Report From the 1968 Reunion

 Thursday:  Remembrance of Viet Nam

On the first day of their reunion, the Class of 1968 held an open forum discussion called “Viet Nam Remembered” in the large presentation hall in Sprague Hall. Two class members moderated the discussion by calling on speakers in response to raised hands and made certain that each speaker had access to a portable microphone.

The Reunion’s organizers had established the format of the presentation as a “Quaker Meeting”–each speaker had the floor for 3 minutes, and no other speaker could address or challenge whatever was said by another speaker.  As a result, each speaker could speak safely without rebuttal or comment.  The audience adhered to the rules. The program lasted over 2 hours and lent itself to several profound, insightful presentations. There were over thirty-five persons who spoke and articulated the ways in which the VietNam War had affected their lives.  The audience was extraordinary controlled. Civility was the order of the day.

The presenters’ most repeated theme was the path not taken because of service or the avoidance of service, including contemplation of choices made under compulsion or choices not made at all. There were those who chose to serve, those who served because of the draft, as well as those who took a different route because of the draft–Peace Corps, teaching or other public service.  

• Those who chose the Peace Corps reported that their lives wound up being enriched by the experience — hardly an outcome that could have been predicted given the circumstances in which the choice to go that route was made.
• Those who served in the military spoke of the hardships they encountered.
• Two of the speakers were widows, one of whom had lost her husband in a military air crash not long after the war concluded. She was a nurse and wanted to know what it was about men that attracted them to war. This comment led to a number of speakers acknowledging, some in the most emotional ways possible, that for all of the abhorrent things that they saw, there was an aspect of service in Vietnam that was invigorating, never to be equaled again in their lives.

Midway through the session the author/journalist and ‘68 class member Jacques Leslie read his presentation, which detailed his reporter’s story, both in Vietnam and Cambodia. His story was dramatic, deeply personal and riveting.  His presentation definitely motivated others to speak.

Only one speaker (other than Leslie) read a prepared text which, in his case, was a bit of a polemic, the only polemic that was aired during the entire session.  Interestingly, very fewer speakers told “war stories” as such — no Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried tales. The tone was that of visitors to a far away land reciting what they learned from their journeys.

Civility ruled — everyone who spoke raised his or her hand to request access to the microphone. Three Yale students quickly ran to the next speaker with microphones. The moderators controlled the flow very well by calling on each speaker in sequence.

 This was Yale at its best — the introspection of a spook evening combined with the conviction that each present had the right to speak.

As VietNam was an issue that each of us faced in our own ways, we are giving serious consideration to including a similar program in our event next June.

Friday:

Part 1.  History of the 60s at Yale.  During our years at Yale, the institution changed in many ways.  Our class was the last without women members.  We saw the change from numerical grading to modified pass/fail; relief from mandatory coats and ties at meals; the arrival of drugs on campus; reduction in minimum course loads for a degree from 40 courses to 36; major changes in admissions (more public schools, more geographic diversity, more minorities); and significant increase in political activism.

Geoffrey Kabaservice (’84 BA, 89 PhD) is author of The Guardians: Kingman Brewster, His Circle, and the Rise of the Liberal Establishment, a book about the history of the 60’s at Yale and the development of these policies by President Brewster, as well as the impact of William Sloane Coffin.

Professor Kabaservice gave his very interesting lecture in a packed Woolsey Hall, complete with some relevant photographs, some behind-the-scenes things we didn’t know at the time and some trenchant observations and reflections.  Judging both from the applause at completion and conversations with the members of the audience, his presentation to the Class of ‘68 was very well received.  An interesting coincidence in that this venue was the very site of President Brewster’s leadership charge to us. Professor Kabaservice has offered to give a similar talk to our class, and we are considering his offer.

Part 2.  Classmate Presentations.  The Class of ‘68 also had a program comprised of 7 short presentations from classmates who were particularly proud of their accomplishments.  The topics included:

• The development of an independent film company;
• Reforestation of significant acreage in Kenya over a 25-year period with a plant developed uniquely for the purpose;
• A mid-career crisis in a conventional advertising business which led to the commercialization of a new nutrition product; and
• Virtuoso playing of classical guitar pieces.

The program was well-attended and well-received.
Part 3.  Reflections From George W. Bush.

Roland Betts (JE ’68), a former Senior Fellow with the Yale Corporation, interviewed President George W. Bush in Woolsey Hall.  The session was very well attended, and President Bush did let his hair down quite a bit.

He covered a broad range of issues — Yale, youth, politics and the future.  There are some great books out there about Presidential character, but surely there is no substitute for watching the Presidential person at close vantage as he has a sincerely felt conversation with an old friend. I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this session because, without a US President in our class, we simply can’t do something like this!

The ‘68 Reunion spurred thinking and debate among its attendees. The presentations were exceptionally well-thought through, showing the significant time of both the organizers and the attendees. Although we may not follow these precedents exactly, they exemplify that great programs make for great reunions. That idea inspires our Reunion Committee as we enter these last few months of planning.