supersonic planes

I came across this reply in a dead Supersonic Travel thread. If TL;DR, the statement says that fears about sonic booms were too hyped, as at high altitudes, the sonic boom's intensity would be very low. The user basically says that had knowledge about sonic booms been discovered earlier, people...

With a POD starting from January 1, 1960, your challenge is to make supersonic travel (SST) as the most popular way of air travel, even as the oil crises of 1973-74 and 1979-82 happen as scheduled. Note: please cite your sources. Thank you! :)