The fifties and sixties until Vietnam broke out was a golden era. WWII was over, many of us were too young to remember Korea. The U.S. boomed economically. G.I.'s coming back from the war wanted houses, and there was a housing boom. Industry was booming, so there were jobs. I lived in Pontiac, where both Pontiacs and GM Truck and Coach had plants, so Pontiac boomed. Many of my h.s. friends went straight from graduation to the plant, getting married along the way. We had five junior highs, myriad elementaries and in '58 built the second large high school. There were, ofc, racial tensions, but it was mostly over the school district's dividing lines which resulted in mandatory busing in the early 70's, bus bombing by the Klan, and white flight. BUT, the 50's and early 60's, the beginning of rock and it's best era, probably the same with Country, and that new genre, folk music. Damn Vietnam!!! It ruined everything.