Generations of American Leaders: Overview
At LifeCourse Associates we are often asked about the political leadership exercised by certain generations—both in our own lifetimes and going back in American history. Once readers become accustomed to thinking about generations as birthyear-defined groups with their own location in history, their own attitudes and beliefs, and their own sense of collective identity, they want to know more about the timing of each generation’s political ascendancy and decline.
In what years did the “Lost Generation” of World War I vets (the peers of Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Truman, and Eisenhower) comprise more than half of America’s governors and members of Congress? (Answer: 1939 through 1951.) When did the G.I. Generation, also known as America’s World War II-winning “Greatest Generation,” reach its high-watermark of political representation? (Answer: 1965.) In what year did Boomers first achieve a generational plurality of national leaders? (Answer: 1997.)
LifeCourse Associates offers, for the reader’s reference, tables and charts showing American political leadership by generation. For our birthyear definitions of each generation, along with links to thumbnail biographies, see the accompanying Key to Generations in the sidebar.
Foremost is our computation of each generation's “national leadership share” for every odd-numbered year since 1775. You can see the results for recent decades in the chart below.
From 1789 to the present, each generation’s national leadership share is a simple average of (1) its percentage share of all members in the U.S. House of Representatives, (2) its percentage share of all U.S. Senators, and (3) its percentage share of all state governors. From 1775 through 1787, it is a simple average of (1) its percentage share of all delegates to the Continental Congress and (2) its percentage share of all state governors.
Using the links on the left, you can access the complete table and chart of the national leadership share since 1775, as well as tables and charts for each U.S. institution separately since 1789—the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate and state governorships. Average ages and longevities of leaders are also shown.
This data was calculated from a database of about 14,000 individuals.
