Teachable Moment

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Who are the Baby Boomers?

“Baby boomer” is defined as a person born during the years from 1946 to 1964, years with an extraordinary increase in the population’s birthrate. Around nine months after World War II ended and American soldiers returned home, women — who no longer needed to work in the factories to help supply goods for the military and who had put off marriage and childbirth during the Great Depression (1929 – 1939) and World War II (1939 – 1945) — left the workforce to stay home and start families. By 1964, almost 40 percent of the nation’s population were boomers.

For more than 70 years the current identity of the United States as the land of opportunity, prosperity, and dreams has been shaped by boomers. Upbringing by their strong parents — who had survived two world wars and the Great Depression and who were very conscious of thrift and wisely using resources — created a pool of visionary, competitive individuals with a strong sense of democratic values and a passion for the American Dream.

Creation, innovation, invention, and production: Technological medical advancements in equipment, procedures, medications and vaccines for diseases that used to kill thousands every year globally such as typhoid fever, tetanus, pneumonia, measles, malaria, flu, diphtheria, chicken pox, polio, and whooping cough; Space exploration, technological advances, computers, internet, cellphones; Fun and entertainment from Disney World to cinematographic brilliance of several directors, script writers, and producers; Mass production of goods and services; Global harmony as never before.

With their hardworking, solution- oriented approach they focused on technology-driven innovative approaches to streamlining business operations and sociocultural reform. The way they shaped the nation in such a short time when other nations failed to create comparable improvements for their citizens, definitely deserves respect from future generations.