Generational politics and culture are a major topic of discussion these days, from the stereotype of Millennials being a whiny generation that doesn’t know how hard it was in “the old days” to the oft-memed retort of “OK, Boomer.” Amidst any talk of identity politics, generations must surely be included, as the decades-long delineation of birth-years has grown to be a dividing line of paradigmatic proportions. While the lines that demarcate one generation from another are essentially arbitrary, there is something to be said about the notion that the shared experience of a generation inevitably shapes both them and their later leadership of the country. Their leadership in turn provides new shared experiences for following generations. Right now, Americans are simply so accustomed to the Baby Boom generation being the leaders of our society, that any youthful disaffection towards authority will naturally be directed at Boomers. Therefore, Boomers are clearly the prime influencers of Millennials and so-called “Zoomers” as they achieve ages of responsibility and societal contribution. But this has led to a concern, occasionally expressed by my own Generation X parents, that Gen Xers will be entirely skipped over in that highest position of authority in America: the Presidency. To miss out on the office would deprive the collective experience of an entire generation from informing the decision-making of the most powerful office in the United States, reducing the impact of lessons Gen Xers wish to share societally for future generations.
Of course, this is a dramatic description of the Presidency skipping a generation, yet it bears consideration. The cultural sway of the Presidency should not be understated. As history rolls on, Presidents are remembered while most other politicians are not. It is the words and espousals of the Commander-in-Chief that tend to shape the American outlook most profoundly. For an entire generation to be cut out from such a teaching moment in authority would largely quiet their understanding of the nation and the world and minimize the role that their generational worldview has in directing the country. What are the ways of the past? At the moment, I suspect that many Americans would consider the lifestyles and decision-making of Baby Boomers as being the examples to inform the present, rather than Gen X, if only because every President since Bill Clinton has been a member of that sizable generation. Now, I find it highly unlikely that there will not be a Gen X President in the future. A large number of prospective 2024 candidates are Gen Xers (though a good number are also Boomers, including both VP nominees this year, Mike Pence and Kamala Harris). But it is not entirely impossible that Gen X could miss out on the Oval Office, either.
I was inspired to write about this topic by an article in Politico by John Harris entitled “Joe Biden: An Old Man Trying to Lead a Young Country.” It’s a well-written piece, and I highly recommend reading it. I learned something new from this article: there has never been a President from the Silent Generation. The Silents are the generation immediately preceding Baby Boomers and just following the Greatest or WW2 Generation. Sandwiched between two massively influential groups, the Silent Generation (roughly those born between 1928 and 1945) have so far suffered the fate that so frightens Generation X, but that fate is not sealed quite yet. As it turns out, Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee for President this year, is a member of the Silent Generation, having been born in 1942. If he is elected this year and sworn in as the 46th President, then he will be the first and likely only member of his generation to serve in that role.
I was rather struck by this fact, and it led me to delve into generations throughout American history to see if there is a comparable presidential skip. Unfortunately for my investigation, the concept of naming generations is a relatively recent development. The earliest named American generation is the “Lost Generation” that immediately preceded the Greatest Generation. It was called the Lost Generation because of the cynicism and disaffected worldview that was born out of the First World War. Before them, there is no widely-recognized distinction of generations. Undismayed, I decided to (perhaps audaciously) determine generations back to just prior to American Independence based on major events and coherent timeframes throughout history that must have shaped those who grew up in those periods. The following are every generation, including the ones I devised, with a brief description of what their shared experiences are and which Presidents they produced:
Generation Alpha (2013-present): The newest generation, these guys are a little too young to get a good grip on their defining experiences yet, but the coronavirus will undoubtedly play a role.
Generation Z/Zoomers (1997-2012): This generation is just beginning to get politically engaged. Zoomers are defined largely by their great affinity for social media and modern technology. They also are notably considered a depressed and anxious generation, an unfortunate development to be sure.
Millennials (1981-1996): My generation, Millennials got their first major presidential candidates this year in Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Undoubtedly, the defining events of this generation were 9/11, terrorism, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. War exhaustion and a general cynicism towards and distrust of authority are notable traits of Millennials.
Generation X (1965-1980): These guys were seen as a "lazy and ungrateful" bunch by Baby Boomers as they were entering adolescence and then adulthood in the 1980s and 90s. However, this generation would later make themselves known as being independent-minded and entrepreneurial. Gen Xers grew up at the end of the Cold War, a tense timeframe that arguably shaped the generation’s views on the importance of national security and a distrust of Communism and socialism.
Baby Boomers (1946-1964): Born out of the baby boom following the end of the Second World War, Baby Boomers grew up in a strong American economy and position in the world. Boomers are also defined largely by their birthing of the great countercultural movements of the 1960s and 70s. Modern social liberalism concerning issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage owe their existence to the Baby Boomer generation. So far, this generation has had four Presidents (incidentally, the last four): Donald Trump, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton.
Silent Generation (1928-1945): This generation is squished between two generational giants, the Baby Boomers and the Greatest Generation that fought in World War II. The Silents were a smaller generation in number, and their name was fitting in that they grew up during the Truman and Eisenhower years in which the “loudest” event was the Korean War (a war that lacks the impact on modern public memory that wars such as Vietnam or WWII have). Gentility was a notable trait for public interactions amongst Silents (perhaps evidenced by Joe Biden’s seemingly out-dated and people-centric form of politics that lacks the characteristic level of vitriol brought to government by subsequent generations). It should also be noted that this was the generation of many Civil Rights leaders such as John Lewis, Martin Luther King, and Jesse Jackson.
Greatest Generation (1901-1927): The mythos surrounding this generation is unmatched in modern America. Though the World War 2 generation is slowly leaving this earth, today's society has granted them an almost legendary status (hence, dubbing them the “Greatest”). This heroic reputation led to the Greatest Generation having no less than 7 Presidents: George H. W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Gerald R. Ford, Richard Nixon, Lyndon B. Johnson, and John F. Kennedy. Every single one of them was a World War II veteran.
Lost Generation (1883-1900): As I already touched on, this generation grew up in an America that seemed to be cruising towards a bright future as a global power. But this mindset was shattered by the horrific outbreak of the First World War. A somber and sober-minded group, the Lost Generation produced two Presidents, both WWI veterans: Dwight D. Eisenhower and Harry S Truman.
(From here on, these generations are inventions of my own, so keep that in mind. I will give my explanation for why I chose the timeframe I did, but of course the exact years are rather arbitrary. Feel free to disagree.)
Global Generation (1865-1882): This generation was the first for whom slavery was not a current issue. As such, other issues such as class differences took precedence in national politics (with race relations not earning much attention again until around when the Silent Generation was growing up). A defining moment for this generation was the Spanish-American War, a major victory that cemented an American worldview of ascendancy and empire. This generation saw the realization of America as a truly global power. Presidents from this generation were: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, Calvin Coolidge, and Warren G. Harding.
Reconstruction Generation (1848-1864): The shared experience is in the name. This is the generation that came into its own after the Civil War during Reconstruction. This generation really existed in two parallel strains, a Southern and a Northern one. From the South, bitterness over their war loss and resentment at the Northern victors birthed the “Lost Cause” revising of history and such organizations as the KKK. Meanwhile, Southern Blacks of this generation experienced life outside of slavery, but not outside of racial oppression and segregation. In the North, this generation held an entrepreneurial spirit set on rebuilding the country and moving past the sectional divisions and slavery issues of before. Ironically, the North's ignorance towards racial and sectional issues spawned the "Solid South" that would stick by the Democratic Party fairly consistently until their big jump to the Republican Party in 1964. Three Presidents were produced by this Generation: Woodrow Wilson from the Southern strain (which should make his public showing of “Birth of a Nation” and racial purges of government unsurprising) and William Howard Taft and Theodore Roosevelt from the Northern strain.
Civil War Generation (1825-1847): As you might have surmised, this generation lived through the tumultuous antebellum and fought in the Civil War. Politics was perhaps the most vitriolic and even violent in all of American history for this generation. Fights and death threats between politicians were not uncommon, nor was drunkenness on the floor of the House and Senate. Five Presidents were born out of this tragic generation: William McKinley, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, Chester A. Arthur, and James Garfield (all of whom besides Cleveland were Civil War veterans).
Manifest Destiny Generation (1810-1824): I’m beginning to think my generation names are a little too on the nose. This generation got caught up in massive westward expansion and Polk’s rallying cry “Fifty-four Forty or Fight!” This fervor would lead this generation to fight for territory in the Mexican War, bringing California into the United States. Admittedly, this generation blends into the Homesteader Generation a bit, but to avoid a super-generation in terms of timeline, I felt it would be fitting to hone in on this contagious worldview at the time. Only two Presidents came from this timeframe: Rutherford B. Hayes and Ulysses S. Grant (who, as well as being a Union General in the Civil War, was also a Mexican War veteran).
Homesteader Generation (1790-1809): Following Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase, these guys saw the West as a frontier ready to be settled in (to the great tragedy of the Natives already residing there). The concept of being a frontiersman and being raised in a log cabin became something to be honored for this generation, as it was representative of the rough and adventurous spirit that the Homesteader Generation held. This generation is tied with the Greatest Generation as the largest producer of U.S. Presidents, them being Andrew Johnson, Abraham Lincoln, James Buchanan, Franklin Pierce, Millard Fillmore, James K. Polk, and John Tyler.
First Generation (1776-1789): Okay, okay. I realize this is a super arbitrary and sentimentalized delineation, but I still felt that the first generation to live their entire lives in an independent America was worth separating out. This generation was fairly removed from the Revolution itself, looking back at it as a fight before their time. As such, this generation was defined more by the years following the Constitution’s adoption and the at times bumpy years it took to get the fledgling nation on solid footing. The competition between French and British interests and the War of 1812 were the most defining elements of this generation. The Presidents of this generation were only two: Zachary Taylor and Martin Van Buren.
Middle Generation (1762-1775): I admit that I began running out of name ideas at this point. I chose the name “Middle” simply because, like the Silent Generation, this generation seems somewhat diminished compared to its predecessor and successors. These people were largely the children of the revolutionaries, meaning that their generation lived in the shadow of their forebears' great accomplishments. All the same, this generation arguably built the country’s first modern semblance of political parties and campaigning. Politicking as we understand it was developed greatly by these fellas. Three Presidents were “Middles”: William Henry Harrison, Andrew Jackson, and John Quincy Adams.
Revolutionary Generation (1743-1761): It should come as no surprise that this generation was the one that agitated for independence and brought about the birth of the United States as a sovereign country. These folks were defined by their resentment of British colonial rule, which by their time had grown more brutal from previous eras of supposed “Benign Neglect.” The Revolutionaries were fairly visionary, dreaming of a new independent country that could one day take its place amongst the great powers of the world, but it was also a generation that loathed the notion of centralized government in any way resembling British tyranny. This perspective eventually led to the “Revolution of 1800” that established Jefferson’s small government Democratic-Republicans as the predominant force in American politics for the next several generations. Three Presidents were born in the Revolutionary Generation: James Monroe, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson.
Old Colonial Generation (1727-1742): This was the last generation to remember colonial rule without the intense aggravations that would lead to American Independence. The most defining moment for the Old Colonials was the French and Indian War, which first planted the seeds that perhaps the Thirteen Colonies would be better off without England. This generation served as the elder statesmen that eventually decided to declare independence (alongside some Revolutionary youngsters such as Jefferson and Madison). They were a generation altogether less hostile towards British political customs, however, as a powerful executive was seen as more acceptable until the Revolutionaries became the dominant constituency in American public life. (However, it should be noted that some strong Democratic-Republicans such as George Clinton of New York were also Old Colonials). Our nation’s first two presidents, George Washington and John Adams, were Old Colonials.
If you read through this whole post, then I tip my hat to you. I know that it has been a bit of a long one. However, I hope that getting a sense of the times that shaped the Presidents was worth the read. Regarding my initial pondering as to a Silent Generation equivalent, the answer is remarkably that every generation before the Silents had at least two Presidents (according to my generational markers). That makes Joe Biden the last chance the Silent Generation has (assuming no other Silent runs in the future) to shape the country from the Oval Office. Now, do not take that as any reason in a vacuum to either support or oppose Biden’s candidacy. I simply find it fascinating after two and a half centuries of being shaped by each successive generation, there is a possibility of America finally skipping over some of its progeny. Before Biden, attempts by the Silents had been made in the nominations of John McCain, John Kerry, Michael Dukakis, and Walter Mondale. Will the Silent Generation provide its mark on this country from the famous bully pulpit, or will the Baby Boomers maintain their dominance until Generation X or the Millennials nab the torch?
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