Post World War II, you had a bunch of other things leading to compression of the income distribution, from very high top marginal tax rates (90% through 1960; 70% through 1980) to low cost education (subsidized for just about everyone through better support than currently for good state schools -- and even more for returning troops in particular, a substantial fraction of all college-age men, through the GI bill). And of course, there were much stronger labor unions, present in most large workplaces.

Anyone who thinks the '50s were a good time because they came before "big government" has managed to forget about the New Deal, the GI Bill, and a National Labor Relations Board that still had teeth. Among other things...