CHAPTER 1

THE "BUILDERS"—THE G.I. GENERATION

When Myrtle came for her monthly spiritual direction session, she wasvisibly agitated. Her director, a Sister of Mercy named Margaret, made her a cupof chamomile tea, and held her hand until a quiet descended on the room. "What'shappening, Myrtle?" she said, with a reassuring smile.

"My granddaughter Jackie is saying she's ... not getting married in the Church,"Myrtle began haltingly. "She says she wants to get married outside, in a park,and her priest won't do it. And her fiancé isn't Catholic!"

"I can understand why you're disappointed. A wedding in church is so beautiful.But it's not that unusual these days for a couple to want to do somethingdifferent."

"But it's not right!" Myrtle looked up at her, with real grief in her eyes."What will happen to her?"

"To your granddaughter? What do you mean?"

"If her marriage isn't blessed, how will it survive? How can she start offsomething so important by offending God? How will they make it without God'shelp?"

MYRTLE'S GENERATION IS one firmly grounded in tradition, in conformity to acollective ideal, and to authority which one questions at one's peril. Far frombeing backwards or limiting, this formula has worked magic for them—ouroldest generation has undoubtedly also been our most potent, influential, andeffective. Their courage is unmatched in any living generation, their sacrificesunrivaled, their achievements unsurpassed. Tom Brokaw called them "the GreatestGeneration," and few dare challenge this. And little wonder. Anyone whoever has challenged this confident, can-do generation has wound up onthe losing side of the scuffle. In their prime, none dared opposethem—before them tyrants fell, fascism failed, and communism crumbled.Just who are these sure-footed scrappers, and how did they get that way?

Birth Years and Place in the Cycle

Born between 1901 and 1924, the first wave of this generation grew up in theshadow of the Great War, and the entire generation gave their all during theSecond World War. They are the most uniformed generation in American history,and for this reason, sociologists refer to them as the G.I. Generation. "G.I."stands for "general issue" or "government issue," as in "G.I. Joe." They begantheir uniformed careers early, as the first boy scouts, campfire girls, and girlscouts. Later, during the Great Depression, many of them wore the green of theCivilian Conservation Corps. And as they entered full adulthood, fully one halfof them enlisted in the military—a greater percentage than any generationin history. As G.I. Carol, from Green Springs, Ohio, told me, "We've been at warwith somebody practically my whole life."

Raised by Idealists (the Missionary generation, born 1860–1882) andReactives (the Lost Generation, born 1883–1900), G.I.s were the next Civicgeneration in the four-fold cycle that Strauss and Howe outlined in theirbook Generations. They were told by their missionary parents that theywere special, that they could be great. This might have simply been wishfulthinking on the part of idealistic parents had world events not conspiredagainst them, thrusting tragedy and poverty onto their unready shoulders. Yetfar from shaking these confident youngsters, these events gave the G.I.s anopportunity to step up and prove their greatness.

And step up they did. They also went the extra mile. Civic generations arebuilders, and the G.I.s did not disappoint on this score. For in spite ofapparently insuperable obstacles, through sacrifice and hard work, they builtthe infrastructure of our modern society with their own calloused hands,including roads, freeways, buildings, banks, churches, and service organizationsof all kinds. Everything we have come to think of as "America" today began withthem.

Formative Events

Growing up during the transitional period between the horse-and-buggy and themodern world, our oldest living generation learned to both adapt well to changeand to revere tradition and stability. Immigrants from all over the world werelearning that they could cherish their ethnic heritage and at the same time takepride in an emerging "American" identity.

Katherine, originally from Greeley, Colorado, recalls her childhood this way:"World War One had just finished. My dad didn't fight—he had myopia. Hehad a lot to do, trying to support our family. Automobiles came in. When I wasyoung, we just had a horse and buggy. Then my father bought a Model T. We weresurrounded by immigrants—we had a Slavic family on one side, and Scots onthe other.... Because of WWI, Germans were in disgrace in this country. Theyweren't part of the Kaiser, they were good people. They had trouble graduating."Marian, originally from Chicago, Illinois, remembers, "What was hard for me wasthat my parents were from Poland, so they never spoke English. I did not speakEnglish until I went to school. I was taught by Polish Catholic nuns."

The boom following the First World War provided G.I.s with a brief flirtationwith frivolity. But "the roaring twenties" was quickly and permanently squelchedby the grim reality of the Great Depression. Louis, from Mississippi told me, "Iwas shaped by the Great Depression," but as harsh as it was for their parents,most people I talked to looked back on this part of their early life withfondness. Ellie, from Wilmington, Illinois, said, "I remember we went throughthe Depression, but my mother was clever enough to find things. So, we alwayshad enough to eat. We didn't realize that we were poor. I do remember my fatherbeing without work, and writing letters to try to find work." Similarly,Katherine said, "We had poverty, but my mother made the best of it. We moved toCalifornia at the height of the Depression—went 6,000 miles. We had awonderful time!" Mildred, from Louisville, KY, also remembers this time ashappy. "My father was a Methodist minister, and he didn't make much money. Wenever had much money, so I didn't know there was a Depression."

Yet, despite their cherished memories of this time, it definitely left its markon them. As Tom Brokaw noted, "They were mature beyond their years, tempered bywhat they had been through...."

By the time the Second World War hit, their resourcefulness and resilience werewell in place, and they were ready for another challenge. The nation pulledtogether, sacrificed together, and worked together toward the single goal ofdefeating fascism and preserving freedom. Most G.I. men went into the militaryto serve overseas, and many G.I. women went to work at home, pulling on thegloves the men had left behind and keeping the factories and industries going.Nancy, from Peekskill, New York, recalls, "When World War II came along I leftwith two of my girl friends and we went to New Jersey, and we got a job makingnavy Hell Cats. So I was a Rosie the Riveter. Even though the war was stillgoing on we always seemed to have a good time."

Marian also claims her "Rosie" status: "World War II was devastating because theyouth were going into the service and we were left behind. We weren't accustomedto fighting. We females were not accepted that much. When the seven men raisedthe flag at Mount Suribachi we had a ceremony in Chicago. That was the same daymy daughter popped a new tooth. I was Rosie the Riveter—I was pregnant anddoing armatures for B12s."

The fighting took its toll on G.I. men. Many of them suffered from post-traumaticstress disorder, although there wasn't a name for it at the time. Somecoped by talking about it, but usually only with others who had "been there."Others were tight-lipped, as if ignoring what had happened would deny its poweror damaging effects. When Louis told me curtly, "I went into World War II. Icame out whole," I had to wonder just how "whole" he really was.

After the war, G.I. women went back to the kitchen and the men went back towork—after taking advantage of the G.I. bill and getting a good education.At the time, the G.I.s were the most universally educated generation in Americanhistory. Armed with bachelor's degrees and jobs provided by a booming post-warbusiness sector, G.I.s married and moved out to the suburbs to begin "the goodlife." Tract houses began springing up all over the American landscape, alongwith supermarkets, restaurants, and churches.

Television arrived, providing G.I.s with a visual, homogeneous model of theideal American family, exemplified by "Ozzie and Harriet" and "Father KnowsBest"—an image that they embraced and emulated whole-heartedly. Straussand Howe called theirs "the most conformist culture of the twentiethcentury." Theirs was a clean-cut America built on unimpeachable morals andtraditional values, with well-defined gender roles and a clear line ofhierarchical authority. G.I. fathers saw themselves as the breadwinners and headof the family, and strove to run their households with the same efficiency thathad worked so well for them in the military. Unfortunately, this "efficiency"sowed the seeds of resentment and rebellion that would cause the greatestgeneration gap of the twentieth century, between them and their own children,the Boomers.

Perhaps due to a primal fear of appearing weak, G.I.s rejected the moreandrogynous values of their Idealistic parents, and embraced an exaggeratedmasculinity that many of them still posses. This is especially true of men, buteven women are not immune. G.I. parents were told that excessive affection wouldmake their children weak and dependent, and as a result, many Silent and Boomerchildren were raised in home environments that were picture perfect on theoutside, but often felt harsh and unloving on the inside.

I remember my mother talking about something my father's mother said once. AnOklahoma dustbowl immigrant to California, my grandmother said, "I regret thatwe didn't touch our children more. But we didn't know. This is what we weretold, and we believed it." Consequently, my own Silent father—tender-hearted as he is—grew up without much physical affection, and is stilluncomfortable with it today.

Experience of the Worldand What They Are Seeking

When I asked Bert, originally from Moorcroft, Wyoming, about his primaryexperience of the world as he was growing up, he told me, "Crisis, I think,would be the best answer to that. The crisis is because we as people haveallowed this to happen to us. It's all part of the world." I wasn't surprised atthis answer, since crisis has been the constant companion of the G.I. generationsince their infancy. Most were born into a world in crisis as the First WorldWar raged across Europe. Then, after a brief respite during the 1920s, thisgeneration shouldered another crisis—the Great Depression. The greatestcrisis was the Second World War, followed by the ominous dread of the Cold War.

And yet, beyond a shadow of a doubt, they met each crisis with resolve. As TomBrokaw said of his conversations with G.I.s, "One after another they volunteeredhow in their families and in their communities they were expected to beresponsible for their behavior, how honesty was assumed to be the rule, not theexception. They also talked matter-of-factly about a sense of duty to theircountry, a sentiment not much in fashion anymore." As Wesley Ko told Brokaw, "Inthe war I learned to be self-sufficient. I matured. I learned to be a leader.When my business failed, I was able to move on."

The Great Depression had made them ultra-responsible, possessed of a hyper-vigilantfrugality that became an indelible part of their personality. As TomBrokaw would note later, "They seem to have everything they need, but they stillcount their pennies as if the bottom may drop out tomorrow."

This sense of the world in crisis has so shaped their generational character,that those of us who were formed in later, more gentle times often have a hardtime relating. G.I.s seem perpetually on edge, even paranoid, especially whendiscussing national security. This is a very important aspect of theirpersonality, however, that we should take note of. When I asked G.I.s what theirgeneration sought more than anything else, many of them were concerned with thisissue. Carl, from Berkeley, California, gave me a one-word answer: "Security."Dorothy, from Walnut Creek, California, agreed, but expanded on this a bit:"Security. We wanted financial security and national security. I think we didwell on the security of the country—I guess we were successful." Cairin,from Baltimore, Maryland, told me her generation was determined to "defend thecountry, the American Dream."

It could be that the G.I. paranoia that led to a stockpile of nuclear armsduring the Cold War actually saved the world, repugnant as the strategy mightseem to later generations. The greatest leaders of the G.I.generation—Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and the firstGeorge Bush—seemed obsessed with national security, and although they madethe occasional misstep, they did, as Dorothy noted, navigate the tricky watersof their times successfully.

Yet this generation's reputation among later generations as "warmongers" isunfair. The slogan, "peace through strength," reveals that, paradoxically, theirwar efforts served a larger end: security and peace, not just for Americans, butfor all people. As Ken put it, "We were all working toward peace, and towardvictory, whether in uniform or not." Although the strategy worked, the G.I.notion that their efforts would lead to a lasting peace seems to them naïve,now. Ellie told me, "I used to think there would come a day when we were smartenough that we didn't have any more war, but I guess that is never going tohappen. I've decided that must be man's nature because we can't seem to ever govery many years at peace."

National security was not their only concern, however. G.I.s were vigilant aboutsecurity in every aspect of life. As they approached retirement, G.I.s loweredthe retirement age to sixty-two, and boosted the level of Social Securitybenefits substantially. Strauss and Howe report that "from 1965 to 1989—asG.I.s reached age sixty-five—federal benefits per elderly person haverisen fifteen times more rapidly than wages (300% versus less than 20%, ininflation-adjusted dollars)."

In 1965 G.I.s established Medicare to provide medical security for themselves,gaining "more than others from deficit-laden financing schemes that pushed costsfar into the future," according to Strauss and Howe. Strauss and Howe go on tonote that, "The 1990 deficit reduction law imposed a 1991 maximum of $41 inextra Medicare charges per G.I. beneficiary, and up to $2,137 in extra Medicaretaxes per younger worker."

G.I.s seek, more than any other ideal, security, and will stop at almost nothingto guarantee it. Yes, they sacrificed, but short-sightedly shored up thesecurity of their twilight years by mortgaging the future of theirgrandchildren, ensuring that we, too, will sacrifice as they did—whetherwe choose it or not.

Disposition

G.I.s possess a curious mixture of wariness and hope. They've seen enoughtrouble to be suspicious, knowing that at any moment a shoe might drop andplunge them and theirs into crisis once again. It's kind of a mild, generation-widePost Traumatic Stress Disorder that has actually served them quite well,their occasional cantankerousness aside.

Lloyd, who hails originally form Butte, Montana, told me, "In general, I'm anoptimist!" and that sums up his cohort pretty well, too. They are universallycautious. They are pretty good judges of character, and if there is a whiff ofsubterfuge about you, their hackles raise and the questioning will begin. On theother hand, if you have gained their trust, they are fiercely loyal, and willdefend their friends against all comers—true in both interpersonal andinternational arenas.

But the hope is real, too. G.I.s have seen the worst of the worst. They knowfrom experience that hard work, loyalty, and honesty can see the world throughthe worst of times. They are realists, sure, but optimistic realists—theyare not blind to the obstacles we face, but they are confident that, pullingtogether, there's nothing we can't meet and overcome.

In a Word and a Song

When I asked G.I.s for a motto or a phrase that summed up their generation'soutlook on life, I did not get a clear consensus. Still, several answers wereinsightful. Dorothy suggested, "Waste not, want not," which reflects thefrugality gained by the G.I. generation during the Great Depression. Earl, fromDenver, Colorado, suggested "Pick yourself up by your bootstraps," which sums upthe G.I. philosophy of self-determination and personal responsibility.

A couple of people suggested, "Do unto others as you would have them do untoyou," which seems like sage advice for any generation, but didn't seem to beespecially applicable to G.I.s, whose bull-in-a-china-shop approach to diplomacy(on both personal and national levels) seems incongruent with Jesus' words.Strauss and Howe quoted a U.S. News and World Report story that calledthem "fearless but not reckless," which has the ring of truth to it, even if itis not a household phrase.

The other night, my wife was watching an old Frank Capra movie, State of theUnion (1948), in which a Republican politico named Kay Thorndyke (playedmagnificently by Angela Lansbury) says, "Life is war—don't count thecasualties." Certainly not all G.I.s would agree with this statement—butit reveals a strain of opinion shared by many in that cohort.

As for a song that sums up this generation, again there were many diversesuggestions. Many people simply named artists they enjoyed when they were youngadults—Glen Miller and Frank Sinatra made multiple appearances. But G.I.shad trouble naming a particular song that had meaning for them. Charlie,originally from Southern California, suggested "Time Was" by Jimmy Dorsey. Hesaid the "music had a theme, had some meaning to it, it was about falling inlove, getting married, getting a job," definitely important themes for post-warG.I.s. Many suggested hymns—albeit different hymns. The one that has themost resonance with G.I. themes was suggested by Katherine, "Trust andObey"—a good two-word summary of the G.I. philosophy of life.

Probably the difficulty in settling upon a song is that, in the G.I. era,popular music wasn't particularly interested in philosophizing—it was pureescape. Add to this the fact that G.I.s, as a group, are not particularlyintrospective (or at least, they have trouble articulating their innerlife—more on this later), and it is not surprising that their music israrely political or confessional. (Plenty patriotic, yes, but not provocativelypolitical, as music in the 1960s was to be).

One significant exception to the unconfessional nature of G.I. popular music isthe one song that appeared on more than one list, and it seems to me that thissong, better than all the rest, sums up the G.I. mindset. That song is FrankSinatra's "My Way."

(Continues...)