I'm not too excited about the intangibles of the 1950s.It actually was a pretty good time, if you were American and white. The post-war boom was in full swing, American economic growth was at its highest in the 20th century (stats for earlier periods are harder to estimate, though long-term data series such as those collected by Angus Maddison might show this -- and the railroad and industrialization booms of the 1840s and 1880s were likely close). The US was the world's largest producer of oil (though it had just begun importing from Saudi Arabia), and it had essentially no rivals for industrial production (Europe and Japan had been seriously damaged by the war and were rebuilding, Korea and China wouldn't emerge for decades).
The Korean War was in the 1950s
For three years, 1950-1953. The US's troop commitment was 300,000. That compares with 16 million US troops in WWII. Fatalities alone were nearly as much as the Korean War deployment at 292,000. Korea was significant, but much less significant.
and Jim Crow was in full swing.
And starting to crack. Though it peaked in the 1960s, the Civil Rights movement had its roots in the 1950s, particularly the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott. No, it wasn't great, and there's still a huge amount of inequity, but things were finally starting to change.
And yes, there's a reason Nina Simone (and many others) left for France. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBiAtwQZnHs
Life expectancy was much lower.
Not all that much especially when compared with improvements over the prior 50-100 years. Life expectancy at birth was about 66 years in 1951 for white males, 72 for women, vs. 75 and 80 years in 2004. That compares with 38 and 40 in 1850. The biggest single-decade jump for men was between 1911 and 1919 (six years), about the same for women. Much of that came from improved safety (particularly industrial conditions and automobiles), some in behavior and environment (decreased smoking, drinking, and air pollution). It was earlier advances in antiseptics, anesthesia, sanitation, waste disposal, food preservation, nutrition, and pharmaceuticals which accounted for the big jumps. For men, 1900 - 1950 saw an 18.08 year increase, 1950 - 2000 an 8.49 year increase.
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005140.html
Just about any consumer good from today is clearly superior to the 1950s equivalent.
I'll grant increased capabilities, complexity, and decreased costs, though overengineering (or lack of corner-cutting) meant that many electrical and mechanical products were more durable then. There's also the question of just how much such advances impact on quality of life.