I lived through the ‘50s and remember it as being impossibly different than what we have become today. (1) There were ridged standards of dress, behavior, and expectations. Men wore hats and women wore dresses on most occasions. My father put on a suit to go to the auto parts store, and I never saw my mother in a pair of pants, ever. (2) In some ways there was less division between classes. Buying a house was far easier, but not everyone could afford a TV. Gas was 15 cents a gallon and that price included an attendant who pumped it and checked your oil. However, it was far tougher if you were penniless or unemployed. (3) There was a strong undercurrent of pessimism about the future, not present today. We were trained at school to shelter under our desks in case of a nuclear attack, which most people considered inevitable, especially when China got the bomb. There were frequent, often monthly, practice air raid alarms and every city had nearby shelters stocked with food and water. Part of this anxiety produced a deep distrust of science, and especially foreign-born scientists. We were, as Tennessee Williams put it, “A world waiting for bombardment”. (4) As Americans, we were secure in our culture and had no doubt that we were the best and strongest society in the world. We envied others nothing, except their exotic food on occasion. (5) Amid all this stability, we were restless for something different. Eisenhower was often viewed as a do-nothing president who spent his time golfing apart from governing. This set the stage for the explosive ‘60s, and all the rapid change which has followed.
As Ppresident, he did as he had done as a commanding general, which was to organize objectives and goals and expect people to perform, without fanfare. He did not work for the applause, or nightly television PR, or clicks and likes. He did amazing things, such as the first Civil Rights bill since Reconstruction, initiating the superhighway system, integrating the military and government schools, and continuing to put peace initiatives in place with foreign countries. And the liberal presstitutes whined and complained.
I do not remember your #3. In my part of the country it was quite the opposite, it was a period of optimism. And Eisenhower made the Interstate Highway system of roads possible. So, he wasn’t exactly a do nothing president. As far as the 60’s go, it was Kennedy who set the stage for civil unrest in the 60’s, and then Johnson who made everything else worse. We should never have been involved with Vietnam. Approx. 60,000 of our young men killed hundreds of thousands wounded physically or mentally. Maybe for you the times were different, but for me and those in my neighborhood the 50’s were good times. The 60’s were a mixed bag.