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Baby boomer

Baby Boomers, or the Boom Generation, comprises that generation of Americans born after World War II. Traditionally, demographers have put the generation's birth years at 1946 to 1964; William Strauss[?] and Neil Howe[?] in their book Generations include those conceived by soldiers on leave during the war, putting the generation's birth years at 1943 to 1960.

The term is derived from a historically significant rise in the birth rate following the Second World War. Several factors have been credited with this rise, among them a general sense of relief at the war's end, and the resurgent economic conditions of the period. At the time this spike in the birthrate was named the "baby boom."

Boomers' typical grandparents were of the Lost Generation; their parents were of the G.I. Generation and Silent Generation. Their children are of Generation X and the Generation Y and their typical grandchildren will be of the generation that follows the Millenials (born circa 2004-2025).

Unlike the previous generation (the Silent), Boomers lack any childhood recollection of World War II. Unlike the next generation (Generation X), Boomers were all reaching adolescence or lingering in "post-adolescence" (a term coined for them) as the Vietnam War drew to a close. See also Generation gap.

Celebrities born during the years 1943-1960 include:

Two U.S. Presidents were born during the years 1943-1960: Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. It is estimated that the Boom Generation will hold a plurality in Congress until 2015, the White House until 2021, and will have a majority in the Supreme Court from 2010 to 2030.

Foreign-born peers of the Boomers include Lech Walesa, Mick Jagger, Daniel Ortega, Charles, Prince of Wales, and former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Their cultural endowments have included the following:

As Boomers have charted their life's voyage, they have metamorphosized from Beaver Cleaver[?] to hippie to "braneater" to yuppie to what some are calling "neo-Puritan[?]". From VJ-Day forward, whatever age bracket the Boomers have occupied has been the cultural and spiritual focal point for American society as a whole. Arriving as the inheritors of G.I. triumph, Boomers have always seen their mission not to construct society but to justify, purify, and even sanctify it. Throughout the Consciousness Revolution of the late 1960s, the Boom ethos remained a deliberate antithesis of everything G.I.: spirituality over science, gratification over patience, negativism over positivism, fractiousness over conformity, rage over friendliness, self over community.



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