Not exactly the best time ever.

One childhood friend got polio (and is still dealing with aftereffects). I lost another to scarlet fever.

We had the possibility of the world ending at any moment - on a couple of minutes warning. There were atmospheric nuclear tests. I was forbidden to eat snow (radiation hazard). Water and air were polluted and getting worse (spectacular sunsets, though).

And there was this thing called "the draft". Guys didn't get to choose whether they went to war - even if they thought the war was an immoral attempt to squash a farmers' rebellion for the rich landowners - and then the people who went (voluntarily or not) were treated poorly on their return.

We had, essentially, a separate country in the Jim Crow South. I didn't live there - but went once as a kid and was deeply shocked.

On the other hand, we had an economic "long boom" that went from the late 40s through to the first gas crunch in the 80s. Jobs were plentiful (even for people with just a HS degree). Workers got raises. Unions and collective bargaining were a thing.

Other things got better. The draft ended. Civil Rights. Feminism. Cleaner air and water. Gradual de-escalation of the Cold War. Eventual collapse of the USSR (pity Gorbachev couldn't reform it - he certainly tried).