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Post WW-II, the American Dream was explicitly defined as a house in the burbs, two cars, kids, a good job, and a stay-at-home wife. Oh yeah, and although you were a factory worker, your kids could go to college.
Sounds pretty mundane, but remember that a lot of folks back then had been raised in urban areas in the Depression, and the suburban lifestyle seemed like an incredible advancement to them. Cheap loans, cheap land, the development of the freeway system, and strong unionism meant that the average factory worker could move out of the city to afford a much bigger and better house than he could ever afford in the city center), would have the means to pay for it, and -- with freeways -- could still have his old job and get there easily. In most areas, freeway systems didn't really begin to clog up until the late '60s to the mid-70s.
Of course now the wheel has turned again, and the American Dream is now unattainable for many, or very distorted (like, you can afford your house but only if you commute 70 miles to work through hideous traffic).
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