How did our presidents in the 1970s attempt to deal with challenges?

Of course, we had three presidents during the 1970s and
each president faced very different challenges.  Because of this, it is very difficult
to generalize about how all the presidents attempted to deal with our
problems.

Jimmy Carter tried to deal with US domestic
problems in the 1970s by being (in his mind) realistic.   For example, he tried to
persuade people to use less energy as a way to combat the oil crisis of his term in
office.  His idea was that Americans should sacrifice for the common good.  This did not
go over well with the public.

In foreign affairs, Carter
tried to be more idealistic.  A major example of this was when he pushed to return the
Panama Canal to Panama.  In this and other ways, Carter tried to have the US act in less
selfish and aggressive ways than it had previously.