How the 60's Changed Our Lives When the soldiers returned from WWII, they returned to a country that was flourishing again. The Great Depression had finally come to an end, and the economy was back where it should be. "Leave it to Beaver" may have been somewhat stereotypical, but it still remains a fairly accurate portrayal of the average life in the post-war decade. Plenty of jobs for the men, and plenty of housework for the women. Life was easy, so people did what they did best, they reproduced. Because of the medical and technological breakthroughs, the infant mortality rate was greatly reduced, thus creating a "boom" of babies, aptly