Like you, I'm not old enough to have a mature remembrance of the 1950s. However, I can remember that the events of the late 60s represented a cataclysmic change from previous standards of public behavior, in everything from the kind of language people used to the content of films to the range of subjects that came to be considered "acceptable" for public discourse. Within a very short period of time -- less than ten years -- there were actions as diverse as banning of prayer in public schools, widespread use of profanity in the movies, legalization of abortion and open, casual drug use. While the underpinnings of this were no doubt brewing for many years, it really did just explode on our society and turned it on its head. The kind of crudeness and crassness we see all around us today would have been completely unimaginable before the late 60s. While "Leave It To Beaver" may have been a bit more simplistic than real life, it was a lot closer to it than the garbage that supposedly represents "reality" today. I think back to my own friends from school -- no single-parent families, divorce almost unknown, mostly stay-at-home mothers -- it was a very different world both in style and in substance.