The Silent Generation

Following World War I America became more and more isolationist in regard to the rest of the world. The nation did not want to be involved with the reconstruction of Western Europe (a major problem than and one that could not be avoided some thirty years later). America had sent Johnny Doughboy "over there" and brought him back shellshocked with busted eardrums and suffering from the incurable effects of mustard gas attacks, and now America was crying, "No more, Old World. Take care of your own problems."

As America entered the decade of the 1920’s there was a vibrant, intense sense of urgency throughout the country to ‘get with it.’ To expand the economy, to build, to manufacture, to take care of America and its people and to enjoy the fruits of its labor.

In this time and at this stage the United States was a diverse collection of very distinctive regions which differed hugely by language, accents, appearance, style of dress, habits, morals, diet, ethnic background, education, weather, income, forbears and just about anything else you could think of. Any change, no matter how small, came very, very slowly, due in part to the Great Depression, but largely due to the fact that people, prior to and during the Depression, did not move or travel around the U.S. very much. There was no need to, as most families had traditional and long-standing roots. And travel in and of itself was a rather tedious and perhaps even adventurous and dangerous undertaking. The trains were the way to go, as there was not much in the way of flying at that time. Automobile travel was a true adventure --- a colossal safari-like trip.

In particular auto travel out West was fraught with dangers, including but not limited to, very bad roads, undependable automobiles and equipment such as tires, springs, radiators, engines, spark plugs, fan belts, etc. and, of course, availability of water, oil and gasoline. And when the vehicle broke down, which was often, you were usually in the middle of nowhere, and there was no place to stay. Motels, a product of post-World War II, did not exist.

Automobile usage probably began in earnest with the great Sooner exodus of Okies from the Dust Bowl to the Central Valley of California. You cannot be certain that some of those cars and trucks as seen in many old photographs and immortalized in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath could, in all honesty, be called automobiles or trucks. These four-wheeled vehicles consisted mostly of four hard rubber tires on a frame supporting a bucket of nuts and blots and bad spark plugs. How some of these vehicles made it all the way from Oklahoma to California was a miracle.

And this is how it began for the "Depression Babies" in that time. For those readers who wish to look back and laugh or criticize, or those who have come later and do not understand the "Depression Babies" (probably your parents) please come join this odyssey and learn and be taught and never forget where you came from and why you are where and what you are today.

Chapter 1 – The 1930s

If you were to pick an exact starting point for the generation of the "Depression Babies," it would more than likely be Black Tuesday, October 24, 1929, the date of the calamitous Stock Market crash. And with it the onset of the Great Depression.

The parents of the "Depression Babies" met, courted and married during the Roaring Twenties when life was great and fun and exciting. America was at peace, the economy couldn’t have been better and the stock market was soaring. Every American could share in the industrial economic boom! It had never been better than this, and it probably would never end. Oh my, does that sound familiar?

This was the post-World War I era, and WWI was the War-To-End-All-Wars. It was also the war that vaulted the United States into world-wide prominence as a super power, a leader of Democracy. The giddiness of this was only partially offset by the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1920. Prohibition was a total failure and while in effect gave rise to the speakeasies, the Mafia, bootleggers, bathtub gin and, in addition, made it quite clear that America was not going to stop drinking. America would never give up its love affair with booze and hooch. An anachronistic and nearly unenforceable revision to the Constitution, the Eighteenth Amendment was repealed in 1933.

Perhaps less remembered but certainly much more significant was the Nineteenth Amendment which was passed in 1919 and enacted in 1920 and which gave women the right to vote. Women’s Suffrage had been advocated since the first years following the ratification of the Constitution by such prominent women as Abigail Adams, a woman of letters and wife of John Adams, second president of the United States. It is a matter of great puzzlement and perplexity why it took so long to enact something so inherently natural and so clearly addressed in the Constitution.

When the Crash came on Wall Street followed by the Great Depression, it was as though a huge wave of cold water washed over the wonderful American party and brought a sobering reality to the American people. While America was revelling during the Roaring Twenties, Europe was in economic shambles following World War I.

Germany was in severe economic and social depression throughout the 1920s. The rest of Western Europe was not in much better shape. Russia was trying to dig its way out of its revolution. Following the Russian revolution in 1917 and WWI, much of Europe was ripe for more revolution, more upheaval, more socialism, more communism and, worst of all, paved the way for despotism, more communism and, worst of all, paved the way for despotism and dictatorships.

In Russia Lenin was the titular figurehead who led the revolution; however, Josef Stalin was, ipso facto, the real leader with absolute control of the army. Stalin was an absolutely ruthless military dictator who became the ideal paradigm for other dictators to emulate as the venerable Royal Houses crumbled all over Europe.

In Germany, of course, it was Adolph Hitler who gradually assumed control of the government, rearmed the military and then used the Spanish Civil War to practice and fine-tune his Blitzkreig tactics. Another result of that was the takeover of Spain by the military dictator Generalissimo Francisco Franco. Down in Europe’s Boot Benito Mussolini was firmly entrenched as fascist dictator of Italy.

The mysterious Orient was emerging. China, a sleeping giant, would soon have its revolution. Japan was in the full control of the military and intent on expanding the Japanese Empire.

By this time America was increasingly isolationist. The country now had its own problems and didn’t need the world’s.