It was the largest population increase in the United States - ever.  I mean, they just kept coming!  America had never experienced the likes of that historic decade.  And oh, things were changing so quickly.  Never before had science and technology advanced so quickly.  And never before had the new technologies been so readily available for everyday people to use in their everyday lives.  Seemed like a new phenomenon to make life easier and more fun appeared on the market every day. 

            Scientific progress was impressive, but so was our country’s productivity.  I’m telling you folks, America’s productivity soared.  But the biggest phenomenon of all was that the population soared, too.  During this one remarkable decade, as a matter of fact, the U. S. Census showed the population increased 32.7 million.  Yep.  In one decade alone.  Wow.  Never before had our population risen at such a rate. 

            When they did the math, figuring in births, deaths and immigration statistics, experts determined that the United States of America added a net of one new person every 11 seconds.  One new person every 11 seconds.  Gee Whiz, that would mean about six  since I’ve started telling you this story.  Where did we put all those people?  The inner cities?  The suburbs?  Well, probably both. 

            I saw recently where Japan is so crowded that their driving ranges for golfers are stacked stories high.  And their people - whole families - are squashed into tiny little apartments.  And those are the fortunate ones!  Well thankfully, that didn’t happen here.  Hopefully never will.  I guess America still has enough wide open space to spare.  We made it work, and nobody felt too crowded - I don’t think, anyway. 

            Whatever happened, it appears that we survived it all right.  And America is still strong.  And, as always, social scientists sat up and took notice, documenting the unprecedented growth and studying its effect on everything from food production and sales to the job market. 

            Oh yeah, don’t forget the retailers.  Of course they took notice, and made the most of this growing new market that was basically handed to them on a silver platter.  And the schools?  They added classes, new buildings, new districts, new teachers to accommodate.  It was a time of optimism, opportunity and hope for most people.  It was a time for people to reach up, and do more and better than their parents had.  Isn’t that always the American way? 

            Like I said, America was an optimistic and hopeful place.  After some hard times and struggle in the past, things seemed to be getting better for most people.  Are you nodding your head?  Thinking you know what decade of American population growth I’m talking about?

            Well, if you’re a baby boomer, and you think I’m talking about you, well, you’d be wrong.  Really.  I’m talking about a different period of time, probably not the one you thought about.  It’s a Little Known Fact that during a very unique time in American history our nation experienced a population growth of 13.2 percent. 

            You were there.  Yep.  In the decade 1990 to 2000, we experienced growth of 13.2 percent.  That’s a jump of 32.7 million people.  Now, the boomers from 1950 to 1960 grew by only 28 million people.  Where did we put them?  Well, most ended up out West, and the majority went to California.  So if you’re listening today in California, scoot over a little, would ya?