Economically, the US was developing like never before. Since all of Europe and its industry was destroyed in the war, the US produced goods for the entire world which created numerous jobs and made the US a lot of money. Culturally, people lived in fear of communism and conformed to the current norms. 50s were a period before the counter-cultural trends of the 60s so everyone just went along with what the community thought was appropriate. Politically, it was an odd period because everyone believed Russian spies were in the country and were afraid of the spread of Communism.