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In September, I will reach my 60th year. As a late baby boomer, I unfortunately share many of your sentiments. I am still hopeful we might be able to deal with the climate change problem before I wrap things up. However, it is not encouraging.
I will make this comment: My father felt that the civil rights laws grew directly out of the World War II experience. Growing up in Idaho, he was quite ignorant of anything outside his immediate community and that would have included Jim Crow and segregation. In the Navy, he was exposed to the discriminatory treatment of black sailors who were narrowly restricted to certain jobs. He was forced to listen to southern officers describe their feelings about black people. He believes many white veterans saw the same thing. When the civil rights movement came along in the fifties and sixties, many veterans were aware of the injustice in this country and sided with reform. The two things may have been tied together in a sense.
I'm quite certain that what many veterans saw in both Germany (such as the concentration camps) and with the Japanese gave them a view of how far such things can go...and a determination not to let them get that far in the US.
And no, I doubt modern generations could equal that effort or the WWII effort. Patriotism is not taught in schools or colleges, the education establishment as a whole is radical anti-American, and generations have been brainwashed to look down on the USA and Western Civilization. I'm sure there are millions today who would welcome Hitler, Tojo, or Stalin with open arms, thinking their societies are morally superior to ours.
It's not that they don't know anything. It's just that so much of what they know is wrong.
My children are taking different lessons from the Great Recession than my parents took from the Great Depression.
Something else to keep in mind about this generation, they were racists and they fought the war as racists. Blacks were segregated into their own units, and the Japanese people were portrayed as bucked toothed, glasses wearing monsters in the propaganda.
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The Japanese were certainly no less racist, and the Germans...well. But the Pacific War was truly a racist war. The Japanese believed themselves superior to their Asian neighbors and as a consequence, they deserved to dominate the region. They further believed that their incredibly rapid transformation from an isolationist nation into an aggressive imperial power, would be welcomed by the west. European powers had been carving up China for years, the Japanese felt that their bringing stability through conquest made them no different from the European and American powers. They were genuinely surprised by the west's negative reaction, and correctly surmised that these western colonial powers were not viewing the Japanese as equals, but as upstart inferiors.
America played into this idea by opposing the Japanese hegemony in China and sending the message...it is okay for western nations to be colonial powers, but the uppity Japs don't seem to know their place.
Something else to keep in mind about this generation, they were racists and they fought the war as racists. Blacks were segregated into their own units, and the Japanese people were portrayed as bucked toothed, glasses wearing monsters in the propaganda.
The Japanese were certainly no less racist, and the Germans...well. But the Pacific War was truly a racist war. The Japanese believed themselves superior to their Asian neighbors and as a consequence, they deserved to dominate the region. They further believed that their incredibly rapid transformation from an isolationist nation into an aggressive imperial power, would be welcomed by the west. European powers had been carving up China for years, the Japanese felt that their bringing stability through conquest made them no different from the European and American powers. They were genuinely surprised by the west's negative reaction, and correctly surmised that these western colonial powers were not viewing the Japanese as equals, but as upstart inferiors.
America played into this idea by opposing the Japanese hegemony in China and sending the message...it is okay for western nations to be colonial powers, but the uppity Japs don't seem to know their place.
They were born into a racist society. World War II was a war their parents' generation caused, but their generation fought.
They entered WWII in their early adulthood, before any of them was in the decision-making positions of society to make any social changes. The character of WWII was totally created by their parents, not by them.
That time for them came in the late 50s and 60s, and that generation did integrate the military services and pass laws against racial segregation.
and that generation did integrate the military services and pass laws against racial segregation.
The US military was integrated by President Truman via executive order in July of 1948. I don't think anyone is counting Truman as a member of that particular generation.
The US military was integrated by President Truman via executive order in July of 1948. I don't think anyone is counting Truman as a member of that particular generation.
The actual work of making it happen was done by that generation.
As I said, that generation's period of social control was in the latter 50s and 60s, up through the 80s.
The Boomers came into social control in the 80s and continue to now.
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Originally Posted by Ralph_Kirk
The actual work of making it happen was done by that generation.
As I said, that generation's period of social control was in the latter 50s and 60s, up through the 80s.
The Boomers came into social control in the 80s and continue to now.
I'm also a Boomer. The way I see it is that integration was started by our parents' and grandparents' generations and continued by the Silent generation and the Boomers.
The Silent generation and the Boomers started the modern environmental movement.
As for women, that was multigenerational. Two generations of women "manned" the factories during WWII. They were kicked out after the war, but told their daughters "You can be anything that you want to be." That fight was for the Silent generation and the Boomers, and it was a fight.
The Boomers are the transitional generation and, to a degree, the Silent generation. I still remember hearing the announcement of the death of the last Civil War soldier, the year that I was in kindergarten. For good and bad, we've already made our mark and we're not done.
I had the privilege of being raised by two World War II vets. I know my father always had trouble with that "Greatest Generation" label before he died back in 2009. He did make several comments though late in his life that got my attention. He looked back on his service in the Navy which began at age 17 and he marveled at the amount of responsibility that he and so many young people were given. He wondered how they were able to do the things that were assigned them. Yet, most did. Another comment he made several times was that young people are picked to serve in the military because they lack fear (and often good judgment) and will do just about anything you order them to do.
Thanks for this post, Mark. I'm also the daughter of two World War II vets (and I was born on the 4th of July!). Mom was in the WAVES and she outranked my father, which always unnerved him a bit. He was a genius who couldn't keep his mouth shut.
She was a first lieutenant and worked in Oakland.
My mom told me that when she signed up to be a WAVE, she enlisted "for the duration [of the war] plus six months." She told me, "In that time, Hitler looked unstoppable. He was marching through Europe conquering country after country. We thought that we might spend the rest of our lives fighting off Hitler, and even dealing with a fight here in America."
"The duration plus six months." Can you imagine?
Below is my beloved mama, during her years in the Navy.
The actual work of making it happen was done by that generation.
As I said, that generation's period of social control was in the latter 50s and 60s, up through the 80s.
The Boomers came into social control in the 80s and continue to now.
Seems a bit convenient, Ralph. When it is a positive accomplishment launched by someone outside of that generation, you credit that generation for the execution. When they execute something negative launched by someone outside that generation, you blame the outsider. That doesn't seem very fair minded of you.
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