It was NOT Ok in the 70s. It was NOT Ok in the 50s even in social settings. This is kind of not funny (or rather, a bit painful), but it does mock what the US

It was NOT Ok in the 70s. It was NOT Ok in the 50s even in social settings. This is kind of not funny (or rather, a bit painful), but it does mock what the US used to be like in the 50s about both political opinions and allowing certain people to have them: - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS37SNYjg8w The old "strictures" in conventional US polite society were to never discuss, in open, in any group, at work, at church, or a neighborhood barbeque: religion, politics or money. EDIT: BTW - to your point about changes around smoking in the office - I left the United States for about 10 years in the mid-80s, and people were having beers (or martinis) with lunch when I left, and then when I got back in the mid-90s - they were not. These things do change, and I am not trying to invalidate that point of yours.