GenX Turns Fifty

They were the GI Generation. Sometimes called The Greatest Generation. Coming of age at the end of a Crisis and into a time of relative peace. WWII ended and began an era of general prosperity and growth in the United States and the rebuilding of Europe.

I have to use my father as a surrogate as he was nine years old on VJ Day in 1945. He would had remembered the celebration and relief of soldiers coming home from the war.

President Roosevelt had begun work on the New Deal and Harry S. Truman succeeded him in 1945 implementing the Marshall Plan (Rebuilding European infrastructure) and the Truman Doctrine (support for democratic nations) in response to communism beginning to spread in Eastern Europe.

The United States and the Soviet Union emerged as rival superpowers entered what was called the Cold War as the threat of nuclear war loomed.

Wikipedia has a decent write up here on this era in the United States:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States_(1945%E2%80%931964)

The point from the Strauss-Howe Generational Theory is during a “High” period, institutional progress is strong, allowing progress on many levels. Individualism is weak, leaving those outside the desired conformity mostly powerless to make sweeping changes.

Observe the institutions that were created during the American High era. They were about countering communism worldwide by creation of trade agreements using the petrodollar globally and the initiation of programs like Medicare and Social Security at home to cure the ails of the Great Depression.

The 1950s saw the creation of suburbia, automobile mass production and the fourth Industrial Revolution. This was the era my Dad became a young adult turning 20 in 1956, marrying my mother a couple of years later.

Frank Sinatra, Frankie Valli, Elvis Presley and many others dominated the music scene.

The next “High” most likely will attempt to cure the ails of the Global Financial Crisis (2008-2028/2032?) and healing from what some call the Twilight Wars (conflict stemming from declining influence and population in China, Russia, North Korea, Iran) push society towards the next Awakening.