Greatest Generation
The Greatest Generation, also known as the G.I. Generation and the World War II Generation, is the demographic cohort following the Lost Generation and preceding the Silent Generation. This generation is generally defined as people born from 1901 to 1927. They were shaped by the Great Depression and were the primary generation composing the enlisted forces in World War II.
Terminology
An early usage of the term The Greatest Generation was in 1953 by U.S. Army General James Van Fleet, who had recently retired after his service in World War II and leading the Eighth Army in the Korean War. He spoke to Congress, saying, "The men of the Eighth Army are a magnificent lot, and I have always said the greatest generation of Americans we have ever produced." The term was popularized by the title of a 1998 book by American journalist Tom Brokaw. In the book, Brokaw profiles American members of this generation who came of age during the Great Depression and went on to fight in World War II, as well as those who contributed to the war effort on the home front. Brokaw wrote that these men and women fought not for fame or recognition, but because it was the "right thing to do".This cohort is also referred to as the "World War II Generation" and the "G.I. Generation". The "G.I. Generation" term was first used in 1971 by Alberto M. Camarillo, in the academic journal Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies. The term became more popular after authors William Strauss and Neil Howe used it in their 1991 book Generations: The History of America's Future.
Date and age range definitions
defines this cohort as being born from 1901 to 1927. Strauss and Howe use the birth years 1901–1924. The first half of this generation, born between 1901 and 1912, is sometimes referred to as the Interbellum Generation. The majority of veterans who served in World War II were born during the second half of this generation, from 1913 to 1924. While the oldest members of the Interbellum Generation came of age at the close of the 1910s in 1919, the majority reached maturity in the 1920s and the minority had grown up in the initial years of the Great Depression from 1929 to 1932. The "WWII Generation" proper came of age in either the second half of the 1930s or the early years of the 1940s.Characteristics
United States
Adolescence
US members of this generation came of age as early as 1919 and as late as 1945. They were children or were born during the Progressive Era, World War I, and the Roaring Twenties, a time of economic prosperity with distinctive cultural transformations. Additionally, many of those alive from 1918 through 1920 experienced the deadly Spanish flu pandemic; and, incredibly, a few rare individuals, such as Anna Del Priore, managed to survive infection from both the Spanish flu and the COVID-19 pandemic approximately 100 years later. They also experienced much of their youth with rapid technological innovation amidst growing levels of worldwide income inequality and a soaring economy. After the Stock Market crashed, when many had matured in the 1930s, this generation experienced profound economic and social turmoil.Despite the hardships, historians note that the literature, arts, music, and cinema of the period flourished. This generation experienced what is commonly referred to as the "Golden Age of Hollywood". A number of popular film genres, including gangster films, musical films, comedy films, and monster films attracted mass audiences. The Great Depression also greatly influenced literature and witnessed the advent of comic books, which were popular with members of this generation with such characters as Doc Savage, the Shadow, Superman and Batman. Next to jazz, blues, gospel music, and folk music, swing jazz became immensely popular with members of this generation. The term "Swing Generation" has also been used to describe the cohort due to the popularity of the era's music. The popularity of the radio also became a major influence in the lives of this generation, as millions tuned in to listen to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "fireside chats" and absorbed the news in a way like never before.
Great Depression and World War II
Over 16 million Americans served in World War II, the majority being members of this generation. 38.8% were volunteers, 61.2% were draftees, the average length of their service was 33 months, and total approximate casualties were 671,278. American journalist Tom Brokaw and others extol this generation for supporting and fighting World War II.Post-war
Following the war, this generation produced children at an unprecedented level. Over 76 million babies were born between 1946 and 1964. Subsidized by the G.I. Bill, this generation moved their families into the suburbs and largely promoted a more conservative mindset as the country faced the challenge of the Cold War, as some were again called to service in the Korean War alongside the Silent Generation. The first member of their generation to be elected US president, John F. Kennedy, began a Space Race against the Soviet Union, and his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, further promoted a controversial "Great Society" policy. Research professor of sociology Glen Holl Elder, Jr., a prominent figure in the development of life course theory, wrote Children of the Great Depression, "the first longitudinal study of a Great Depression cohort." Elder followed 167 individuals born in California between 1920 and 1921 and "traced the impact of Depression and wartime experiences from the early years to middle age. Most of these 'children of the Great Depression' fared unusually well in their adult years". They came out of the hardships of the Great Depression "with an ability to know how to survive and make do and solve problems."Relationship with later generations
A culture clash occurred between the Greatest Generation and their baby boomer children/ grandchildren in the 1960s and 1970s, in the form of the Vietnam War, civil rights movement, Watergate scandal, and the counterculture movement. Attitudes shaped during World War II clashed with those of the Vietnam era as many G.I.s struggled to understand the general distrust of government by the younger generation, though some Greatest Generation members supported anti-war protests. The same generation gap applied to a lesser extent in the 1950s, between the Interbellum Generation and their Silent Generation children.Later years and legacy
According to a 2004 study done by AARP, "There are 26 million people aged 77 or older in the United States. These people are largely conservative on economic and social issues, and about one-third ofthem say they have become more conservative on economic, social, foreign policy, moral, and legal issues as they have aged. Over 9 in 10 of this age group are registered to vote and 90% voted in the 2000 presidential election. The last member of this generation to be elected president was George H. W. Bush, and the last surviving president from this generation was Jimmy Carter. In its latter years, this generation was introduced to continued technological advancements such as mobile phones and the Internet.
As of 2025 some 45,000 of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II remain alive. Living members of this generation are either in their late 90s or are centenarians.
The lives of this generation are a common element of popular culture in the western world, and media related to this generation's experiences continues to be produced. The romanticizing of this generation has faced criticism by some. However, some also praise the traits and actions of this generation and cite their sacrifices as a lesson for current generations.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, living members of this generation have been impacted by the pandemic, such as Major Lee Wooten, who was treated in hospital for COVID-19 and recovered just before his 104th birthday in 2020; he died aged 105.