I said "not nearly no dramatic", not that things aren't better now.
A quick search suggests that the 1959 Bel Air had power brakes and that power steering was at least optional. I'm not sure power steering is standard on all low-end cars at this point. It wasn't a few years ago.
ABS and traction control are effective in some situations for mitigating the effects of driver error, but often get in the way of the corrections a skill driver is attempting to make. Additionally, they don't actually create any more traction, so they don't actually raise the limits of what the car can handle. Sure, the average car is better off with them, but getting the weight balance, suspension tuning and brake balance right matters more. A limited-slip differential is another big improvement that's been well-known for a long time, but is still rare on popular cars.
My '94 Nissan Sentra had standard power steering. I'd be surprised to hear about a popular car made within the last 10 years that didn't have both ABS and power steering standard.
I distinctly recall driving a late '90s Saturn that didn't have power steering. According to the owner, who bought it new, it came that way and wasn't broken. As far as I can tell, power steering and brakes were relatively common 50 years ago though not as ubiquitous as they are now.
