“G.I.-Gens” at a Glance
A rundown of temporal attributes and historical peers shared by many members of the Greatest Generation
In my “Jigsaw Gens” series, I’ll be profiling the generational cohorts that have defined America (as well as the “microgenerations” born on the cusps of each main generation).
Previous edition:
Hemingrebels (“the Lost Generation”) at a glance
In This Installment…
Featured Generation: “GI-Gens” (aka the Greatest Generation, Great Goldens, FrugalJewels, Centenarians, SwingGens, Good Warriors)
Who they are: The second identified generation, whereupon Tom Brokaw revered them as the “greatest” cohort of Americans
When they were born: Approximately between 1907–1924
Key Members
Lawmakers: Richard Nixon, Lyndon B. Johnson, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Gerald Ford, Thurgood Marshall, Tip O’Neill, William Rehnquist, John Paul Stevens, Bob Dole, Joseph McCarthy, Byron White, Constance Baker Motley, Potter Stewart, Barry Goldwater, Harry Blackmun, Shirley Chisholm, Lewis Powell, Nelson Rockefeller, Warren Burger, Arthur Goldberg, Daniel Inouye, Hubert Humphrey, Abe Fortas, Millicent Fenwick, James Benton Parsons, Harold Stassen, Russell Long, Steven Derounianm, William Knowland, Robert Byrd, George A. Kasem, Thomas Kuchel, Alan Cranston, Sargent Shriver, Victor Atiyeh, Jesse Helms, Gaylord Nelson, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., James Abdnor, George Wallace, Bella Abzug, George Smathers, Eugene McCarthy, Nao Takasugi
Literary Writers: Orson Welles, Tennessee Williams, Alex Haley, Eudora Welty, Robert Hayden, Elia Kazan, Ray Bradbury, Norman Mailer, Frank Herbert, J.D. Salinger, Richard Nathaniel Wright, Truman Capote, Kurt Vonnegut, Sidney Sheldon, Gene Roddenberry, William Burroughs, Robert Heinlein, Blake Edwards, Abram Hill, Mary McCarthy, Chester Himes, Rod Serling, Arthur Miller, Mario Puzo, Jack Kerouac, Aaron Spelling, Norman Lear, Victor Henry Anderson, Gwendolyn Brooks, Carl Reiner, Shirley Jackson, Ralph Waldo Ellison, James Michener, Patricia Highsmith, Terry Southern, Beverly Cleary, William Attaway, Joseph Stein, John Sturges, Kenneth Patchen, Louis L’Amour, Joseph Heller, Saul Bellow, John Cheever, Fritz Leiber
Journalists & Historians: Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, Martha Gellhorn, Studs Terkel, Ethel Lois Payne, Andy Rooney, Harry Caray, Frank Bolden, James Omura, Dorothy Kilgallen, Will Rogers Jr., Howard Zinn, Mike Wallace, Shelby Foote, Howard Cosell, Paul Harvey, Robert Capa, Jane Jacobs, Ah Jook Ku, Richard Proenneke, Eric Sevareid, Anne Braden, David Brinkley, Marguerite Higgins Hall, Evelyn Cunningham, Theodore Harold White, Jim Kepner, Dickey Chapelle, Izzy Stone, Richard Durham, Chet Huntley, Larry LeSeur, Edythe D. Eyde, Simeon Booker, Helen Kirkpatrick, Marjory Collins, Howard K. Smith, Frank E. Bolden, Helen Thomas, Francis V. Rummell, Louis E. Burnham, Art Buchwald, Ben Bradlee, Mal Johnson, David Herbert Donald
Scientists & Researchers: Jonas Salk, Rachel Carson, Abraham Maslow, John Bardeen, Bill Hewlett, Milton Friedman, Dorothy Vaughan, Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, Robert Merton, E. Cuyler Hammond, John Glenn, Alan Shepard, Claude Shannon, C. Everett Koop, Della Keats, Paul Samuelson, Luis Walter Alvarez, Richard Feynman, Edwin Land, Timothy Leary, Walter Lincoln Hawkins, Mary Golda Ross, Warren Elliot Henry, Virginia Apgar, Jack Parsons, Vivien Thomas, Leo Fender, Clarence Leonard Johnson, Richard Hamming, John Kenneth Galbraith, Herbert Aptheker, Melvin Calvin, James Bassham, Andrew Benson, Martha Settle Putney, Albert Ghiorso, Glenn T. Seaborg, Kenneth Street Jr., Merrill Flood, Margaret Ringenberg, Willard Libby, Ruth A.M. Schmidt, Trudy Elion, Chuck Yeager
Athletes: Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Jesse Owens, Vince Lombardi, Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Bear Bryant, Henry Armstrong, Ralph Metcalfe, Cassius Clay Sr., Buster Crabbe, Josh Gibson, Woody Strode, Tom Harmon, Ben Hogan, Tom Landry, Stan Musial, Phil Rizutto, George Mikan, Rocky Graziano, Pee Wee Reese, Jimmie Foxx, Bobby Riggs, Margaret Osborne duPont, Roy Campanella, Jake LaMotta, Paul Eugene Brown, Max Baer, Dizzy Dean, Bob Feller, Sam Snead, Rocky Marciano, Archie Moore, Al Cervi, Wally Ris, Ellison Brown, Alice Marble, Mal Whitfield, Steve Van Buren, Louise Suggs, Hal Newhouser, Byron Nelson, Orville Brown, Jack Kramer
Entrepreneurs & Business Leaders: Julia Child, Richard McDonald, Lee Iacocca, Norman Borlaug, Sam Walton, Gloria Vanderbilt, Laurance Rockefeller, Estee Lauder, Orville Redenbacher, Helen Gurley Brown, Charlie Munger, Bill Bowerman, Katharine Graham, Stan Lee, Peter Drucker, Henry Ford II, Mary Kay Ash, Robert Mondavi, Jack LaLanne, Jacque Fresco, Daisy Bates, James Cargill, Rose Totino, Sam Golden, Ivan Combe, Lewis Galoob, Horace Hagedorn, Margaret Karcher, Herbert Ralph Peterson, Carl Turner, Joseph Tushinsky, Lovie Yancey, Joseph Chamberlain Wilson, Betty Mae Tiger Jumper, Irvin Feld, John Harold Johnson, Wilber Hardee, Shirley Polykoff, Bob Bush, Sid Bernstein, Walter Reuther, Thomas J. Watson Jr., Joe Foss, Kemmons Wilson, Alan Freed
Activists & Organizers: Pauli Murray, James Baldwin, Saul Alinsky, Bayard Rustin, Mark Felt, Betty Freidan, L. Ron Hubbard, Dorothy Height, Jimmy Hoffa, Fred Korematsu, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Fannie Lou Hamer, Joseph Medicine Crow, Shaban Jafari, Grace Lee Boggs, Frank S. Emi, Robert McNamara, Carl Nelson Gorman, Madalyn Murray O’Hair, Larry Itliong, Phyllis Schlafly, Doris Duke, Yuri Kochiyama, Paul Tibbets, Henry Kissinger, Mamie Till, Ira Hayes, Shamsi Hekmat, Caspar Weinberger, John Basilone, Chesterfield Smith, Pappy Boyington, Desmond Doss, Alexander Haig, Elizabeth Peratrovich, Doris Miller, James Jabara, Kathryn Kuhlman, Harry Hay, Jeanne Holm, Leonard Lomell, Joseph Coors, Mary Hallaren, Louis Gonzaga Mendez Jr., Fred Ross
Entertainers: Katharine Hepburn, John Wayne, Bette Davis, Cesar Romero, Jean Harlow, Burgess Meredith, Carol Lombard, Phil Silvers, Betty White, Milton Berle, Barbara Stanwyck, Sid Caesar, Marlon Brando, Desi Arnaz, Phyllis Diller, Art Linkletter, James Stewart, Katherine Dunham, Mel Blanc, Rosalind Russell, Robert Mitchum, Joe Besser, Kirk Douglas, Mickey Rooney, Jack Paar, Ava Gardner, Lupe Vélez, Clayton Moore, Maureen O’Hara, Rita Hayworth, Jessica Tandy, Vincent Price, Arlene Francis, Gregory Peck, Hedy Lamarr, Robert Earl Jones, Carroll O’Connor, Don Knotts, Cicely Tyson, Lauren Bacall, Jean Stapleton, Steve Allen, Donna Reed, Mel Ferrer, Shelley Winters, Jane Russell, Victor Mature, Jack Soo, Ed McMahon, Telly Savalas, Gypsy Rose Lee, Nipsey Russell, Charles Bronson, Esther Rolle, Rodney Dangerfield, Bea Arthur, Ricardo Montalbán, Ruby Dee, Lana Turner, Bettie Paige, Jay Silverheels, Audrey Meadows, Redd Foxx, Olivia de Havilland, Joan Fontaine, Dennis Weaver, LaWanda Page, Isabel Sanford, Jackie Gleason, William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Bob Barker, Estelle Getty, Charlton Heston, Buddy Hackett, Ossie Davis, Art Carney, John Forsythe, Michael Ansara, Paulette Goddard, José Ferrer, Butterfly McQueen, Movita Castaneda, Buddy Ebsen, Vivian Vance, Slim Pickens, Burt Lancaster, Jack Albertson, Jack Bailey, Barbara Billingsley
Musicians: Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Dean Martin, Gene Autry, Judy Garland, Ethel Merman, Roy Rogers, Mahalia Jackson, Henry Mancini, Perry Como, Carol Channing, Nat King Cole, Hank Williams, Doris Day, Woody Guthrie, Dinah Shore, Lena Horne, Benny Goodman, Leonard Bernstein, Dinah Washington, Billie Holliday, Cab Calloway, Dorothy Dandridge, Burl Ives, Sun Ra, Liberace, Pete Seeger, Peggy Lee, Gene Kelly, Yvonne DeCarlo, Johnny Mercer, Lester Young, Maria Callas, Scatman Crothers, Pearl Bailey, Ginger Rogers, Howlin’ Wolf, John Cage, John Lee Hooker, Willie Dixon, Buddy Rich, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Mary Martin, Sarah Vaughan, Robert Leroy Johnson
Visual Artists: Marion Post Wolcott, Jackson Pollock, Charles M. Schultz, William Hanna, Joseph Barbara, Minoru Yamasaki, Joe Rosenthal, Tex Avery, Bob Kane, Gordon Parks, Andrew Wyeth, Lee Krasner, Charles Addams, I.M. Pei, Jack Kirby, Lee Miller, Harvey Kurtzman, Roy Lichtenstein, Jacob Lawrence, Paul Conrad, Diane Arbus, Peter Arno, Herbert Block, Jules Olitski, Ellsworth Kelly, Chon Day, Saul Bass, Cecil Dick, Frankz Kline, George Morrison, Robert Motherwell, Ad Reinhardt, Emily Waheneka, Louise Bourgeois, Anthony Peter Smith, Dik Browne, Corita Kent, Wayne Thiebaud, Oscar Howe, Elaine de Kooning, Woody Crumbo, Brant Parker, Allan Hauser, Mort Walker, Bob Mizer
Cusp Cohorts
Preceding Microgeneration: “Frugal Gatsbians” (born 1902–1906)
Prominent “Frugal Gastbians”: William J. Brennan, Mike Mansfield, Bing Crosby, Joan Crawford, Ray Croc, Tex Ritter, Charles Lindbergh, Bob Hope, Ansel Adams, John Steinbeck, Ella Baker, Cary Grant, Greta Garbo, Clare Boothe Luce, Eliot Ness, Carl Rogers, Theodor Seuss, Clara Bow, Satchel Paige, Lawrence Welk, Ethelda Bleibrey, Iron Eyes Cody, Bugsy Siegel, James “Cinderella Man” Braddock, Estée Lauder, John D. Rockefeller III, Helen Wills Moody, Arthur Godfrey, Virginia Foster Durr, Henry Fonda, Langston Hughes, Albert Sabin, Ted Poston, Henny Youngman, Stepin Fetchit, Ogden Nash, Lillian Hellman, Marvel Cooke, Virginia Hall, Moe Berg, Dolores del Río, Earl Hines, Margaret Hamilton, Strom Thurmond, Isamu Noguchi, Gene Sarazen, Charles Drew, Arna Bontemps, Barbara McClintock, James Sakamoto, William Warrick Cardozo, Anna May Wong, Thomas Dewey, Ayn Rand, Lou Gehrig, Benjamin Spock, Cool Papa Bell, Josephine Baker, Howard Hughes, W. Dorr Legg, Grace Hopper, Countee Cullen, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Philip Vera Cruz, Janet Gaynor, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Willa Brown, Alice Allison Dunnigan, Karl Yoneda, John Preston Davis, Jovita González, Hiram Fong, Glen Miller, Count Basie, B.F. Skinner, Roy Acuff, Jacqueline Cochran, Glenna Collett-Vare, Big Bill Broonzy, Theodore Roscoe, George Hitchings, Miriam Matthews, Richard Rodgers, Peter Carl Goldmark, Luther Simjian, John Sirica, Margaret McFarland, George Nakashima, Harold Arlen
Subsequent Microgeneration: “Golden-Builders” (born 1925–1929)
Prominent “Golden-Builders”: Martin Luther King Jr., Johnny Carson, Barbara Walters, B.B. King, Maya Angelou, Paul Newman, Andy Warhol, Yogi Berra, Allen Ginsberg, Robert F. Kennedy Sr., Angela Lansbury, Sidney Poitier, Fred Rogers, Burt Bacharach, Liz Claiborne, Tony Bennett, Robert Rauschenberg, Sammy Davis Jr., Arnold Palmer, Dick Van Dyke, Merv Griffin, Noam Chomsky, Malcolm X, Jerry Lewis, Coretta Scott King, Shirley Temple, Bo Diddley, Ed Asner, Ruth Westheimer, Harry Belafonte, Gore Vidal, Doris Hart, Rock Hudson, Marilyn Monroe, Bob “Captain Kangaroo” Keeshan, Stanley Kubrick, Patti Page, Cesar Chavez, John Coltrane, Walter Mondale, Dick Clark, Soupy Sales, John DeLorean, Mel Tormé, Eydie Gormé, Vidal Sassoon, Doris Roberts, William F. Buckley, Andy Griffith, Margaret Keane, Christopher Plummer, Ann B. Davis, Berry Gordy, Anne Sexton, Hugh Hefner, Ralph Abernathy, Eartha Kitt, Bernice Sandler, Mel Brooks, Leontyne Price, Evelyn Berezin, Celia Cruz, Bob Newhart, Robert Guillaume, Viola Liuzzo, Miles Davis, Joyce Brothers, Alan Greenspan, John Conyers, Fats Domino, Harper Lee, Chuck Berry, Maria Tallchief, John McLaughlin, Anne McCaffrey, James Dewey Watson, Ira Levin, Medgar Evers, Grace Kelly, Albert Bandura, Marty Robbins, Ursula K. Le Guin, Miyoshi Umeki, Althea Gibson, Steve Ditko, Adrienne Rich, Ruben Salazar, Tom Bosley, Jimmy Dean
Click here to subscribe to my stories.
