The Missionary Generation

Born 1860 to 1882

I previously wrote one paragraph each about the first 17 generations starting from that of Columbus and da Vinci. Today I’m writing about the 18th generation — in five paragraphs. The Missionary Generation was born from 1860 to 1882.

To raise better-behaved youth, between 1908 and 1914, America’s Missionary parents gave us Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Camp Fire Girls, and 4-H Clubs. In 1920, they secured every American woman’s right to vote.

In psychology, this was the generation of Carl Jung. In literature, this was the generation of playwright Luigi Pirandello, poet Robert Frost, and novelists Hermann Hesse, Anton Chekhov, Marcel Proust, Rainer Maria Rilke, Virginia Woolf, and Willa Cather.

In technology and science, this was the generation of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, auto pioneer Henry Ford, air-flight pioneers Orville and Wilbur Wright, visionary engineer Elmer Sperry, antibiotics pioneer Alexander Fleming, and physicists Hantaro Nagaoka, Ernest Rutherford, and “Person of the Century” Albert Einstein.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, principled and resolute Missionary leaders led the social work, and in the U.S. oversaw (with the next generation) construction of 125,000 public buildings, 650,000 miles of federal road, and 75,000 bridges.

During World War II, the Missionaries were the global patriarchs of purpose and vision. With wills of steel, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, and Five-Star Generals Douglas MacArthur and George Marshall, guided the Allies to victory, transformed Japan, rebuilt Europe, and with their United Nations created a permanent body for global dialogue and decisions.

In the developing world, Mahatma Gandhi triumphed — and inspired countless other movements — with his nonviolent movement for the decolonization and independence of India.