Originally Posted by cmac2012

After WW2 we were about the only industrial powerhouse still functioning well. Russia had experienced a surge of manufacturing ability owing to the necessity of building tanks, etc. to defeat the Germans, but they had also lost approx. 20 million citizens and several cities had been beat up pretty badly.

Our losses were not trivial - about 300K servicemen IIRC, but we suffered virtually no damage to our actual territory, apart from Hawaii. The world was ours for the taking, in a free enterprise business sort of way.

That kind of prosperity can smooth over a lot of rough spots. But I dunno, the 50s and the 60s also had some pigheadedness going on in cultural matters. The good ol' days always seem better. Usually always anyway.