20^th Century * US Generations

The Lost Generation (Nomad, born 1883-1900) grew up amidst urban blight, unregulated drug use, child “sweat shops,” and massive immigration.  Their independent, streetwise attitude lent them a “bad kid” reputation.  After coming of age as “flaming youth,” doughboys, and flappers, they were alienated by a war whose homecoming turned sour.  Their young-adult novelists, barnstormers, gangsters, sports stars, and film celebrities gave the roar to the ‘20s.  The Great Depression hit them in midlife, at the peak of their careers.  The “buck stopped” with their pugnacious battlefield and homefront managers of a hot war—and their frugal and straight-talking leaders of a new “cold” one.  As elders, they paid high tax rates to support their world-conquering juniors, while asking little for themselves.  (AMERICAN: Harry Truman, Irving Berlin, George Patton, Mae West, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong; FOREIGN: Adolph Hitler, Mao Zedong)

The G.I. Generation (Hero, born 1901-1924) developed a special and “good kid” reputation as the beneficiaries of new playgrounds, scouting clubs, vitamins, and child-labor restrictions.  They came of age with the sharpest rise in schooling ever recorded.  As young adults, their uniformed corps patiently endured depression and heroically conquered foreign enemies.  In a midlife subsidized by the G.I. Bill, they built gleaming suburbs, invented miracle vaccines, plugged “missile gaps,” and launched moon rockets.  Their unprecedented grip on the Presidency began with a New Frontier, a Great Society, and Model Cities, but wore down through Vietnam, Watergate, deficits, and problems with “the vision thing.”  As “senior citizens,” they safeguarded their own “entitlements” but had little influence over culture and values.  (AMERICAN: John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Walt Disney, Judy Garland, John Wayne, Walter Cronkite; FOREIGN: Willy Brandt, Leonid Brezhnev

The Silent Generation (Artist, born 1925-1942) grew up as the suffocated children of war and depression.  They came of age just too late to be war heroes and just too early to be youthful free spirits.  Instead, this early-marrying Lonely Crowd became the risk-averse technicians and professionals—as well as the sensitive rock ‘n rollers and civil-rights advocates—of a post-crisis era in which conformity seemed to be a sure ticket to success.  Midlife was an anxious “passage” for a generation torn between stolid elders and passionate juniors.  Their surge to power coincided with fragmenting families, cultural diversity, institutional complexity, and prolific litigation.  They are entering elderhood with unprecedented affluence, a “hip” style, and a reputation for indecision.  (AMERICAN: Colin Powell, Walter Mondale, Woody Allen, Martin Luther King, Jr., Sandra Day O’Connor, Elvis Presley; FOREIGN: Anne Frank, Mikhail Gorbachev)

The Boom Generation (Prophet, born 1943-1960) basked as children in Dr. Spock permissiveness, suburban conformism, Sputnik-era schooling, Beaver Cleaver friendliness, and Father Knows Best family order.  From the Summer of Love to the Days of Rage, they came of age rebelling against the worldly blueprints of their parents.  As their “flower child,” Black Panther, Weathermen, and Jesus Freak fringes proclaimed themselves arbiters of public morals, youth pathologies worsened—and SAT scores began a 17-year slide.  In the early 1980s, many young adults became self-absorbed “yuppies” with mainstream careers but perfectionist lifestyles.  Entering midlife (and national power), they are trumpeting values, touting a “politics of meaning,” and waging scorched-earth Culture Wars.  (AMERICAN: Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, Steven Spielberg, Candice Bergen, Spike Lee, Bill Gates; FOREIGN: Tony Blair

 The 13th Generation (Nomad, born 1961-1981) survived a “hurried” childhood of divorce, latchkeys, open classrooms, devil-child movies, and a shift from G to R ratings.  They came of age curtailing the earlier rise in youth crime and fall in test scores—yet heard themselves denounced as so wild and stupid as to put The Nation At Risk.  As young adults, maneuvering through a sexual battlescape of AIDS and blighted courtship rituals—they date and marry cautiously.  In jobs, they embrace risk and prefer free agency over loyal corporatism.  From grunge to hip-hop, their splintery culture reveals a hardened edge.  Politically, they lean toward pragmatism and nonaffiliation, and would rather volunteer than vote.  Widely criticized as “Xers” or “slackers,” they inhabit a Reality Bites economy of declining young-adult living standards.  (AMERICAN: Tom Cruise, Jodie Foster, Michael Dell, Deion Sanders, Winona Ryder, Quentin Tarantino; FOREIGN: Princess Di, Alanis Morissette

 The Millennial Generation (Hero?, born 1982-?) first arrived when “Babies on Board” signs appeared.  As abortion and divorce rates ebbed, the popular culture began stigmatizing hands-off parental styles and recasting babies as special.  Child abuse and child safety became hot topics, while books teaching virtues and values became best-sellers.  Today, politicians define adult issues (from tax cuts to deficits) in terms of their effects on children.  Hollywood is replacing cinematic child devils with child angels, and cable TV and the internet are cordoning off “child-friendly” havens.  While educators speak of “standards” and “cooperative learning,” school uniforms are surging in popularity.  With adults viewing children more positively, U.S. test scores are faring better in international comparisons.  (AMERICAN: Jessica McClure, the Olsen twins, Baby Richard, Elisa Lopez, Dooney Waters, Jessica Dubroff; FOREIGN: Anna Paquin, Prince William

Culture Wars (Third Turning, 1984-2005?), which opened with triumphant “Morning in America” individualism, has thus far drifted toward pessimism.  Personal confidence remains high, and few national problems demand immediate action.  But the public reflects darkly on growing violence and incivility, widening inequality, pervasive distrust of institutions and leaders, and a debased popular culture.  People fear that the national consensus is splitting into competing “values” camps.

Silent entering elderhood

Boomers entering midlife

13ers entering young adulthood

Millennials entering childhood