“Missionaries” at a Glance
A rundown of temporal attributes and historical peers shared by many members of the Interbellum Elders
As part of my ongoing “Jigsaw Gens” series, I profile the various American generations (and “microgenerations”) identified by historians.
In This Installment…
Featured Generation: “Missionaries” (aka Interbellum Elders, Reluctant Crusaders, Escalators, Fly Kids, Wise Muckrakers)
Who they are: The youngest pre-Hemingrebel generation, coined by William Strauss and Neil Howe in their 1991 book Generations: The History of America’s Future, 1584 to 2069
When they were born: Approximately between 1867–1878
Key Members
Lawmakers & Policy-Shapers: Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Owen Roberts, “Big Bill” Thompson, Harlan Stone, Al Smith, Bertha Knight Landes, John Nance Garner, Wallace H. White Jr., Hattie Caraway, Benjamin N. Cardozo, Sam Rayburn, Alban W. Barkley, Miriam A. Ferguson, José A. Baca, Percival Baxter, James W. Wadsworth Jr., Ben B. Lindsey, Nellie Tayloe Ross, A. Mitchell Palmer, Thomas P. Gore, James “Sunny Jim” Rolph, Learned Hand, Jerome F. Donovan, Frank Knox, Claude Kitchin, David Ignatius Walsh, John H. Trumbull, William S. Kenyon, Anton Cermak, Stephen Warfield Gambrill, James E. Ferguson, Francis Burton Harrison, Henry F. Ashurst, James Michael Curley, Peter G. Gerry, William Daniel Leahy, Key Pittman, Frank Hague, Culbert Olson, Frank J. Corr, William Borah, Frank P. Woods, Thomas C. Hart, Miles Poindexter
Literary Writers: Robert Frost, Carl Sandburg, Jack London, Gertrude Stein, James Weldon Johnson, Upton Sinclair, Zona Gale, Edith Hamilton, Burton J. Hendrick, Stephen Crane, Ellen Anderson Glasgow, Stanner E.V. Taylor, Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Georgia Douglas Johnson, Amy Lowell, Vernon Louis Parrington, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Owen Wister, Zitkala-Sa, Theodore Dreiser, Inez Haynes Irwin, Edgar Lee Masters, Willa Cather, Ferenc Molnár, Edwin S. Porter, Harry Northrup, Guy Wetmore Carryl, Frank Norris, Thornton Burgess, Sherwood Anderson, Jacques Futrelle, Booth Tarkington, Adelaide Crapsey, Rida Johnson Young, Zane Grey, Janet Ayer Fairbank, Herbert David Croly, Ellis Parker Butler, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Robert Herrick, Erik Alfred Knudsen, Albert Payson Terhune, Irvin S. Cobb, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Lloyd C. Douglas
Journalists & Historians: Albert Jay Nock, William Allen White, Robert Sengstacke Abbott, Frank Gannett, Izola Forrester, Oswald Garrison Villard, Mary Ritter Beard, Charles A. Beard, Ray Stannard Baker, William Bayard Hale, George Creel, Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, James Truslow Adams, Carter G. Woodson, Arthur Oncken Lovejoy, Samuel Hopkins Adams, William H. Lewis, Georgine Milmine, Delilah Beasley, Rudolph Edgar Block, Sol White, Frances Nimmo Greene, Mark Sullivan, Will Irwin, Don Marquis, R.B. Merriman, Jesse Max Barber, Finley Peter Dunne, Herbert Eugene Bolton, Ray Stannard Baker, William Robert Shepherd, Mary Hunter Austin, George Louis Beer, James Oliver Curwood, Eve Brodlique Summers, Walton Alden Dyer, Charles K. Field, Vaughan Kester, Hutchins Hapgood, Dudley Wright Knox, Arthur Preuss, Samuel Orace Dunn, James O’Donnell Bennett, Natalie Curtis Burlin, J. Salwyn Schapiro
Scientists & Researchers: Irving Fisher, Harriet Quimby, Willis Carrier, Robert A. Millikan, Hiram Bingham III, John B. Watson, Alice Hamilton, Gilbert N. Lewis, Edward Thorndike, Joseph Strauss, Florence Sabin, Joseph Erlanger, Russell Williams Porter, George Whipple, A.E. Douglass, Lillian Moller Gilbreth, Frederick F. Russell, Lee De Forest, Elizabeth Fleischman, Charles Strite, Ernst Alexanderson, John Fillmore Hayford, Howard T. Ricketts, Charles Francis Jenkins, Gilbert Grosvenor, Béla Schick, Lewis Terman, Emily Greene Balch, Harvey Cushing, Isaac González Martínez, Henry E. Warren, Joshua L. Cowen, Beebe Steven Lynk, George Ellery Hale, Willis Rodney Whitney, Aristides Agramonte y Simoni, J. Frank Duryea, Ross Granville Harrison, David Fairchild, Samuel Cate Prescott, D.T. Suzuki, George Harrison Shull, Henrietta Swan-Leavitt, Charles F. Kettering, Isadore Gilbert Mudge
Athletes: Honus Wagner, Jack Chesbro, Frank Chance, Jack Johnson, Frank Gotch, Cy Young, Margaret Abbott, Jesse Burkett, Tommy Ryan, Joe Gans, Rube Waddell, Hughie Jennings, Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown, Joe “Old Wagon Tongue” Adams, Marshall “Major” Taylor, Ray Ewry, James J. Jeffries, Tom Burke, Barry Oldfield, Clark Griffith, Jack O’Brien, Vic Willis, Frank Marshall, Archibald “Moonlight” Graham, Elmer Flick, Joe McGinnity, Tod Sloan, Nap Lajoie, Alvin Kraenzlein, William Larned, Jack Root, Louis Sockalexis, Amos Rusie, Willie Keeler, Lizzie Arlington, Joe Kelley, Bobby Walthour Sr., Eddie Plank, Thomas Curtis, Bertha Townsend, Jake Beckley, Willie Simms, Oliver Campbell, Harry Nelson Pillsbury, Walter Tewksbury
Entrepreneurs & Business Leaders: J.P. Morgan, Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, Thomas J. Watson, James Lewis Kraft, Walter Chrysler, Louis Chevrolet, Harvey Firestone, Madam C.J. Walker, James Cash Penney, Charles Walgreen, Harry Ford Sinclair, Pat Chappelle, Simon Guggenheim, Alfred P. Sloan, Glenn Curtiss, Vincenzo “Big Jim” Colosimo, Owen D. Young, Halsey William Wilson, Lee Shubert, Annie Turnbo Malone, Pierre S. DuPont, Horace Elgin Dodge, Florence Walrath, Adolph Zukor, Irene “Renee” Wallach Harris, Fred Van Eps, Maggie L. Walker, Ed Barrow, Stephen Mather, Walter Benona Sharp, Garrett Morgan, Charles W. Chappelle, William Veeck Sr., Tex Rickard, Bob Quinn, Sebastian S. Kresge, Jacob Ruppert Jr., Harry Payne Whitney, Sherman H. Dudley, John Bevins Moisant, Amadeo Giannini, Frederick Trump, Bernard Mannes Baruch, Helena Rubenstein, Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.
Activists & Organizers: John D. Rockefeller Jr., Emma Goldman, Henry Stimson, Cordell Hull, Margaret “Molly” Tobin Brown, Lillian Wald, Bob Dalton, Katharine McCormick, Harold LeClair Ickes, William Green, Alaska P. Davidson, Plenty Horses, Arthur B. Spingarn, Clara Maass, John Hope, Mary McLeod Bethune, Crawford “Cherokee Bill” Goldsby, Edward Harkness, William Monroe Trotter, Emily Post, Rudolf Rocker, Joshua Reuben Clark Jr., Maud Wood Park, Julius “July” Perry, Edith Abbott, Samuel Wise, Paul Warburg, Luther Standing Bear, Grace Abbott, Mary Dewson, Edith Bolling Wilson, José de Diego, Leon Czolgosz, Mary Wilhelmine Williams, Leonor Villegas de Magnón, Wong Kim Ark, Irvine Garland Penn, Emma Azalia Hackley, Lucile Carter, Henry Lincoln Johnson, Bernarr McFadden, Clara Noyes, William J. Seymour, Annie Funk, Rhoda Abbott
Entertainers: Lionel Barrymore, Jane Darwell, Edward LaSaint, Marie Dressler, Charles Coburn, Tyrone Power Sr., Edgar Cayce, Nellie Crawford, Sidney Toler, Harry Carey, Emma Dunn, Bill Robinson, George M. Cohan, Arthur Hoyt, Blanche Ring, Major Edward Bowes, Elizabeth Patterson, Russell Simpson, Ben Turpin, Clara Blandick, Lew Fields, Margaret Seddon, Nance O’Neil, Bill Pickett, Maude Adams, Dustin Farnham, Henry B. Walthall, Victor Moore, Charley Grapewin, Eugenie Besserer, James Marcus, Olga Engl, Grant Mitchell, Claire McDowell, Hobart Bosworth, Mary Carr, Joe Weber, Eddie Leonard, Francis Boggs, Paul Panzer, Madame Sul-Te-Wan, Oscar Apfel, Bert Williams, Louise Dresser, William Farnum
Musicians: W.C. Handy, James Weldon Johnson, Billy “Denver Nightengale” Murray, Arnold Schoenberg, Charles Ives, Scott Joplin, Henry Eichheim, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Ada Jane Jones, Rosamund Johnson, Otto Harbach, John Wesley Work III, Ernest Schelling, Papa Jack Laine, Joe Howard, William Victor Harris, Serge Koussevitzky, Harriet Ware, Amy Beach, Thurlow Lieurance, Joseph Carl Breil, Ben Harney, Patty Smith Hill, Ferruccio Giannini, Mary Garden, Ossip Gabrilowitsch, Leopold Godowsky, Oscar Sonneck, Caro Roma, “Uncle” Dave Macon, Charles “Buddy” Bolden, Paolo Gallico, Henry Kimball Hadley, Marie Grice Young, Harry Lawrence Freeman, Arthur Pryor, Frank Hoyt Losey, Oley Speaks, Helen May Butler, Margaret Ruthven Lang, Harry Evan Williams, Arthur Nevin, Robert Allen Cole Jr., Arthur Farwell, Fritz Kreisler
Visual Artists: Frank Lloyd Wright, John Russell Pope, Romaine Brooks, John Gutzon Borglum, Isadora Duncan, Max Factor, James Montgomery Flagg, Albert Kahn, Joseph Stella, Mary A. Bell, William Edmondson, D.W. Griffith, Angel DeCora, James Earl Fraser, William Laurel Harris, Mary Colter, Piet Mondrian, Walter Burley Griffin, C.M. Battey, Julia Morgan, Clarence Day, Lionel Feininger, Kate Carew, William de Leftwich Dodge, Alice B. Toklas, Winsor McKay, Eliel Saarinen, Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller, Alexander Stirling Calder, William Starling Burgess, Martha Brooks Hutcheson, William Henry Singer, Christine Navarro Paul, Maxfield Parrish, Winthrop Ames, Charles Sanford Skilton, Joseph Clinton Devillis, Alexander Rummler, Charles Dan Gibson, John French Sloan, Clarence Hudson White, Billy Bitzer, Milton Bennett Medary, Carl Ruggles, Pauline Powell Burns
Cusp Cohorts
Preceding Microgeneration: “Aucto-Progressives” (1862–1866)
Prominent “Aucto-Progressives”: Warren Harding, Edith Wharton, Nelly Bly, George Washington Carver, Frank Grant, Henry Ford, Butch Cassidy, Minnie Fiske, Henry Holden Huss, Robert Henri, Charles Evans Hughes, Clyde Fitch, Ida B. Wells, Susan La Flesche Picotte, Dummy Hoy, Charles Ringling, Billy Sunday, Mrs. Leslie Carter, Mary Church Terrell, Carrie Jacobs-Bond, Alfred Steiglitz, James Clark McReynolds, William Sydney “O. Henry” Porter, William Randolph Hearst, Annie Jump Cannon, James J. Corbett, Margaret Murray Washington, Cornelius “Connie Mack” McGillicuddy, Homer Plessy, George C. Pearce, Arthur Francis Collins, Charles Marion Russell, George Sutherland, Edward Stratemeyer, Richard Harding Davis, Anne Sullivan, Carlos Montezuma, Samuel P. Bush, Harry Davenport, Richard F. Outcault, Leo Baekeland, George Santayana, Nathaniel “Texas Jack” Reed, Benjamin Guggenheim, John B. Thayer, Matthew Alexander Henson, Antonia Maury, Charles Dawes, Ernest Thayer, George Ade, Charles Horace Mayo, Bobby Lowe, Matt Kilroy, John Francis Dodge, Mary White Ovington, Annie Jones Elliot, Harry Burleigh, Elsie De Wolfe, Hiram Johnson, Gene Stratton-Porter, George Washington Crile, Black Elk, Jack McAuliffe, Herbert Henry Dow, Charles Young, William Surrey Hart, Mary Emma Woolley, Gussie Davis, Henry Bacon, Ezequiel Cabeza De Baca, Irving Babbitt, Joseph Lincoln Steffens, Florence Bascom, Jack “Peach Pie” O’Connor, Maggie Lena Walker, Frank A. Vanderlip, Charles Martin Hall, John Bunny, Frederic Goudy, Ernest Hogan, Marion Hamilton Carter, Sophonisba Breckinridge, Charles Steinmetz, Waters McIntosh, “Parisian Bob” Caruthers, John Jacob Astor IV, Robert Newton Ford, Anthony Crawford, Eva Thatcher, Frances Benjamin Johnston
Subsequent Microgeneration: “New Wordsmiths” (1879–1883)
Prominent “New Wordsmiths”: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Albert Einstein, Will Rogers, Helen Keller, Felix Frankfurter, H.L. Mencken, Rube Goldberg, William Boeing, Douglas MacArthur, Harry Warner, George Jean Nathan, Coco Chanel, Franklin Clarence Mars, Samuel Goldwyn, John Barrymore, George Bellows, Duncan Hines, Ethel Barrymore, Lon Chaney Sr., George Marshall, Cecil DeMille, Douglas Fairbanks, Sam Rayburn, Arnold Rothstein, Georgios Papanicolaou, Branch Rickey, Johnny Torrio, Ralph Flanders, Alice Ball, Jimmy “Beau James” Walker, Frances Perkins, Isabel Bolton, Jeannette Rankin, Cyrus Eaton, Margaret Sanger, Elmer Imes, Fiorello LaGuardia, Roy A. Young, William Fox, Jane Darwell, Crystal Eastman, Rube Foster, Maymie De Mena, Ed Walsh, Arthur C. Parker, King Oliver, Ruth St. Denis, Carl Van Vechten, Margaret Dumont, Francis Ford, James Reese Europe, Clyde Cessna, Edith Clarke, Smedley Butler, Ernest Spybuck, Lucy Burns, Pedro De Cordoba, Robert Goddard, Irving Langmuir, Otto Frederick Rehwelder, Tetsuo Toyama, Lois Weber, Christy Mathewson, Ernest Everett Just, William Halsey Jr., Clinton Davisson, Nancy Astor, Edward Hopper, Charles Demuth, Edward Steichen, George Herriman, Wilbur Sweatman, Elizabeth Arden, John L. Lewis, Arthur Dove, Hazel Harrison, Afifa Karam, Henry J. Kaiser, James John Walker, Ernest Kaʻai, Wade H. Hammond, Sara Estela Ramírez, Mary MacLane, Charles Lyon Chandler, Mack Sennett, Harriot Curtis, James F. Byrnes, Ernest Bloch, Hugh S. Johnson, Robert Nathaniel Dett
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