General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Over all - was life better 50 years go today - or was it worse? [View all]Thirties Child
(543 posts)I was 28 in 1963, we had just been transferred to Atlanta from D.C. because UPI saw what was coming in Civil Rights and was setting up a good bureau to handle it.
Appliances that were built in 1963 lasted, cars didn't. Going back a few years, into the 50s, in 1957 the Dallas Times Herald hired me at $60 a week, paid $65 a week to a guy who had also just graduated, told me men were paid more because they had a family to raise. Going back even earlier, into the late 1940s, early 1950s, I lived in a small town on the plains, ate meat that was bought on the hoof, eggs laid by free-range chickens. Gas was 25 cents a gallon and if we drove on two-lane roads. The passenger seat was called the "suicide seat" because the passenger went through the windshield in an accident. There were no Interstates or seat belts.
So - better for some, worse for some, better in some things, worse in some things. Do I want to go back? No.