ABSTRACT
"The America that the Reagan administration inherited was an America still in shock from a decade of humiliation," cultural historian Nicolaus Mills wrote. The country had not recovered from the humiliating defeat in Vietnam and the disgrace of Watergate. The sense of shame was exacerbated by Jimmy Carters inability to negotiate the release of American hostages held in Iran for 444 days. The economy had witnessed the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The economy revived in the 1980s, and the booming real estate and stock market, celebrated for its junk bonds and corporate takeovers, was one such triumph. One of its heroes was Donald Trump who trumpeted his success in Trump Tower, Trump Shuttle, and Trump Princess. The art-market buildup in America had begun after the recession of 1974-75. Exacerbated by an oil crisis and the tremendous inflation it triggered, the slump gave rise to a new kind of thinking about investment in art.
