security to help provide for and protect the poor; in World War II he commandeered automobile production lines and factories to build thousands of planes and tanks to defeat the Nazis and the Japanese. Following the war, Truman instigated the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe. In the 1950s, Eisenhower built the freeway system. Suddenly people could go places they'd never been before, such as national parks, another great bold American creation.