Born in the 50's

 Week Twenty-three: Born in the 50’s

You don’t understand us

So don’t reprimand us

We’re taking the future

We don’t need no teacher

Born in the 50’s

--The Police, Born in the 50’s, from the album Outlandos d’Amour

(note: Years ago I went through a Police phase, listening to their music until I somehow reached my quota. Recently Born in the 50’s came on the radio. The last time I heard this song might have been thirty years ago. It is certainly a “deep track” meaning it might be another thirty years before I hear it on the radio again.)

These things were “born” in the 1950’s:

Credit cards

Super glue

Mr. Potato Head

Diet soda

Transistor radios

“the pill”

McDonalds

the Hula Hoop

Barbie

The Beatles

and me.

We Baby Boomers had a tough act to follow. The folks referred to as the Greatest Generation earned their nickname and are directly responsible for ours. As WWII ended, American prosperity and the ecstasy of more than seven million returning service members resulted in 76 million births between 1946 and 1964.  

Baby Boomers grew up in the shadow cast by an unparalleled legacy of sacrifice, including years of economic strife caused by the Great Depression (1929-1939). Unlike their parents’ generation, Boomers by and large were not asked to fight. The Korean Conflict (1950-1953) was fought by approximately seven million men including a million and a half WWII veterans. Boomers were too young.

In 1955 when the United States first engaged in hostilities in southeast Asia, Boomers were still too young to participate. By 1965 the first of Boomers had reached the average age (19) of soldiers in Vietnam. The oldest among the Boomers began to fill the ranks, but in 1971 President Richard Nixon declared that the Selective Service draft of 18 year old American males would end in 1973. As it turned out, males born after July 1, 1954 would register but never be drafted. 

That was three days before I was born.

The shadow I mentioned was cast by my extended family as well. My uncles on both sides of the family had served in the Navy, two of whom sailed with the Pacific fleet. My Uncle Ernie sailed on a refueling oiler ship. He did not talk much about his experiences, but he did say that instead of a life-jacket he should have worn a parachute because one direct hit and he would have been blown sky high.

I don’t remember my Uncle Fred saying too much about his wartime experiences, but can attest to the family pride felt by his sister (my mother) and his children. In fact his son, Freddy (b. 1949) served two tours in Vietnam as a United States Marine.

When the United States was attacked by Japan in 1941 my father was 13 years old. At age 17 he enlisted, or I should say he tried to enlist. Unless I have the story wrong it went something like this: he and his good friend went together to the navy recruiter. My father failed the physical, but his buddy did not. Not to be discouraged, my father tried to enlist in the Coast Guard. He made it far enough to have his official photo taken, but once again his ears would be the reason he was dismissed. (For the rest of his life, mastoiditis, which he called mastoid ear,  would cause serious medical issues including deafness. By age 80 we were required to “say it to the good ear.”)

Boomers often take credit for things like valuing relationships, being goal oriented, having a strong work ethic, founding the Peace Corps, the Women’s Movement, rock and roll and the counter-culture, and most proudly: Woodstock.

Not everyone agrees. In his 2017 book, A Generation of Sociopaths: How the Baby Boomers Betrayed America Bruce Gibney (b. 1976) claimed that the Boomers have committed “generational plunder,” pillaging the nation’s economy, cutting their own taxes, financing two wars with deficits, ignoring climate change, presiding over the death of America’s manufacturing core, and leaving the future generations to clean up the mess they created. He points out that by the 1980’s Boomers were the majority of the electorate, and by 1995 they consolidated their power in Washington and have been in charge ever since. According to Gibney, the Boomers inherited a rich, dynamic country and have gradually bankrupted it.

Unlike my Uncle Ed who just blamed The Beatles, when asked to explain how the Baby Boomers became so awful, Gibney said, I think the major factor is that the Boomers grew up in a time of uninterrupted prosperity. They assumed the economy would grow three percent per year forever and wages would go up every year and that there would always be a good job for everyone who wanted it. This was a fantasy and the result of a spoiled generation assuming things would be easy and that no sacrifices would have to be made to preserve prosperity for future generations.

Gibney agreed that Boomers had inherited a country they had no part in building, failed to appreciate it, and seized on all the benefits while leaving nothing behind.

Nothing, Mr. Gibney? Nothing? Um, we did Woodstock.

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=u_OQrzXpALE