Historical Events that Shaped the Baby Boomer Generation
Better than those for younger generations
What historical events shaped the Baby Boomer generation? According to a survey by the Pew Research Center, Baby Boomers (born from 1946 through 1964) listed the following as the top 10 most significant events during their lifetimes:
September 11th (70%)
JFK Assassination (45%)
Vietnam War (41%)
Obama’s election (38%)
Moon landing (35%)
The tech revolution (26%)
Civil rights movement (18%)
Fall of Berlin Wall/end of Cold War (16%)
Martin Luther King’s assassination (15%)
Iran/Afghanistan wars (11%)
What About Other Generations?
All four generations surveyed, the Silent Generation (1928 to 1945), Generation X (1965 to 1980) , and Millennials (1981 to 1998) in addition to Baby Boomers, rated September 11th as the most important historical event in their lives, with the percentage increasing the younger the generation. But after that, there’s much less agreement. The Silent Generation is the only one that includes World War II, and rates it as the second most significant event. Both younger generations list President Obama’s election as the second most significant event and include gay marriage, Hurricane Katrina, and the many domestic terrorism events: the Orland shooting, the Columbine shooting, Sandy Hook and the Boston Marathon bombing (and Generation X also includes the Oklahoma City bombing).
There’s not much good going on in any of these lists, but more good for the older generations. Both the Silent Generation and Baby Boomers include the moon landing, the tech revolution, Obama’s election, and the civil rights movement on their lists. The Silent Generation also includes World War II, which was both a cataclysm and a victory for the United States. The Baby Boomers and Generation X include the end of the Cold War.
Bleak Lists for Younger Generations
Other than Obama’s election, gay marriage, and the tech revolution (and the end of the Cold War for Generation X), there’s not much else positive on the lists of two younger generations that’s positive. And the picture looks much worse for Millennials than for Generation X. The latter lists only four positive events among its 12 (for some reason there are 10 events listed for the older two generations and 12 for the younger ones) and rates three of them (Obama’s election, the end of the Cold War, and the tech revolution) as the second through fourth most significant events during their lifetime after September 11th. The Millennials’ rather bleak list of significant events does include the killing of Osama Bin Laden, which may be counted on the positive side of their tally, but doesn’t make their experience any rosier. In the same regard, Generation X includes the Gulf War, which was successful from the point of view of the United states, but was also a war.
What do these events mean for each generation and, for our purposes, what do they mean for Baby Boomers especially? Certainly the younger generations live in a much more dangerous world where they are subject to and aware of both domestic and international terrorism to a much greater degree than the Baby Boomers and members of the Silent Generation.
Can Baby Boomers take Credit for Positive Events?
Us older folk have experienced some real achievements, but not necessarily recently. The moon landing happened in 1969, the civil rights movement during the 50s and 60s, and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. It’s not totally clear what’s meant by the “tech” revolution. According to Wikipedia, the “scientific-technical” revolution took place between 1940 and 1970 while the “digital” revolution has occurred since then. President Obama was first elected in 2008.
Unfortunately for Baby Boomers, they can’t take much credit for most of the positive historical events that influenced them, only perhaps for the digital revolution and their role in electing President Obama. They should also get some credit for the legalization of gay marriage, which is on the lists of both younger generations.
What Else Formed the Baby Boomer Ethos?
I’d argue that the Vietnam War and other events that didn’t make the top 10, including Watergate, the Iran hostage crisis, and the stagflation of the late 1970s, all had a huge effect on the Baby Boom generation. These all occurred during significant formative years for Baby Boomers. We went from a sense of our government being effective and trustworthy to one where it was untrustworthy and ineffective. This helped support the Reagan claim that government is not the solution to our problems but instead the problem, itself. As a nation, we instituted pervasive tax cuts on the basis that government would waste our money and we individuals could spend it better.
As inidividuals, those of us Baby Boomers who had a choice by and large didn’t go into government ourselves or see doing so as a way to have valuable, effective, and worthwhile lives. Instead, those who had a choice went into private business. Tech pioneers, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists were rewarded with both money and high regard. This became a debilitating circle as we underfunded and undertalented government, its resulting failures of performance reinforcing the argument that we should not waste money or make careers there.
Of course, our lack of confidence in government engendered by the failures of the Vietnam War, Watergate, the Iran hostage situation, and the 1970s economy, fit in with the individualistic, cowboy strain of our national character. Rather than relying on government, we should make our own way. No wonder tech pioneers, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists have been held in high esteem (at least until recently). They achieved great success on the high plains of American free enterprise.
Unfortunately, our lack of confidence in government (other than the military, perhaps) has had detrimental results. We have underfunded our infrastructure and our schools, left people on their own to deal with both child care and elder care, and failed to respond to the growing climate crisis or the exorbitant cost of health care. Some things may be better achieved by a dynamic private sector, but not everything. Some can only be achieved by a dynamic public sector.