Where Have all the Boomers Gone?

By Barbara Britton Jones 

This article first appeared in the Winter 2008 issue of IN magazine.

They’ve Gone and Done it Again!

When Kathleen Casey-Kirschling filed for social security, it made the news. Why? Ms. Casey-Kirschling is the official first baby boomer. The big event took place in Washington, D.C. under the watchful eye of Michael Astrue, Social Security Commissioner, who declared that the coming of social security age of baby boomers as “America’s silver tsunami”.

The image that descriptor conjures up is the thunderous sound of silver-haired baby boomers raising a cloud of dust as they race to social security offices all over the United States to file for their benefits. Since the only story to make the news so far is that of the first born baby boomer, this must mean that no such stampede has taken place. So where are the boomers?

For decades, the impact of this group on American culture has been tracked. Boomers, the largest generation in American history numbering between 75 and 80 million, have been characterized as passionate, idealistic, competitive, optimistic, workaholics, politically sensitive, team oriented, drivers of change and questioners of authority. On the other hand, they have been called self-centered, self-serving, self-interested, self-absorbed, self-indulgent, and self-aggrandizing by those more critical of the group. Whether the impression is positive or negative, there is no denying that boomers have always left and continue to leave an impression.

Boomers were the first generation of tots to have televisions and benefit from child oriented television shows such as Howdy Doody and The Mickey Mouse Club. They forced change in public services as school systems stretched to meet the challenge of accommodating the burgeoning numbers of little bodies in classrooms. Later, as teenagers or “Teeny Boppers”, boomers were touted as a significant target market while the labor market and higher education institutions braced for the onslaught of new talent that was imminent.

The sixties proved to be turbulent times for boomers and the “establishment” they railed against as their issues and concerns were often played out in the national media. As flower children, they protested the war in Viet Nam, fought for civil rights — indulged in varying degrees — in sex, drugs and rock and roll and grooved to the Motown sound.

To everyone’s amazement, when the psychedelic fog lifted a generation of focused and responsible individuals emerged. During the seventies and eighties boomers became young urban professionals (Yuppies). They settled into responsible jobs, moved to the suburbs, gave birth to Gen Xers and spent more hours working than they did with their families. It was during this era that terms like Type A personality and workaholic surfaced. When all was said and done, boomers had established themselves as a hard-working, get it done no matter what it takes, respectable generation.