I wonder if there was ever a better, more optimistic time for Americans than the 1950s.

[caption id="attachment_1395" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Downtown"]<a href="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Downtown-America-1950.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1395" title="Downtown America-1950" src="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Downtown-America-1950-300x216.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="216" /></a>[/caption]

I'm not saying things were perfect -- Joe McCarthy and Jim Crow come to mind, not to mention the threat of nuclear war -- but I don't know if there was ever a better time to be an American as compared to a citizen of any other country.

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