Yeah, this is an odd word choice. Even as someone only born in that decade, I've heard at least one case from someone directly about their advocacy from before that year; a history professor I had in college once told an anecdote during a lecture about a time he briefed the elder President Bush, who was apparently considering whether to try to pressure Israel to halt settlements on the West Bank (which the professor told us was an example of how much more attention to detail he perceived in the elder compared to his younger one when he became president). I'm sure there are plenty of people around who can recall things much earlier than this.