Class History: 1969 to 2018
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Class History: 1969 to 2018

[Editors Note:  Originally published on 26 May 2019;  This is fifth in a series of re-published Essays from the 50th Reunion ClassBook.]   Back again, your whilom class historian here reviews our half-century of adulthood by examining the world and American culture at the milestones of our graduation in 1969, the 25th reunion in 1994, and…

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Yale and the Shaping of American Foreign Policy, Then and Now

[Originally published on 26 May 2019;  This is fourth in a series of re-published Essays from the 50th Reunion ClassBook.] Even if most of us weren’t thinking of getting into foreign-policy as we entered Yale in September, 1965, foreign policy would get into us, and the consequences would rattle Yalies not only on campus but also in State, Defense,…

The Meaning of Yale for the Class of 1969—One Man’s View

The Meaning of Yale for the Class of 1969—One Man’s View

Why is it that the four years from our arrival at Yale early in September 1965, to our graduation on June 9, 1969, have proven so important to so many of us? Most of us will be seventy-two years old in 2019, the year of our fiftieth reunion. Those four years we spent in college constitute a mere one-eighteenth of our lives. Why so important? Why is it that today you can initiate a conversation with a classmate with whom you may not have spoken in a half-century, and it will be as easy to talk to him as it was when we were undergraduates together?

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Notes to Self

The 1969 Class Survey included the following question: “If you could write a note to your 1969 self, what would it say? (50 words or less, please)” Herewith is a small sampling of your advice to your 1969 selves… For a small-town boy from the Texas Panhandle, you did all right, in large part because…

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High School Harry; West Coast; Negro; “Achieved Success at Yale”

How Yale enabled a confident naif to game “success.” Above descriptions proposed as applying to me were suggested to merit a class essay of broader scope. This being somewhat a soapbox—irresistible to a Yalie, no?—, here goes. If nothing else, material to guide one into the precious (love mine!) late afternoon nap. First, from perspective…

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Fifty Years of Change in Book Publishing

When we graduated in 1969: We had spent four years with assigned reading from books available only in printed form. We probably bought those books at the Yale Co-op, an independent store owned by the University. New Haven had few other bookstores we would frequent and no chain bookstores. The immense resources of Sterling Library…

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Group Portrait in Broad Strokes: Results of the Class of 1969 50th Reunion Survey

Class surveys have been a regular feature of 50th reunions for years, and—as we have with so many traditions—Yale ‘69ers might well wonder what purposes this elaborate group ritual might serve. The reunion committee had several purposes clearly in mind: to gather information that would inform several invited essays planned for this volume; to activate…

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The Yale Daily News

excerpts with commentary Although freshman year could have been justifiably regarded as an oasis of calm, our subsequent undergraduate years (along with 1970) probably constituted the most tumultuous period at Yale (and many other American college campuses) since World War II. The controversial and escalating Vietnam War, the prospect of compulsory service in it following…

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Healthcare in America: One Physician’s Perspective

I practiced medicine for forty years before retiring in the spring of 2017. I had flourished in my work, enjoying the challenges even in the most demanding moments. I loved virtually every phase of my career and felt privileged to have the opportunity to care for patients. Beyond the long hours and perpetual sleeplessness, and…

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For Whom, for country, and for Yale? Religion and spirituality in the Class of 1969

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Proverbs 9:10 “Urim and thummim.” Yale seal (Hebrew script meaning either “lights and perfections” or “curses and blessings” depending on translation – see Exodus 28:30)   “Acquire the Holy Spirit, and a thousand around you will be saved.” St Seraphim of Sarov “Il faut imaginer…