The Sept. 15 editorial “A rising economic tide lifts most households,’’ projecting positive strides in the US economy, gives rise to the question of what was the golden period that Donald Trump wants us to return to when he says, “Make America great again.’’

Was it after World War II, when we were on top of the world but were still lynching black people?

Was it the 1950s, when we built all those highways, but we couldn’t stop another demagogue from attacking innocent people about their politics, and schools were still segregated?

Perhaps it was the ’60s, when we made great strides toward equality (in spite of huge racial oppression) but carried with us a terrible war in Vietnam.

It couldn’t have been in the ’70s, with criminal activity in the White House, a recession, and huge interest rates.

Maybe Trump is thinking about his hero, Ronald Reagan, in the ’80s, who thought he could shrink the government but still provide all the services people needed, and who promoted illegal military action in the hemisphere and ended with an enormous deficit and a painful banking scandal.

It couldn’t be the Clinton years in the ’90s, with an almost unheard-of surplus, but gays couldn’t openly serve in the military.

Lets not even mention the Bush years that followed.

Trump can’t be thinking about any period before the New Deal, which brought us into a modern society. So tell me: When was America as great as it is now?

Martin Heyman

Newton