What Are Baby Boomers?

It is generally accepted that anyone born between 1946 and 1964 is considered a baby boomer. These were the years immediately after World War II when people were returning to a more normal style of living and felt more secure in their lives. Nobody knows who coined this phrase, but it was due to the “explosion” of babies being born during the years after World War II. The baby boomer generation is quite a unique generation in that they seemed to view themselves as very different from any generation before them. Baby boomers were becoming teenagers and young adults in the 1960s and most of them were far more liberal in their thinking and lifestyles than their parents. They began to redefine or even reject previous traditional moral and social values.

Baby boomers were viewed as being rebellious slackers who were heavily into drugs and promiscuous living; they had low standards for living and working and were very vocal and demonstrative when they did not agree with what was going on in the world. However, as we all know, these baby boomers are now the majority of the workforce in the United States (an estimated 75 million baby boomers are working at this time). Many of the top companies in this nation are successfully being run by baby boomers and there are countless millionaire baby boomers, as well.

What are some of the most memorable events to baby boomers? The top of the list is the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr. There was also a great deal of political unrest from the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, anti-war protests, and the women’s movement. There were many other important events that took place as baby boomers grew to adulthood.