Generations Mold History,

and History Returns the Favor

A child is born in New Jersey, one minute after

midnight, January 1, 1946.

She is the first of what would be later referred to as a “Boomer”.

The official period allotted to the phenomenon known as “The Baby

Boom,” from 1946 to 1964, saw some fantastic things happen. I came across a web site called “Boomer Initiative” that gave some highlights (and lowlights) of that short 18-year moment in our history. As the oldest of us are entering into their seventh decade this year, I thought it might be fun to take a ride in “Mr. Peabody’s Way-Back Machine” and check it out. Here are some of the people, products, world events and just plain stuff, kind of in order, that came our way from 1946 through 1964.

Post-WW II war crime trials give 12 Nazis the death penalty. The Cardinals beat Boston in the World Series, little knowing that they wouldn’t be back in it until the end of the Boomer era.

Top songs were Zip-a-Dee-Do-Da and Riders in the Sky. Tide detergent, suntan lotion and Tupperware make their debut.

The first flying saucers are reported and,

with the growing popularity of the automobile, drive-in theaters dot the landscape, the last probably contributing to the baby boom in its own small way. A million veterans go to college on the GI Bill, the Yankees beat Brooklyn in the first televised Series. Da Bums break the color barrier with a talented young man named Jackie Robinson. Velcro is invented, and Duncan Hines puts his cake mix in a box.

Ghandi gets shot, Harry Truman integrates the US Army, and the Berlin Airlift begins. Babe Ruth dies. Top TV shows are Howdy Doody, Candid Camera, and The Texaco Star Theater. Silly Putty shows up in little plastic eggs.

The turn of the decade into 1950 sees bad news in a place called Korea as the North invades the South, with Red China getting into the act. Senator Joe McCarthy starts his move to national repute. People sing Good Night, Irene, watch Arthur Godfrey and Your Hit Parade on the tube. Hopalong Cassidy is top cowboy in America. (I had the whole outfit.)

The Yankees, who back in 1947 started one of the most remarkable runs in the history of sport, will go on to appear in 14 out of the next 18 Fall Classics, winning 9 times. Of course, they had some guys named Berra, Rizzuto, Ford, McDougall, and a kid called “The Mick.”

The Korean War deepens, Bogart pulls the “African Queen” through the jungle, color television shows up, and a microwave will cost $1200 and look like your refrigerator.

Princess Elizabeth becomes England’s queen. We sing Your Cheatin’ Heart, watch Jackie Gleason, Ozzie and Harriett, and ‘I Love Lucy’. A polio vaccine is developed.

The mess in Korea ends; US dead nearly 37,000. Cigarettes are linked to lung cancer. The Yankees beat Brooklyn, again, for their fifth consecutive world championship. “Little Ricky” and his mommy Lucy are on the cover of the first “TV Guide.”

Billy Graham and Davy Crockett create

new waves of popularity. (I had his whole outfit….Davy’s, not Billy’s). Comic books hit 20 million in sales. Joe McCarthy goes too far in his mad search for Communists behind every door, and is spanked by the Senate. Rumblings are heard in Southeast Asia. The other New York guys, the Giants, take the Series. Sports Illustrated shows up on newsstands. We whistle “Mr. Sandman” and watch Rin Tin Tin. Yo Rinny! (NO, I did not have that kids outfit.)

A black minister named King leads one of the first civil rights actions, boycotting busses in Alabama. Brooklyn’s Dodgers win their only World Series. The nation’s over-29 million TV’s are tuned to Lawrence Welk and The Honeymooners. Mice the world over rejoice as Disneyland opens in California. “Ike” Eisenhower initiates the intra-state highway system. The nation is changed forever.

The bad boys on the world scene get busy, with the Soviets crushing the Hungarian uprising, and Fidel Castro starting his take-over of Cuba. Egypt and Israel start fighting. Again.

Back home, things get a little racier with the coming of Elvis, Peyton Place, and a thing called rock-and-roll. Beatniks lead us into the counterculture.

The USSR starts the race for space with Sputnik. The Dodgers and Giants follow old Horace Greely’s advice and “Go West, young man.” The Beav and Wally set the standard for brotherly goofiness.

Kids find Barbie Dolls, Hula hoops and

Frisbees under the Christmas tree. Teflon pans hit the kitchens. Westerns are big, with Maverick, Rawhide, Have Gun Will Travel, and The Rifleman. Playboy magazine and oral contraceptives joint the cultural milieu. Hmmm. Coincidence?

It’s 1960 and John F. Kennedy, Gary Powers and the U2 (no, not the band), Psycho, and Dobie Gillis keep us jumping. Fritos hit the stores (YES!) and Mattel finds Barbie Doll a man… none other than Ken Doll. (Same last name…hmmm. Second cousins? I didn’t have his outfit, either.)

We are uplifted by the Peace Corps,

shocked by the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Berlin Wall, and scared by Yuri Gagarin in a space suit.On a lighter note, we sing Blue Moon, and watch Rocky and Bullwinkle on Sunday nights. Folk rock is big. Valium hits the shelves.

Comes 1963, and Lee Harvey Oswald hits us all. Southeast Asia gets nastier. Civil rights demonstrations throttle up. The transplanted Los Angeles Dodgers sweep the mighty Yanks. Kookie wears out his comb on the Sunset Strip.

Top music hits are from the Motown

sound, and of course, “I Want To Hold Your Hand.”Beatlemania takes hold. Cassius Clay “whups” Sonny Liston. The Cards beat the Yankees.

The last toll of the bell at midnight, December 31, 1964, brings an end to the Boomer Years. The rest, as they say, is history.

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