Baby Boomers
I was working on our Facebook page today, when I came across the National Day Calendar entry for Monday August 17. Seems that Monday is National Baby Boomer Recognition Day. Boomers are those individuals born between 1946 and 1964. The world was recovering financially and emotionally from the ravages of the Great Depression and World War II, and that recovery saw a huge uptick in the number of births.
According to estimates by the US Census Bureau, there are 73 million Boomers. That is almost a quarter of our total population. Boomers have lived through the Korean Conflict (1950-1953), the Vietnam War (1964-1975), Desert Shield/Desert Storm (1990-1991) and Global War on Terror (Oct 2001 to present). Over 10 million of them actually served in the military in some capacity in their lifetime.
Baby Boomers currently range in age from 56 to 74. Some have been drawing their social security retirement for 12 years and some still have 11 years to even be eligible for full benefits. Boomers witnessed the birth of Rock and Roll, the first manned space flight and the first man on the moon. They witnessed the opening of the first shopping mall (Southfield, Michigan 1954), the ground breaking of Disneyland and they were the recipients of the first vaccinations against polio. They were also the first generation to play with Barbie. Boomers witnessed the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Bobby Kennedy.
The first Boomers came of age in 1964, the year the last Boomers were born. That same year, the Civil Rights Act was passed by the U.S. Senate, plans for the construction of the World Trade Center in New York was announced and the Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show.
In 1967, approximately 100,000 Boomers descend on Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco for what is now referred to as the Summer of Love and considered the birth of the hippie movement. That year also saw a boost to the anti-war movement with 100,000 protesters descending on Washington DC.
On August 15-18, 1969, an estimated 400,000 people gathered on a farm just outside of Woodstock, NY for a three day music festival. Set up to be a opportunity for people to escape into music and to spread the message of unity and peace, it has become a defining moment for the Baby Boomer generation. The date of the Baby Boomer Recognition Day was chosen as August 17 because of Woodstock.
Baby Boomers have also shaped our political landscape over the past 45 years. They rejected and redefined traditional values. Thy are also the wealthiest, most active and have the most disposable income for food, apparel and retirement programs. There are four U.S. Presidents that are Baby Boomers: Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
Today, Baby Boomers are our parents,siblings, spouses and the person in the mirror. Here at Visiting Angels, Boomers are our clients and our caregivers. We want to recognize the contributions they have made to our world. So to all of you Boomers out there, "Peace, Love and Rock & Roll".