The postwar period from 1945 to 1965 in the United States was a time of intense change. Economically, as has already been stated, the US was the only industrial power undestroyed during the war; this lead to unprecedented economic growth for this period -- indeed, it was only in the late 1960's and early 1970's that Europe and Asia got "back up on their feet" and could compete with the US in heavy industries, like automobile manufacturing. Although its been perceived that the US economy slid by the 1970's, what really happened was that the rest of the world caught up.
Socially, the dislocations that the war caused were, for a time, put aside, as if everyone wanted to "return to normalcy." With the men returning from the war, women returned to the home, and the "Baby Boom" began. Those 77 million children born in those years represent the largest demographic block the US has, and probably will ever see.
World War II was destructive on many fronts, politically, economically, and socially. The first two were felt immediately; the last took until that first postwar generation came of age. Having had no ties to how it was before the war, and comparing their own experiences to their parents, who had endured the difficulties of the Depression and the war, many felt older generation's focus on the accumulation of wealth to be the cause of current problems. Compounding the differences in opinion between parents and children was the US foreign policy, which engaged Korea and Vietnam. The Vietnam War, in particular, exacerbated this rift between young and old and created the "Generation Gap."
