In terms of a span of years, when do you place the "Greatest Generation"?

[FedoraFan112390]

If you were to put a definitive set of years to place the birth years of the "Greatest Generation" or the "Depression/WWII" Generation within, what years would it be? And why?

My own formulation is that the earliest GI Generation folk were born around 1908 and the youngest tier were born in 1927.

The oldest tier (1908-1918 let's say) I class as the 'older officers' of World War II; they were much more formal, they really grew up and experienced the core years of the Golden Era; these were the people who would've seen Gone with the Wind or the Wizard of Oz in theaters and been able to understand what them while watching it; These were people who would've been old enough to vote in the election of 1932, which decided the course of the rest of the Golden Era politically; these were the young brothers of the Golden Era stars and starlets; members of this age tier were too young to fight in World War I, but many fought in World War II in some fashion, and more often than not, they wore hats, and were more consistently formal in their dress than members of the other tiers of the GI generation.

The Middle Tier (1918-1923) were the foot soldiers of World War II (not in a literal sense, but an age sense). These were the hard core New Dealers; the wave of people who helped re-elect Roosevelt; these were the guys who did the brunt of the fighting in World War II in terms of age; they were generally moderate to liberal; many of the men of this age wore hats early on, but discarded them by the 1950s and were flexible in their dress, but not liberal in their fashion. This was the tier of youths who (if ladies) fawned over Gable and Bogart as teenagers in the theatre and if gents had their jaws drop at the likes of Vivien Leigh and Olivia De Havilland. You could call this age-tier the pin-up generation, the boys in WWII who'd hoot and holler the pin-ups in the magazines or painted on the sides of their warplanes.

The Last Tier (1923-1927) - the last wave of boys old enough to legally fight in World War II; an age-tier of people who would've voted for FDR but were decidedly more conservative than their older peers; This was the age group raised more on Bogart and Bacall and the Rat Pack rather than on Gable and Flynn, and even more liberal in their sense of fashion than their peers and likely did not usually wear hats for the most part. There is a slight bleedover from this generation to the Silent (1927-1940). The last group of people who would've experienced the 1939 World's Fair and remembered it in any mature way.

Of course, these are generalizations; no one size fits every individual, but my own personal way of grouping generally speaking the people of these age groups.

I'm curious about yours.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I'd go back further. Most of the high-ranking officers in WW2 were born in the 1890s, entered the military in the 1910s, and were old enough to have fought in the WW1 as young officers. Many of the leaders of the New Deal were born even earlier -- FDR was born in 1882, and most of the leading figures of the New Deal were his contemporaries.

The generation born from 1900 to 1916 or so knew the Twenties before the Depression -- the older end of this group were adults when the Depression hit, the younger end was still in high school, but they were all of an age to be aware of it. Many of the younger working-class people in this group experienced the roughest impact of the Depression, and ended up forming the most politically-radical generation of Americans until the 1960s, with their achievements most obvious in the rise of Industrial Unionism. They supported FDR very strongly, although many of them felt he was too conservative and took an active part in pushing him leftward during the 1936 campaign.

The group born from 1916 or so to 1924 were the main part of the "GI Generation." More of them were unmarried when the draft started in 1940 than the 1900-1915 group, and the men in this age group made up the bulk of the selectees. They tended to be less politically-oriented than their older siblings -- although those from well-to-do families often supported the isolationist movement, many of the others were more moderate, and leaned toward being Willkie Republicans -- moderates who basically wanted to continue the New Deal under a GOP administration. But FDR remained their top choice for the presidency.

The 1925-30 group were the younger siblings of the GI Generation. They were a mixed bag politically -- many of them were repulsed by Truman and embraced the left-wing Wallace Progressive movement in 1948, but others drifted rightward. While a few of them got into WW2, this generation supplied most of the enlisted men who went to Korea. Some of them became embittered in the fifties and became part of the "Beat Generation," but others sought refuge in the blandness of Eisenhowerian suburbia. Many notable leaders of the Civil Rights movement emerged from this generation as well.

 

[Stanley Doble]

I don't think of them as the "Greatest" anything but then I knew them too well. I think of them as my dad's generation aka the Bob Hope generation.

I am talking about the group that got out of the service in 1945 - 46, got married, and raised the families known as the Baby Boom generation. It included John Kennedy but also Richard Nixon and a few million others.

They had a different outlook or world view from the older generation, their parents, who were too old to join up and the younger generation, even their own younger siblings who were too young to serve. I can't describe it, but there was definitely a dividing line on both sides but especially between them and the younger "rock n roll" generation.

 

[Edward]

I have a pronounced dislike of the "greatest" terminology (this may be cultural variation; I believe it's a term peculiar to the USA). That said, it does seem, given the focus always seems to be on that being the generation that defeated Hitler, that being of an age to have served in the military in WW2 would be the obvious marker.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I have a pronounced dislike of the "greatest" terminology (this may be cultural variation; I believe it's a term peculiar to the USA). That said, it does seem, given the focus always seems to be on that being the generation that defeated Hitler, that being of an age to have served in the military in WW2 would be the obvious marker.

Yep, "Greatest Generation" was invented by Tom Brokaw in 1998. It's amazing how quickly it penetrated the American consciousness -- no such phrase existed before then. When William Manchester wrote his history of the generation in 1972, "The Glory And The Dream," he called them "The Swing Generation," which I like better than any of the other alternatives.

 

[Edward]

Jings, I had an inkling it was some latter-day conceit, but I didn't realise it was quite that recent.

 

[Stanley Doble]

From watching old English TV shows I had the impression the war was an every day topic of conversation and nostalgia in England much more than in North America, as late as the 70s and 80s.

At least for those who lived thru it.

 

[Stearmen]

It is interesting that there seemed to be so little celebration of the 70th anniversary. I remember the 50th, it was really big, with the U.S. Navy launching WWII airplanes from one of their carriers, and the big Washington DC fly overs.

 

[Stearmen]

From watching old English TV shows I had the impression the war was an every day topic of conversation and nostalgia in England much more than in North America, as late as the 70s and 80s.

At least for those who lived thru it.

As a Baby boomer, I can remember, when you meant a new kid, you would ask, "was your Dad in the war?" Every one knew what you meant, even with Vietnam raging!

 

[Stanley Doble]

It is interesting that there seemed to be so little celebration of the 70th anniversary. I remember the 50th, it was really big, with the U.S. Navy launching WWII airplanes from one of their carriers, and the big Washington DC fly overs.

Let's face it, how many WW2 veterans are still around and ambulatory 70 years on? The youngest would be near 90.

 

[nick123]

I'd like to say the WWII guys, but I feel a sense of melancholy for the forgotten Korean War veterans, and especially those who served in Vietnam. I count the soldiers from any generation to be the greatest group of people.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

My neighbor down the street is a WWII vet, seems to be in good shape, lives on his own, and maintains his home beautifully.

Let's face it, how many WW2 veterans are still around and ambulatory 70 years on? The youngest would be near 90.

 

[Treetopflyer]

I don't think that I could tag on an age that defines the "Greatest Generation." I have always viewed all Americans during that time as "The Greatest Generation." Yes, it is a term that Brokaw penned, but I think that it is fitting. It was a time when all Americans sacrificed to win the war. Can you imagine today's society rationing anything, let alone gas and food? People were willing to do whatever it took to make sure we won the war. We look to that generation as what America was and what they built it up to be. That generation would eventually put a man on the Moon.

Would that generation ever consider themsleves the "Greatest Generation?" No, because they didn't know what they were doing at the time would impact the world and humanity.

 

[Bushman]

I would have to say that those who survived the Great Depression to rebuild America and fight the Nazis in WWII were among the greatest generation.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

I think we should remember that, for a great many Americans, they had never had it so good as they did during the war years on the Homefront. After a decade of Depression, America had full employment. Employers couldn't stiff employees because of wage and price controls. Landlords couldn't gouge renters (though they sure tried) because of rent controls. There was rationing but no real hunger, as there had been during the Depression. People were earning good money, many for the first time in their lives. Consumer products were scarce so they socked away their earnings in savings accounts. These savings came out in the postwar years and fueled the phenomenal postwar economic boom.James Jones,(author of "From Here to Eternity",) in his book "World War Two," describes the party atmosphere that prevailed at home during those years. It was as if all the old rules had been set aside. His sister lived openly with an airman and the family never said a thing about it. There was lots of this. The stifling conformity of the '50s may have been a reaction to the license of the war years. He says that, despite the rationing, the bars always seemed to have plenty of liquor and the restaurants and hotels never ran short of steaks. The big downside, of course, was that so many men were away from home and in so much danger. But The U.S. never suffered anything like the privations suffered by the other nations that fought WWII.

 

[Gingerella72]

I've heard it said that the generation born roughly 1927 - 1940 is known as "the silent generation" as they were too young to be part of "the greatest generation" but too old to be considered "boomers". My parents were born 1930 and 31, married in 1952, young adults in the 50's and 60's, had me in 1972 (talk about a generation gap). They were on the cusp between two distinct generations and I've never really known where to place them.

 

[LizzieMaine]

James Jones,(author of "From Here to Eternity",) in his book "World War Two," describes the party atmosphere that prevailed at home during those years. It was as if all the old rules had been set aside. His sister lived openly with an airman and the family never said a thing about it. There was lots of this. .

The 1940s feminist author Elizabeth Hawes writes extensively about this in her 1943 book "Why Women Cry," documenting the free-and-easy approach to such matters that she encountered while working in an aircraft plant in a small town in New Jersey. Women were tasting economic and social freedom, many for the first time in their lives, and most of them -- eighty percent according to one survey -- had no desire to give up their freedom after the war. Hawes documented how the Boys From Marketing tried their damndest to force them to do so in her subsequent book "Anything But Love."

Both of these texts were cited by feminist authors of the sixties as important precursors to their own work, and yet they're completely forgotten today by the mainstream, who remember the war years, if they remember them at all, as a time of Not Sitting Under The Apple Tree With Anyone Else But He, and of women gladly leaving the workplace for the kitchen once the war was over. Didn't happen that way at all.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

I've heard it said that the generation born roughly 1927 - 1940 is known as "the silent generation" as they were too young to be part of "the greatest generation" but too old to be considered "boomers". My parents were born 1930 and 31, married in 1952, young adults in the 50's and 60's, had me in 1972 (talk about a generation gap). They were on the cusp between two distinct generations and I've never really known where to place them.

The Depression-born generation formed a relatively small group - during the Depression people were putting off marrying and starting families until better times should return. But they had a disproportionate influence on American culture, especially youth culture. A few examples: James Dean (1931) Elvis Presley (1935) Jerry Lee Lewis (1935), in fact, almost all of the Rock n' Roll pioneers were Depression babies. Likewise for that whole generation of young actors who broke into film in the postwar years.

 

[Fading Fast]

The Depression-born generation formed a relatively small group - during the Depression people were putting off marrying and starting families until better times should return. But they had a disproportionate influence on American culture, especially youth culture. A few examples: James Dean (1931) Elvis Presley (1935) Jerry Lee Lewis (1935), in fact, almost all of the Rock n' Roll pioneers were Depression babies. Likewise for that whole generation of young actors who broke into film in the postwar years.

My Dad was born in '24 and was a full-on "raised in the depression, you don't know how good you have it to have food on your plate" guy. My Mom was born in '32, but had none of the Dean / Presley fandom in her. In part, I think, because her family was poor before, during and after the war, so the '50s invention of the teenager - and that culture and the money to participate - past her buy. That said, while I can understand that now, as a kid and teenager, I remember asking her why she wasn't engaged with the culture of her youth (as I discovered Elvis, Dean, etc. very early on an loved all of it) - and she never had an answer - I think - because she hand't put it all together.

 

[Stearmen]

My Dad was born in '24 and was a full-on "raised in the depression, you don't know how good you have it to have food on your plate" guy. My Mom was born in '32, but had none of the Dean / Presley fandom in her. In part, I think, because her family was poor before, during and after the war, so the '50s invention of the teenager - and that culture and the money to participate - past her buy. That said, while I can understand that now, as a kid and teenager, I remember asking her why she wasn't engaged with the culture of her youth (as I discovered Elvis, Dean, etc. very early on an loved all of it) - and she never had an answer - I think - because she hand't put it all together.

You're mother would have turned 18 in 1950! Elvis did not hit it big until late 54 early 55. It's just like the 70s, every one thinks it was all Disco all the time, but, in reality, both Rock & Roll and Disco, were the end of those respective decades!