Baby Boomers

A baby boomer is someone born in a period of increased birth rates, such as those during the economic prosperity that in many countries followed World War II. In the United States, demographers have put the generation's birth years at 1946 to 1964, despite the fact that the U.S. birth rate actually began to decline after 1957. William Strauss and Neil Howe, in their book Generations include those conceived by soldiers on leave during the war, putting the generation's birth years at 1943 to 1960. Howe and Strauss argue that persons born between 1961 and 1964 have political and cultural patterns very different from those born between 1955 and 1960 and fit into what those writers term the Thirteenth Generation or Generation X (also known as the Cold War generation) born between 1961 and 1981. As the influence of Strauss and Howe has grown, a smaller number of people still accept Baby Boomers as including those born after 1961, although there are some who put the dates at 1946 to 1963 because of the number of significant "Gen-X" figures born in 1964.

Post-World War II baby boom

As is often the case with a large war, the elation of victory and large numbers of returning males to their country triggered a baby boom after the end of World War II in many countries around the globe, notably those of Europe, Asia, North America and Australasia.

In the United States, demographers have put the generation's birth years at 1946 to 1964, despite the fact that the U.S. birthrate (per 1,000 population) actually began to decline after 1957. William Strauss and Neil Howe, in their book Generations, include those conceived by soldiers on leave during the war, putting the generation's birth years at 1943 to 1960. (Strauss and Howe base their years on peer personality, not parental fecundity, so their years may not coincide with the actual "boom".)

Interestingly, the birthrate actually began to climb in 1940: From that year through 1943, the U.S. birthrate rose four years in a row for the first time since at least the beginning of the 19th century; following a brief interruption due to the wartime absence of would-be fathers, the "boom" picked up where it left off after World War II ended.

In Canada, the baby boom is usually defined as the generation born from 1947 to 1966 – Canadian servicemen were repatriated later than American servicemen, and Canada's birthrate did not start to rise until 1947, and most Canadian demographers prefer to use the later date of 1966 as the boom's end in that country. The United Kingdom experienced a second baby boom during the 1960s, with a peak in births in 1964 and a third (smaller) one in the late 1980s.

Whatever year they were born, boomers were coming of age at the same time across the world, so that Britain was undergoing Beatlemania while people in the United States were driving over to Woodstock, organizing against the Vietnam War, or fighting and dying in the same war, Boomers in Italy were dressing in mod clothes and "buying the world a Coke", boomers in India were seeking new philosophical discoveries, American boomers in Canada had just found a new home after escaping the draft south of the border, Canadian Boomers were organizing support for Pierre Trudeau, and boomers in Mexico were discovering new hallucinogenic drugs and rediscovering old ones. Although the term "boomer" has fallen into global use, the generation is also known in Europe as the Generation of 1968.

The term is derived from a historically significant rise in the birthrate following the Second World War. Several factors have been credited with this rise, among them a general sense of relief at the war's end, and the resurgent economic conditions of the period.

Place in time

Boomers' typical grandparents were of the Lost Generation; their parents were of the G.I. Generation and Silent Generation. Their children are of Generation X and the Millennial Generation and their typical grandchildren will be of the Generation Z (born roughly about 2000 - 2021).

Unlike the previous generation (the Silent), Boomers lack any childhood recollection of World War II. Unlike the next generation (Generation X), many American Boomers fought in Vietnam or organized opposition to it, or were reaching adolescence or lingering in "post-adolescence" (a term coined for them) as the Vietnam War drew to a close. See also Generation gap.

Born early or late within their generation, Boomers could hardly avoid a world of Beatlemania, mod clothes, a search of either new philosophical discoveries in India or hallucinogenic drugs in Mexico. A great gap emerged in America between those organizing against the Vietnam War and those fighting and dying in the same war, Although the term "Boomer" is now in global use, the generation is also known in Europe as the Generation of 1968 for protests that led to the fall of the French government and the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia in 1968. Cheap, easy travel, relative peace, inexpensive and widespread college education, and mass communications that others had created had made the philosophical and cultural awakening possible for many.

In the Communist bloc, the Baby Boomers-- born during and after the World War 2-- were known to view the Khrushchev years with fondness, as an era of floating idealism, growing living standards and a booming economy. Eventually, they became cynical, bitter, and hostile to the more conservative Brezhnev-Kosygin era, where corruption was rife, the economy became stagnant, Communist idealism evaporated. The fact that they were also the first generation without mature memories of war or Stalinism separated them from their more ideologically-inclined parents and made them prone to questioning the establishment, often risking imprisonment.

What Howe and Strauss termed the Consciousness Awakening of the 1960s faded, and the popular culture became less euphoric. Drugs and political radicalism began to charge persons less naive about self-interest than the hippies who flocked to the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, and pathologies became more commonplace. By the 1970s a revival of religious activity led to a resurgence of religious fundamentalism that has reshaped American life. By 1980, reactionary trends had become surprisingly common in Boomers, and Ronald Reagan, a politician who had based much of his political career on opposition to the cultural tendencies of Boomers of the late-1960's, was able to win a majority of Boomers as voters.

Like other Idealist generations, Boomers got an early start in elective politics. By 1988 the elder George Bush selected the fortyish Dan Quayle as Vice-President; by 1992, American voters voted Bill Clinton in as President of the United States; the Presidential succession had gone from a veteran of World War II to a draft resister of the Vietnam War, bypassing the Silent Generation altogether. By 2001, George W. Bush succeeded Bill Clinton as President.

For their numbers and their resources, Boomers have had but slight achievements in technology and in any commerce not related to culture. However, they have had crucial roles in developing the American technology and finance industries which dominate to a good deal the US economy today, and popularizing and shepherding the growth of consumer goods and marketing development and sale.

Prospects

By the middle of the first decade of the new millennium, the oldest Boomers are approaching retirement age. The younger members of the generation are still in their forties, and many have yet to "leave their mark upon history," a desire that drives most members of this generation. Patterns of history for Idealist generations suggest that Boomers will have a long tenure of political office and cultural influence, as was true for the Awakeners of Benjamin Franklin and Samuel Adams, the Transcendentals of Abraham Lincoln and Walt Whitman, and the Missionaries of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and George Catlett Marshall. Strauss and Howe's posited patterns of history indicate that Boomers will occupy the upper echelons of worldly power through a likely Crisis Era that will not end until about 2020. The best Idealist leaders demonstrate vision, decisiveness, and culture that allows them to lead in the best manner in the worst of times.

A caveat applies: the arrogance, selfishness, and ruthlessness that Strauss and Howe attribute to an unusual degree in all prior Idealist generations can lead to factional strife or to outright despotism. Younger generations may need to rein in these destructive tendencies. The generation has a tendency to reevaluate their lives in midlife, and many focus desperately on the successes and failures of their children. Increasingly, the tendency to "micromanage" the lives of their children is expressed in this generation to a significant degree.

Famous Baby-Boomers

The Boom Generation has as of 2005 had two U.S. Presidents:

It is estimated that the Boom Generation will not hold a plurality in Congress until 2015, the White House until 2021, and will have a majority in the Supreme Court from 2010 to 2030.

Non-U.S. peers of the Boomers include U2 frontman Bono, Daniel Ortega, Charles, Prince of Wales, and former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Their cultural endowments have included the following:

Contemporary Cultures