On Super Bowl Sunday, February 8, 2026, I will celebrate my 83rd birthday. I was born at the tail end of the “Silent Generation”—the label given to people born between 1928 and 1945—characterized as being traditionalists. The Silent Generation is sandwiched between the “Greatest Generation” (1901-1927) and the “Baby Boomers” (1946-1964).
I’ve never felt comfortable in the Silent Generation. Some years ago, Richard Pells wrote a book, War Babies - The Generation That Changed America. He suggested that “War Babies” (1939-1945) are a distinctive generation. I believe this is where I fit in. If you are 81 - 87 years old in 2026, you fit, too.
War Babies include folk like Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Barbara Sreisand, Simon & Garfunkel, Harrison Ford, Bob Woodward, George Lucas, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Biden. Joe Biden is the only person from the Silent Generation and the War Baby Generation to become president of the United States. (Donald Trump is a Baby Boomer!)
Pells writes that war babies “initiated most of the social and cultural movements that boomers have claimed over the years; many of the people causing the changes in the 60s and 70s were war babies, not boomers.” “We are,” Pells says, “the children of Pearl Harbor and we’re the adults of 9-11…”
I’m glad I fit in somewhere. Dr. Seuss says it well: “Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”
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