Historians often note the similarities between the American cultures of the1950s and the 1920s. Both were prosperous decades, both had economies led by the automobile and construction industries, both had pro-business administrations in Washington, and both seemed marked by a retreat from social reform. Beyond those superficial similarities, the differences perhaps prove more informative. By the 1950s, the nation was rapidly becoming more suburban and less rural and urban. Twelve years of depression and five years of war had made government, industry, and bureaucratic organizations far bigger and more impersonal. Furthermore, the United States had become an activist member of the world community. In the 1950s prosperity at home became not only an end of but an instrument to fight the Cold War.