Baby Boomers
Born between 1946-1964
After World War II, birth rates climbed exponentially and so came the Baby Boomers. In 1946, there were about 2.4 million of them. By 1964, there were 72.5 million. Brought into the world by parents who were thrilled the war was over, the Baby Boomer population entered a time when things were looking up-- businesses were growing more and more prosperous, the economy had climbed out of the depths of the Depression, and people were ready to settle back into a state of normalcy after so much societal turbulence. Just as families grew, so did the suburban housing market. More and more people decided to move out of the city after having kids and settle down in quiet, rather uniform neighborhoods with affordable houses and backyards.
Unlike millennials who grew up alongside the rise of digital technology, Baby Boomers have had it inserted into their lives. More than half of the younger side of the generation have adapted to the social media craze and have accounts of their own. More than half of the older half of the generation stream videos online. In a survey done by the Pew Research Center on the sentiments of Baby Boomers today, the majority of Baby Boomers are likely to be struggling with paying off household finances and retiring later than they predicted.
Their Childhood
No seat belts
No car seats
No bike helmets
No cell phones
No elbow pads for roller skating.
No sunscreen.
FREEDOM.
Wandering outside until dark, riding bikes to friends’ houses on busy streets, exploring in the woods, and skating on ponds covered with thin ice. These are some of the adventurous memories my parents have of growing up in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Born in 1961, my parents are late baby boomers, and they had total freedom as kids compared to the way I grew up as a millenial. No cell phones, no schedule, no checking in with Mom and Dad throughout the day -- they just knew they had to be home by dinner time.
The scariest things in their lives were the same things that are scary to every kid: spiders, the dark, and a boogeyman under the bed. (Webster’s definition: a terrifying or dreaded person or thing.) At school, they had tornado drills, lining up along the wall in a basement hallway, sitting cross-legged and covering their heads. Giggling and quiet talking was allowed and no one ever thought a tornado would actually hit their school.
Cars were big and shiny and made of solid steel. For kids, they were like indoor play areas. They would pretend to drive and play with all the switches when the car was parked in the driveway. On the highway, they fooled around in the back seat and climbed around the car, fighting over who would crawl into the back of the station wagon to stretch out and put their feet up on the back window. In high school, my Mom remembers driving to the beach and going for ice cream with 10 kids piled into her 16-year-old friend’s Chevy Malibu. There was no seat belt law until 1984, after my Mom and Dad graduated college.
Toys were creative and fun and sometimes excitingly dangerous. There were metal rockets and toy guns and play ovens that got really hot. There were no warnings of injury or “choking on small parts.”
As teenagers, my parents remember watching scary TV shows and movies. These included a vampire TV series called “Dark Shadows” and creepy horror movies that introduced frightening scenarios for adolescents: “Halloween,” “The Exorcist,” “Carrie,” and “Jaws.”
In the news, they were witnessing some frightening real-life stories: between 1972 and 1978, a former clown named John Wayne Gacy abducted, murdered and buried 33 boys and young men in his Chicago-area backyard. Another serial killer, Ted Bundy, murdered 30 young women during that same decade. And in New York City, David Berkowitz conducted a string of shooting murders in 1976-77, leaving behind notes written by “Son of Sam.” But none of this seemed to affect the social behavior of teenagers like my parents who were still staying out late at night, riding and walking to school, and babysitting alone in houses with no alarm systems.
​
But it did lead to a new public focus on stranger danger. Parents, kids’ TV shows, and schools educated their kids on how to avoid being abducted.
"Stranger Danger" public service announcement, this one courtesy of the American Medical Association
Q+A with some Children of the '60s
(i.e. Mom and Dad)
What were your biggest fears growing up?
Mom: My biggest fears were the dark, the basement, and strangers following me home. As a teenager I used to worry about having a scary man watch me through the window or break into the house when I was babysitting at night – probably because of horror movies like Halloween. I was also afraid of tornadoes because we did emergency drills at school and had a lot of tornadoes where I grew up in Illinois.
Dad: When I was little, I was afraid of the dark but not much else. I had a lot of freedom. I used to ride my bike and take public transportation into the city when I was in fifth grade!
How did your parents either make your fears worse or make you feel safe?
Mom: My parents let us wander outside, ride our bikes everywhere, and go exploring in the woods until dark. They never seemed to worry about us at all and dealt calmly with scary things if they happened: when I fell off a bike, stepped on a rusty nail, and even got hit by a car in front of our house. I felt very safe as a child with the exception of my constant fear of intruders. My Dad would come running if I had a nightmare or thought a scary person was in my closet or under my bed. A lot of my feeling of safety came from my parents.
Dad: My parents created a warm and nurturing environment for us. They let us ride our bikes everywhere and we always felt safe. Even when we watched the news, I felt like bad things were happening far away.
When you were a teenager, what was going on in the world that made you feel scared?
Mom: In high school, I was worried that the country would run out of gas during the oil crisis. In college, I was scared of America going to war. I had been very aware of the Vietnam War as a kid and I was afraid of Russia and scared of President Reagan who was talking about a Star Wars defense and reinstating the draft. I cried when he was elected – I was so upset and thought he would start a war and my brother and friends would have to go.
Dad: When I was a freshman in college the government instituted the selective service which meant that men my age had to register for the draft. I actually protested the draft and did not submit my social security number on the application. I was afraid the government was going to come after me but thankfully they never did and the draft was abolished.
What did you hear about or see on the news that worried you? Did you do anything as a reaction to that fear?
Mom: I was worried about the world coming to an end – through a nuclear bomb or environmental destruction. Pollution was a huge problem. I got involved in Earth Day and clean-ups and joined protests because I felt like we were ruining our planet.
Dad: We watched the return of the Vietnam soldiers at the end of the war on TV. It was great to see the soldiers come home even though the war was so depressing. And I watched the news every night during the Iran hostage crisis until they finally came home after 444 days in captivity. While the hostage crisis was happening, I became very active in reading the paper every day. That time period really shaped my love for the news and politics.
What do you remember about:
Environmental crises
Mom: I remember people being worried about air pollution and its connection to cancer, and also the pollution of our rivers and lakes. I was worried that our planet was dying and I was always involved in Earth Day activities and environmental clean-ups.
Dad: When I was in middle school I remember the news was talking about the fear of another ice age or global cooling. It was scary because I felt the sun was going to burn out. There was also a lot of talk about elevated ozone levels and the holes that were being created and the threat of increased cancer.
Fears of war
Mom: We had a little TV in the kitchen and we would watch the news about the Vietnam War while we ate dinner. It was awful to see the injured soldiers. I was really worried about the prisoners of war and I wore a bracelet with a POW’s name on it and looked for his name in the New York Times every day.
Dad: I was lucky to grow up during a time of relative calm. The Vietnam War ended when I was in middle school and we were still in a Cold War with Russia through my college years but I never felt that we were threatened by anyone or that there was going to be another major war.
Nuclear danger
Mom: I worried a lot about our world being destroyed by a nuclear blast – that everything would melt away and turn to white powder. I guess I saw images of this on TV ads or in movies. I also knew most people were afraid of nuclear power plants and the cooling towers that had such a distinct look. The Three Mile Island accident happened when I was young and I remember feeling thankful we didn’t live near a nuclear power plant.
Dad: I never felt too threatened that we were going to get nuked by Russia. There was always the imminent threat but it didn’t control my life.
Cigarettes
Mom: Neither of my parents smoked but my grandfather smoked openly in front of us whenever we visited and I hated the smell of the smoke when he blew it out. I was also afraid of getting burned by the end of his cigarette when he held me on his lap. He ended up dying of lung cancer. In high school I tried a menthol cigarette because my friends were trying them. I didn’t like it because my throat and ears hurt so I never got interested in smoking.
Dad: Cigarettes were very prevalent throughout my childhood and through college. Smoking was allowed everywhere and everyone was doing it – except me. My Mom used to smoke cigarettes when I was a child but she stopped when she was pregnant with my younger brother. Cigarette ads were all over the place and on TV when I was a child.
Cancer or heart disease
Mom: I never heard much about cancer or heart disease. I didn’t really think of them as big issues.
Dad: Cancer became a big topic when I was in college as there were more and more news reports about the link between smoking and cancer. I remember seeing ads on TV as well as in magazines and on billboards with visuals of what cancer did to the lung. I don’t recall hearing or talking much about heart disease.
Why do you think children are so anxious today, compared to your childhood?
Mom: I didn’t feel as nervous as my children do because there weren’t as many safety products and rules and news stories telling us about all the dangers out there. Our kids have also experienced a lot of big frightening events – as have we. Scary new words like “terrorist” and “shooter” have become part of our vocabulary. The world just seems to be a more dangerous place than when we were growing up.
Dad: When we were kids, we didn’t hear as much about the bad things going on in other places. They see so many bad visuals and read so many scary news stories – especially about other children and random acts of violence. I’m sure that contributes to a level of fear I didn’t feel when I was a child. I think a lot of it has to do with the Internet, where news is instantaneous when something bad happens. This also contributes to people wanting to commit acts of violence or spread violent messaging. Also, there weren’t as many acts of random violence and terrorism as there are today, like bombings.
Baby Boomers as Young Adults
As Baby Boomers like my parents transitioned into young adults, they became more aware of and involved in national events. The environment was a big concern. Pollution, endangered species loss, and destruction of the ozone layer made headlines and citizens began to take action. There were a lot of environmental firsts during the 1970s: Earth Day, a new Environmental Protection Agency, Superfund, and the Endangered Species Act. In 1972 the Apollo 17 spacecraft took the first photo of earth from space, and it made everyone realize how truly fragile our planet is.
In 1978 it was discovered that toxic waste was bubbling up from the earth in Love Canal, a neighborhood in upstate New York. Families had to evacuate. In 1979, the biggest nuclear accident in U.S history happened at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania, leading to a widespread fear and distrust of nuclear energy. Garbage and pollution in the air and water made headline news. There was a feeling that the earth was dying -- and that humans were responsible. Young people became involved in environmental activism.
What happened when Baby Boomers became parents? Did they give their kids the same freedoms they had? Or did they do things differently?
​
Let's take a look...
Keep America Beautiful Campaign
In 1971, a Keep America Beautiful ad campaign was produced to get people involved in preventing pollution.
