Greatest Generation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

U.S. Generations * = dates disputed, ^ = Strauss and Howe This box: view • talk • edit
Term	Period
^Puritan Generation	1588–1617
Puritan Awakening	1621–1649
^Cavalier Generation ^Glorious Generation ^Enlightenment Generation ^Awakening Generation	1618-1648 1648-1673 1674-1700 1701–1723
First Great Awakening	1727–1746
^Liberty Generation ^Republican Generation ^Compromise Generation	1724–1741 1742–1766 1767–1791
Second Great Awakening	1790–1844
Transcendentalist Generation ^Transcendental Generation ^Gilded Generation ^Progressive Generation	1789–1819 1792–1821 1822–1842 1843–1859
Third Great Awakening	1886–1908
^Missionary Generation Lost Generation Interbellum Generation G.I. Generation Greatest Generation	1860–1882 1883–1900 1900–1910 1900–1924 1911–1924
Jazz Age	1918-1929
^Silent Generation Beat Generation Baby Boomers Generation Jones	1925–1942 fl. 1950s-1960s *1940s-1960s 1954–1965
Consciousness Revolution	1964–1984
Generation X ^13th Generation MTV Generation Boomerang Generation	*1960s–1980s 1961-1981 1974–1985 1977–1986
Culture Wars	1980s–present
Generation Y ^Millennial Generation Echo Boom Generation Internet Generation ^New Silent Generation	*1970s–1990s 1982-2000 *1982–1995 *1994–2001 *1990s or 2000s-?

The Greatest Generation is a term sometimes used to denote the younger half of what is often referred to as the G.I. Generation. The term is derived from the title of a best-selling book by Tom Brokaw and is generally assumed to mean those born in the United States from about 1911 through 1924, with an alternate label, that of the Interbellum Generation, sometimes applied to persons born from 1901 through 1910.

In contrast to the Interbellum Generation, whose children were predominantly members of the Silent Generation, the Greatest Generation went on to give birth to the majority of the Baby Boomers, who then challenged their authority during the turbulent 1960s and early 1970s, especially over the issue of the Vietnam War.

They were the generation that fought during World War II and many again in the Korean War, and went on to rebuild the world's industries in the following years.

Members of the Greatest Generation held the office of President of the United States continuously from 1961 until 1993 (John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush).

[edit] Sources

• "The Greatest Generation" by Tom Brokaw (1998) Depicts the Americans who came of age during the Great Depression and fought World War II, and went on to build America.

• The Great Boom 1950-2000: How a Generation of Americans Created the World's Most Prosperous Society by Robert Sobel (2002)

Preceded by Interbellum Generation c. 1900 – c. 1910

Greatest Generation c. 1911 – c. 1924

Succeeded by Beat Generation c. 1948 – c. 1962