Name: Silent Generation
Birth Years: 1925-1942
Archetype: Artist
Childhood
Silent Generation children were born just as the nation entered a fourth turning. The culture had been unraveling for the previous twenty years, and a crisis was at hand. Silent children watched their elders struggle against the most difficult economic times of the century. As war clouds gathered around the world in the 1930s, they were very much aware of their elder's concerns. More than ever, compliance and conformity were expected by parents who had no time or energy to address recalcitrant children. Silent children generally lived up to expectations. The US Population grew by 7% in the 1930s, the lowest decennial growth rate ever.
Young Adulthood
Growing up, Silent Generation children stood in awe of the accomplishments of their elders. They looked forward to an opportunity to prove themselves when they became adults and joined the struggle against societal problems. However, just as they reached adulthood, the fourth turning ended, a new prosperous first turning began, and G.I. Generation folks returned home from war. Government benefits to war veterans meant that colleges were immediately overrun with G.I.s taking leadership roles and positions of prestige. Similar events happened in business as G.I.s were given preferential treatment in hiring.
Shortly after World War II came the Korean Conflict, and the Silent Generation proved themselves well. However, some G.I.s weren't impressed. As they saw it, they had liberated the world while Silent soldiers fought to a stalemate on a peninsula where the distinguishing accomplishment was a retreat. Thus, in this and many other ways, Silent Generation young adults were made to feel inferior to the next elder generation.
One way to gain respectability quicker was to get a job, marry and start a family. William Strauss and Neil Howe point out that the average age at marriage in the early 1950s was 23 for men and 20 for women. Of the cohort of Women born 1931-1935, 94% had children averaging 3.3 births! That compares to 81% of women and 2.3 births 25 years earlier with the G.I Generation.
With the fourth turning crisis over, both G.I. and Silent Generation parents began to loosen the reins on children in the 1950s. Times were prosperous, and parents lavished the prosperity on their children. They wanted a different kind of childhood from the austere upbringing they had received. Motherhood was raised almost to the point of idolatry. What few women were in the workforce were moved out to make room for returning G.I. men.
Midlife
As the 1960s approached, gnawing doubts about life choices for the Silent Generation began to emerge. Men who had bought the "work hard and play by the rules" mentality began questioning the sterile mechanical nature of their work lives. Oral contraceptive birth control hit the market in 1960, and Betty Friedan published "The Feminine Mystique in 1963, challenging contemporary ideas of femininity. Women began to question the social order. No states had "No-Fault Divorce" in 1969, but that number jumped to 45 by 1975. The divorce rate doubled in less than ten years, and the bulk of the divorces were Silent Generation marriages. (Generations, 284) During the 1960s, the mindset went from seeing children as a badge of honor to children as a burden. Abortion also became legal in 1972.
The Silent Generation took the institutions created by the G.I.s as a given and sought to reform them. An explosion of activist organizations emerged in the late 1960s and 1970s. Scratch deep enough, and you will usually find a Silent Generation person started them. The Silent Generation valued inclusion, acceptance, consensus, and compromise but sought these things in the confines of a G.I.-defined world.
In the meantime, a new generation was emerging. The children of the Baby Boom "Prophet" Generation (born 1943-1960) began to enter college in 1960. They were raised to believe that they were children of destiny and could accomplish anything they put their minds to. Many of the generation shared the same distaste for the cold mechanical environment of the G.I.-created world, but they had no desire to reform it. They wanted revolution. They wanted to bring forth their own prophetic vision of the world. Silents were like a middle child sandwiched between an overbearing older sibling and a rebellious younger one. Always being the peacemaker, Silent Generation leaders often felt themselves pulled both ways and got a reputation for indecisiveness.
Elderhood
As the Silent Generation moved into positions of influence and power in the late 1970s through the early 1990s, they entered a third turning known as the "Culture Wars." The Reagan Revolution began in 1981 with its decidedly ideological agenda. It contrasted starkly with the more "Centrist" image cultivated by previous presidents like Carter, Ford, and Nixon. The Moral Majority interjected conservative religious values into the national debate. A turning point came with the nomination of Robert Bork (Silent Generation) to the Supreme Court in 1987. Many conservatives felt a brazenly partisan attack ambushed Bork. "Getting Borked" became the expression for being a victim of an all-out political attack. The level of rancor has increased ever since.
The Silent Generation leaders were the masters of process. They were often seen as the intellectuals, policy wonks, and technocrats of large bureaucracies. Through the 1980s and 1990s, many of them tried to promote civility. For their efforts, Ronald Reagan dismissively referred to them as "the kids." Spiro Agnew called them "the vicars of vacillation" and "the nattering nabobs of negativity." (Generations, 290) Baby Boomers considered them dull, uninspired bureaucrats incapable of inspiring leadership toward the visions they had in mind. Then, there was the 1988 presidential campaign.
The Republicans chose George H. W. Bush to represent them in the 1988 presidential election as Ronald Reagan left office. The Democrats had a large field of contenders. After Mario Cuomo opted not to run in March of 1988, seven candidates were left in the race. Joe Biden, Michael Dukakis, Richard Gephardt, Gary Hart, Jesse Jackson, and Paul Simon were all Silent Generation members (Lloyd Bentson, at age 67, was a G.I.) The press began to refer to the election as George Bush and the "Seven Dwarfs." Dukakis won the nomination and selected G.I. Bentson as his running mate, partly to gain some of the G.I. gravitas. The press nicknamed him "Duke," which only showed how unlike a G.I. he was when compared to "The Duke," John Wayne, a G.I. icon. The icing on the cake was Dukakis's appearance as a tank driver, which people took as him playing pretend compared to George Bush, who had actually been in a war.
The penchant for process and bureaucracy is the hallmark of Silent Generation leadership throughout the institutions of American culture. While others admire their desire for inclusion, justice, and fairness, they have often given the impression of being indecisive and lacking vision. There has not been a Silent Generation president, and barring the failure of George W. Bush to complete his term, there likely will not be one (Dick Cheney is of the Silent Generation.)
Twilight
The Silent Generation is fading from leadership as America enters a fourth turning. They still hold the political positions of Vice President, Senate Majority Leader, Senate Minority Leader, Speaker of the House, and House Minority Leader. They are still the heads of corporations and boards, but their influence is ebbing. While economically, the Silent Generation has experienced almost uninterrupted improvement over their lifetime, there has been a steadily growing sense of cultural decay since young adulthood. Their worst nightmare is coming true: A rancorous public square of competing ideologies.
Conclusion
The Silent Generation was born into a world of crisis. They were compliant children who honored the sacrifice of their elders. Born too early to partake in the glory of their elders and too late to embrace a radical new generation coming behind them fully, the Silent Generation often found itself trapped between loyalty to old institutions of a passing generation and the desire for institutions with a friendly face from a younger generation.
A sampling of the Silent Generation
Presidents: None
Losing Presidential Candidates: Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis
Lenny Bruce (1925-1966) Comedian, Social Critic
William F. Buckley, Jr. (1925- ) Columnist, Author
Johnny Carson (1925-2005) TV Talk Show Host
Robert F. Kennedy (1925-1968) Senator, US Attorney General, Presidential Candidate
Paul Newman (1925- ) Actor
Gore Vidal (1925- ) Author
Malcolm X (1925-1965) Black Muslim Leader
Alan Ginsberg (1926-1997) Poet
Alan Greenspan (1926- ) Federal Reserve Chair
Hugh Hefner (1926- ) Publisher
Timothy Lahaye (1926- ) Minister, Bestselling Author
Jerry Lewis (1926- ) Comedian
Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962) Actress
Harry Belafonte (1927- ) Singer
Caesar Chavez (1927-1993) Labor Organizer, United Farm Workers
Bob Fosse (1927-1987) Jazz Dancer, Choreographer, Director
Sidney Poitier (1927- ) Actor
Andy Warhol (1927-1987) Artist
Michael Harrington (1928-1989) Author, Social Critic
Jack Kevorkian (1928- ) Physician, Assisted Suicide Advocate
Shirley Temple Black (1928- ) Actress, Ambassador
Grace Kelly (1929-1982) Actress
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) Minister, Civil Rights Leader
Neil Armstrong (1930- ) Astronaut, First man on the moon
Warren Buffet (1930- ) Investor
Mario Cuomo (1930- ) Gov. of New York, Democrat Leader
Clint Eastwood (1930- ) Actor
Sandra Day O'Conner (1930- ) First Woman Supreme Court Justice
Ross Perot (1930- ) Entrepreneur, Presidential Candidate
Pat Robertson (1930- ) Religious Broadcasting Executive, Presidential Candidate
Bancroft, Anne (1931-2005) Actress
James Dean (1931-1955) Actor
James Earl Jones (1931- ) Actor
Bernard F. Law (1931- ) Former Roman Catholic Archbishop
Mickey Mantle (1931-1995) Baseball Player
Willie Mays (1931- ) Baseball Player
Dan Rather (1931- ) TV Journalist
Barbara Walters (1931- ) TV Journalist
Johnny Cash (1932-2003) Singer
Edward M. Kennedy (1932- ) Senator
Elvis Presley (1932-1977) Singer
Donald Rumsfeld (1932- ) Defense Secretary
John Updike (1932- ) Author
Jerry Falwell (1933- ) Minister, Evangelist, Founder of Moral Majority
Dianne Fienstein (1933- ) Senator
Susan Sontag (1933-2004) Critic, Essayist, Novelist
Henry Aaron (1934- ) Baseball Player
Pat Boone (1934- ) Singer
Shirley MacLaine (1934- ) Actress
Ralph Nadar (1934- ) Consumer Advocate, Presidential Candidate
Bill Russell (1934- ) Basketball Player, First Black Pro Basketball Coach
Norman Shwarzkopf (1934- ) Gulf War General
Bart Starr (1934 ) NFL Quaterback
Gloria Steinem (1934- ) Author, Feminist
John Sweeny (1934- ) AFL-CIO President
Woody Allen (1935- ) Actor, Director
Eldridge Cleaver (1935-1998) Black Panthers Leader, Social Critic
Jack Kemp (1935- ) VP Candidate, HUD Secretary, NFL Quarterback
Wilt Chamberlain (1936-1999) Professional Basketball Player
James Dobson (1936- ) Focus on the Family, Founder
Elizabeth Hanford Dole (1936- ) Senator, Red Cross head, Cabinet Member
Abbie Hoffman (1936-1989) Political Activist
Buddy Holly (1936-1959) Musician
Michael Landon (1936-1991) Actor
John McCain (1936- ) Senator
Bill Cosby (1937- ) Comedian
Jane Fonda (1937- ) Actress, Activist
Dustin Hoffman (1937- ) Actor
Colin Powell (1937- ) Secretary of State, National Security Advisor, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman
Robert Redford (1937- ) Actor
Janet Reno (1937- ) First Woman US Attorney General
Ted Turner (1938- ) TV Executive, Philanthropist
Natalie Wood (1938-1981) Actress
Russell Means (1939- ) Indian Rights
Lee Harvey Oswald (1939-1963) Assassinated John Kennedy
Harry Reid (1939- ) Senate Minority Leader
Tom Brokaw (1940- ) TV Journalist
Nancy Pelosi (1940- ) House Minority Leader
Joan Baez (1941- ) Singer
Stockley Carmichael (1941- 1998) Black Power Activist
Dick Cheney (1941- ) Vice President
Bob Dylan (1941- ) Musician, Songwriter
Jesse Jackson (1941- ) Minister, Civil Rights Leader
Martha Stewart (1941- ) Homemaking Advisor, Entrepreneur, TV Personality
Muhammad Ali (1942- ) Boxer
Michael Eisner (1942- ) Disney CEO
Harrison Ford (1942- ) Actor
Bill Frist (1942- ) Senate Majority Leader
Dennis Hastert (1942- ) Speaker of the House
Garrison Keillor (1942- ) Author, Broadcaster
Calvin Klein (1942- ) Fashion Designer
Kate Michelman (1942- ) Abortion Rights Activist
Barbara Streisand (1942- ) Singer Actress
You are starting to hit close to home now. My wife's parents came out of the G.I. Generation, and mine are both out of the Silent generation.
My dad was drafted during the Korean War, and served in Vietnam as well. As long as he was in the military, we were insulated from the subtle and not-so-subtle attitudes that these soldiers were somehow not as good as their fathers or older brothers.
After he retired in 1971 (reserves were retired after 20 years) we began to experience some of the scorn that many held for the former military.
This series is interesting, and I look forward to seeing how the next generation is described.
Posted by: Denis Hancock | Nov 30, 2005 at 01:26 PM
Interesting perspective. It was a great generation and I admire their values and wish many of them would come back again.
Posted by: Machining Center | Oct 05, 2009 at 03:46 PM
The so-called "silent generation" was hardly SILENT . . . in fact, many of the most strident voices-for-change in the 50's/50's/70's were members of this "pre-boomer" group (Gloria Steinem, Eldridge Cleaver, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, even Jimi Hendrix and John Lennon!) So . . . I would call upon all of my fellow-Boomers to show a little respect for the REAL leaders of "the movement"!!
Posted by: Boomer Frank, born in 1950 | Mar 25, 2012 at 04:11 PM