[Mears]

” Today that’s GenX, back in WW2 it was Truman’s generation- the one that preceded the “greatest generation”.

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Truman’s generation preceded the “greatest generation”?

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[pepsi_junkie]

Not sure if you mean he was part of the greatest generation or was more than one generation older than it. I'll address both scenarios. First was he part of the greatest generation? Generation doesn't mean "everyone who was alive at the time". If it did there would be no generation gap, right? So for the purposes of this the generation in primacy isn't the one in their 20s, it's the one during the 20 year span of midlife, when they have max influence/control over society. I guess that's mid-to-late 30s to mid-to-late 60s when people rise to and execute leadership rolls in industry and civil life.

The so-called greatest generation were the men and women who came of age during the depression and fought in WW2, in their 20s at that time. They weren't the leaders but they provided the youth, vigor, energy to go and execute the plans of the elder generation. They then went on to then become the leaders in the early cold war era (late 50s-60s). To them, men like JFK, Truman was an old man, certainly not part of their generation.

But was he really from one generation prior or two? Truman was 45 when the depression started and was 61 when WW2 ended. That's the last crisis period. A little on the older side but the line isn't black and white. I'd say he was born at the very beginning of that last "nomad" generation. Fast forward 80 years and the next nomads were born during the late 60s - late 80s (i.e. GenX). But yeah, the case could be made that he was really from the prior generation. This is art more than it is science. But it's kind of fun to pretend the world is predictable and that we can rest assured that the 20 years of national agony that started with 9/11 are going to end in a few years.