1. The information on this page has been adapted with permission from William Strauss and Neil Howe, Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069 (New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1991). For more information on historical generations and how generational theory can help predict the future, see Strauss and Howe, The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy (New York: Broadway Books [Bantam-Doubleday-Dell], 1997) and visit Strauss and Howe's fourthturning.com and lifecourse.com sites. [Back to your place on this page.]

2. Strauss and Howe (1991), p. 74; Strauss and Howe (1997), p. 135. [Back to your place on this page.]

3. Strauss and Howe (1991), p. 279, citing "The Class of '49," Fortune (June 1949); William Manchester, The Glory and the Dream: A Narrative History of America, 1932-1972 (1974), p. 576. [Back to your place on this page.]

4. Ibid., citing Frank Conroy, "My Generation," Esquire (October 1968); How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (film, 1967); Peggy Sue Got Married (film, 1986); William O'Neill, cited in Manchester (1974), p. 577; David Riesman and Nathan Glazer, The Lonely Crowd (1950). [Back to your place on this page.]

5. Ibid., pp. 279-81, citing Kirkpatrick, "On Moving into a High-Tech House," Wasington Post (June 27, 1988); Crowe, in "From Cold War to Odd Couple," Newsweek (July 31, 1989); Rose N. Franzblau, The Middle Generation (1971), p. x. [Back to your place on this page.]

6. Ibid., p. 281, citing Benita Eisler, Private Lives: Men and Women of the Fifties (1986), p. 18; "Yesterday's New," Harvard Magazine (July-August 1989). [Back to your place on this page.]

7. Ibid., citing Howard Junker, "Resume of the Young Man as a Non-Generation," Esquire (December 1965). [Back to your place on this page.]

8. Ibid., citing Wade Greene, "Fiftysomething--and in Charge," The New York Times (January 2, 1990). [Back to your place on this page.]

9. Ibid., citing Franzblau (1971), p. x; Dylan, My Back Pages (song, 1964, later popularized by The Byrds). [Back to your place on this page.]

10. Ibid., pp. 281-82, citing Richard Esterlin, Birth and Fortune: The Impact of Numbers on Personal Welfare (1980); Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970 (1975), series H-971, B-30, B-31; Margaret Callahan, Historical Corrections Statistics in the United States, 1850-1984, U.S. Department of Justice (1986), p. 136; National Center for Health Statistics, Health, United States, 1987 (1988), table 31; Herbert Hendin (ed.), Suicide in America (1982), ch. 2; Morton Kramer et al., Mental Disorders/Suicide (1972), p. 207; U.S. Executive Office of the President, Economic Report of the President (1990), table C-39; Charles Murray, Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950-1980 (1984), ch. 5; Ellen Goodman, "Some Advice for the 80's," San Francisco Chronicle (September 10, 1988). [Back to your place on this page.]

11. Ibid., p. 282, citing Goodman, "Consent and Compromise," Washington Post (October 3, 1989). [Back to your place on this page.]

12. Ibid., citing Eisler (1986), p. 304; Alvin Toffler, Future Shock (1970), p. 230, 283, 430. [Back to your place on this page.]

13. Ibid., p. 283, citing William Schneider, "JFK's Children: The Class of '74," Atlantic (March 1989). [Back to your place on this page.]

14. Ibid., citing "The Can't Do Government," in cover story "Is Government Dead?" Time (October 23, 1989). [Back to your place on this page.]

15. Ibid., citing Will, in "Another Muddy Message," Newsweek (November 21, 1988). [Back to your place on this page.]

16. Ibid., citing Eastern Review (January 1989), citing New York Review of Books in 1982; Raspberry, "The Unraveling of America," Washington Post (October 11, 1990). [Back to your place on this page.]

17. Ibid., citing Fortune (June 1949); Greene (1990). [Back to your place on this page.]

18. Ibid., pp. 283-84, citing Eisler (1986), p. 356. [Back to your place on this page.]

19. Ibid., p. 284. [Back to your place on this page.]

20. Ibid., p. 286, citing Eisler (1986), p. 29. [Back to your place on this page.]

21. Ibid., citing Gone With the Wind (film, 1939); Joseph Hawes and Ray Hiner, Growing Up in America: Children in Historical Perspective (1985),p. 502; Herman Bundesen, The Baby Book (1927); John B. Watson, Psychological Care of Infant and Child (1928). [Back to your place on this page.]

22. Ibid., citing "Tootle," in Hawes and Hiner (1985), p. 400; Holling C. Holling, Paddle to the Sea (1941). [Back to your place on this page.]

23. Ibid., citing Conroy (1968). [Back to your place on this page.]

24. Ibid., citing Conroy (1968). [Back to your place on this page.]

25. Ibid., p. 284, citing Carl Degler, At Odds: Women and the Family in America from the Revolution to the Present (1980), p. 70; Bureau of the Census (1975), series D-31. [Back to your place on this page.]

26. Ibid., pp. 286-87, citing George F. Will, "Giuliani: He's No Fiorello," Washington Post (October 26, 1989); The Tender Trap (film and song, 1955); Dion DiMucci, A Teenager in Love (song, 1959). [Back to your place on this page.]

27. Ibid., p. 287, citing Russell Baker, Growing Up (1982), pp. 230, 228. [Back to your place on this page.]

28. Ibid., citing Calvin B. T. Lee, The Campus Scene: 1900-1970 (1970), p. 92. [Back to your place on this page.]

29. Ibid., p. 284, citing John Folger and Charles Nam, Education of the American Population, Census Monograph (1960), pp. 143-44. [Back to your place on this page.]

30. Ibid., p. 287, citing "Anti-Democratic Attitudes of High School Seniors in the Orwell Year," Phi Delta Kappan (January 1984); Paul Goodman, Growing Up Absurd (1960); Heller, in Herbert Stein, Presidential Economics (1985), p. 95; Manchester (1974), pp. 578-79. [Back to your place on this page.]

31. Ibid., pp. 287-88, citing William Buckley, God and Man at Yale (1951); Bruce Cook, The Beat Generation (1971), p. 40; Herb Caen, in "Baghdad-by-the-Bay" column in San Francisco Chronicle (April 2, 1958). [Back to your place on this page.]

32. Ibid., p. 288, citing Elvis Presley, All Shook Up (song, 1957). [Back to your place on this page.]

33. Ibid., p. 284, citing Battelle Memorial Institute (1986), ch. 7; Jeane Clare Ridley et al., paper presented at annual meeting of Population Association of America (April 1987). [Back to your place on this page.]

34. Ibid., p. 288, citing Gail Sheehy, Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life (1976), p. 39, 123-24. [Back to your place on this page.]

35. Ibid., citing Updike, in Eisler (1986), p. 187; Daniel Callahan, Generation of the Third Eye (1965), p. 13; Ray Charles, What'd I Say? (song, 1959). [Back to your place on this page.]

36. Ibid., pp. 285, 288. [Back to your place on this page.]

37. Ibid., pp. 288-89, citing SDS Port Huron Statement (1962), cited in Garry Wills, Nixon Agonistes (1969), p. 327; Harrington, The Other America: Poverty in the United States (1962); Silberman, Crisis in the Classroom: The Remaking of American Education (1970). [Back to your place on this page.]

38. Ibid., p. 289, citing Peter, Paul, and Mary, If I Had a Hammer (song written by Pete Seeger and Lee Hayes, 1962); Nader, Unsafe at Any Speed (1965). [Back to your place on this page.]

39. Ibid, pp. 285, 289, citing Otto Butz, "Defense of the Class of '58," New York Times Magazine (May 25, 1958); "Public Interest Law Groups: Prospering Amid Adversity," Washington Post (November 17, 1988). [Back to your place on this page.]

40. Ibid, pp. 284, 289, citing Sheldon Danziger and Peter Gottschalk, "Families with Children Have Fared Worst," Challenge (March-April 1986); American Council of Life Insurance (1985); "The (P)lucky Generation," American Demographics (January 1983); Frank Levy and Richard C. Michel, Economic Status Across Generations: Prospects for the Future, Urban Institute (1990); pp. 91, 162. [Back to your place on this page.]

41. Ibid, p. 289, citing William Stryon, "My Generation," Esquire (October 1968). [Back to your place on this page.]

42. Ibid, citing Viorst, It's Hard to Be Hip Over Thirty, and Other Tragedies of Married Life (1968); Weinberg, in Robert Morrison and Joan Morrison, From Camelot to Kent State (1987), p. 231. [Back to your place on this page.]

43. Ibid, pp. 289-90, citing Hoffman, in Morrison and Morrison (1987), p. 293; Agnew, in Manchester (1974), p. 1220. [Back to your place on this page.]

44. Ibid, p. 290, citing Updike, Couples (1968); Barbara Gordon, Jennifer Fever: Older Men and Younger Women (1988). [Back to your place on this page.]

45. Ibid, citing Sheehy (1976), p. 170. [Back to your place on this page.]

46. Ibid, citing Millett, Brownmiller, Atkinson, all cited in Betty Friedan, The Second Stage (1981), p. 48. [Back to your place on this page.]

47. Ibid, pp. 284, 290, citing Eisler (1986), p. 308; Morton Hunt, Sexual Behavior in the 1970s (1974), p. 190; Alfred Kinsey, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953); Robert T. Michael, "The Rise in Divorce Rates, 1950-1974: Age-Specific Components," Demography (May 1978). [Back to your place on this page.]

48. Ibid, p. 290, citing David Broder (1980), p. 12; Broder, "Fat Fifties Generation," Washington Post (April 15, 1989). [Back to your place on this page.]

49. Ibid, pp. 290-91, citing Hart, in Schneider (1989); Reagan, in Washington Post (February 25, 1988); George Bush [41], biographic film, televised (August 17, 1988) during the Republican National Convention; Richard Gaines on Dukakis, cited in "The Silent Generation's Candidate," Washington Post (June 5, 1988). [Back to your place on this page.]

50. Ibid, p. 291, citing Moynihan, "What Chills the Blood of Liberals," Washington Post (September 24, 1989). [Back to your place on this page.]

51. Ibid, pp. 285, 291, citing Norman Ornstein et al., Vital Statistics on Congress (1984), chs. 1, 6-7; "What Is Congress Trying to Hide?" Wall Street Journal (August 15, 1989). [Back to your place on this page.]

52. Ibid, p. 291, citing Aaron (and others), cited in Hobart Rowan, "America's Divided But Strong," Washington Post (May 19, 1990). [Back to your place on this page.]

53. Ibid, p. 285, citing Warren Miller, American National Election Studies Data Sourcebook, 1952-1978 (1980); "Opinion Roundup," Public Opinion (December-January 1981). [Back to your place on this page.]

54. Ibid, p. 291, citing Nye, "The Misleading Metaphor of Decline," Atlantic (March 1990); Wattenberg, "Opinion Roundup," Public Opinion (August-September 1983); John Naisbitt, Megatrends (1982), p. 39. [Back to your place on this page.]

55. Ibid, pp. 285, 291-92, citing Souter, in "Souter: 'I Have Not Made Up My Mind' on Roe," Washington Post (September 15, 1990). [Back to your place on this page.]

56. Ibid, p. 292, citing Robert Bellah et al., Habits of the Heart (1985); Kevin Phillips, Post-Conservative America (1982); Barbara Ehrenreich, Fear of Falling (1989); Gilder, "The Message of the Microcosm," American Spectator (December 1987). [Back to your place on this page.]

57. Ibid, citing "Hubble Probe Opens as Scientists Reassess Mission," Washington Post (June 29, 1989); Sheehy (1976), p. 45. [Back to your place on this page.]

58. Ibid, pp. 285-86, citing "Opinion Roundup," Public Opinion (February-March 1985). [Back to your place on this page.]

59. Ibid, p. 292, citing Robert Grossman, in "Parenthood II: The Nest Won't Stay Empty," The New York Times (March 12, 1989). [Back to your place on this page.]

60. Ibid, citing Alvin Toffler, Power Shift (1990); Tom Peters, Thriving on Chaos (1987); Daniel Levinson, in "For Many, Turmoil of Aging Erupts in the 50's, Studies Find," The New York Times (March 12, 1989); Ellen Goodman on Schroeder, in "She Couldn't Repackage Herself," Washington Post (September 29, 1987). [Back to your place on this page.]

61. Ibid, pp. 292-93, citing Lois Wyse, Funny, You Don't Look Like a Grandmother (1990); "Using Social Security Checks for Greater Need," The New York Times (September 24, 1989). [Back to your place on this page.]

62. Ibid, p. 293, citing Nader, referring to the Center for Civic Leadership in Princeton, New Jersey, in "Alumni Cross 34 Years, Arrive at a Decision," Washington Post (December 17, 1989); Union of International Associations, in "What's in Store for the 1990s?" Washington Post (February 1, 1990). [Back to your place on this page.]

63. Ibid, p. 389. [Back to your place on this page.]

64. Ibid, pp. 389-95 (the material for this entire page on the Silent Generation elderhood). [Back to your place on this page.]

65. Here I updated Strauss and Howe for 2003. [Back to your place on this page.]

66. Strauss and Howe (1991), p. 395 (the material for this entire page on the Silent Generation post-elderhood). [Back to your place on this page.]

67. Ibid., p. 293, citing Korean War Memorial fund-raising pamphlet, "The Last Battle," received by author in 1988 (I updated the paragraph in 2003; in the original, there was doubt that the Memorial would ever be finished). [Back to your place on this page.]

68. Ibid., citing Kelly, "Listen Up, You Baby Boomers: The Silent Generation Is Clearing Its Throat," Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel (Deember 29, 1989). [Back to your place on this page.]

69. Ibid., pp. 293-94, citing Jule Styne and Bob Merrill, People (song, 1963). [Back to your place on this page.]

70. Ibid., pp. 285, 294, citing Miller (1980); "Opinion Roundup," Public Opinion (December-January 1981). I updated this paragraph, with information through the 2000 election. [Back to your place on this page.]