I never lived close to the 50's but it seems to me they had that "sweep it under the rug" vibe, with like crippling racism and sexism and Hitler and Stalin.
Edit: Speaking specifically about the United States and Germany
In Germany : you can watch the movie "Im Labyrinth des Schweigens" a movie about nazism after WW2. In France : you can read the very good autobiography of George Semprun "l'ecriture ou la vie" i know there is a french and spanish version but an english version must exist. He was in Auschwitz and the book focus on how to live after that when nobody wants to talk about it.
I'm French so i can talk about it but only in France. From 1945 to 1970 : There was "official" memoirs. Every french was resistant, we wouldn't talk about Vichy, we didn't talk about the Holocaust. It was the France of General De Gaulle. (the communist were more incline to talk about the occupation because most of the resistant were communist and they knew for fact that most of the french weren't resistant) It's only after 1970 that we talk about what really happened : the holocaust, Vichy's regime.
Sorry it's not really precise i'm not very good with english
It would help if you specified the country that is at the focus of your question.