Did it begin with Watergate?

Did it start with WATERGATE? No, not the age-old political dirty tricks. Rather, the monumental, "fashionable" apathy. Were millions so shocked, so scandalized by Nixon's minor malfeasance - which nailed him - they simply dropped out of meaningful politics? I refer to Tricky Dick's minor crimes, as he was actually caught and forced to resign, in the immediate sense, on account of a second-rate break-in at Democratic National Committee Headquarters, not for the massive war crimes committed in SE Asia. But the real focus of my inquiry concerns the American Public. I'll always remember being ten years old and going to my best friend's house in the Summer of 1973. Nancy, Peter's mom, was glued to the telescreen, entralled with the Watergate Hearings. I was naturally bored on the one hand, being ten years old, and quite unable to fathom why Ms. ____ was so obsessed with such nonsense. On the other hand, I was fascinated, intrigued with the intrigue.
Of course, the United States had experienced political scandal before. Teapot Dome in the 1920's. Bobby Baker's misdeeds during the LBJ years. But never before, apparently, did so many people pay so much attention to cloak-and-dagger antics in the White House. So why the subsequent humungous level of apoliticization in the (long-term) wake of the "Plumbers'" shenanigans? Eisenhower had already been caught red-handed in a major international LIE in May 1960, when he falsely denied Gary Francis Powers had been involved in a U-2 spying mission over the USSR. Faith in the supposed truthfulness of Presidents certainly took a hit, but the population didn't seem to wallow, as a result, in complete indifference.

But following Watergate, it became "cool" to not give a shit. "Cool," when I was in Middle School in 1975, was showing off your Converse All Stars and running around the Gym to the tune of "Pickin' Up The Pieces" by the Average White Band. ...(Don't get me wrong - Great Song.)
It was evidently quite cool to make it known to everyone you'd seen the latest "Tony Orlando And Dawn" episode on ABC. Of course, I'm talking about kids here, but I'll wager many of those mental children who were absolutely THRILLED by "The Towering Inferno" were 18+.

CONVERSELY (heh heh) it became equally "uncool" to care about things that actually mattered, eyes were endlessly rolled to high heaven if you so much as mentioned any actual, grown-up ISSUE. By the time I entered High School in 1977, the fashionable boredom was so thick you could cut it with a switchblade. Example: We had Madison's Chief of Police visit the class one day. I expected someone to challenge him, to call him a goddamn fascist pig, SOMETHING. Instead, the entire class, girls and boys alike, sat there for 60 minutes like a bunch of granite statues. Myself as well - I wouldn't have been caught dead being so "uncool." OK, I lie, if my recollection is correct, I did ask a question, having already been discovered to be hopelessly UNCOOL. I haven't changed one bit, as you see.

I realize noone gives a shit, so I'll STFU and have a nice day. I'm kidding! Tell me, tell me, what did THEY do to YOU, to ME, to US??? Or rather, WTF did we do to ourselves?