|
|
|
|
Dear Members of the Great Class of 1975:
Welcome to our class’s fourth Fifty-Year Flashback. As our class prepares for and ramps up to our 50th Reunion from May 22-25, 2025, we are sending a monthly flashback that will highlight events that happened fifty years ago that month. The goal is to help us remember our Princeton experiences, both good and not so good, and recall how our experiences at Princeton changed us and, hopefully, benefited each of us. We also hope that they will encourage as many classmates as possible to come back to Princeton for our 50th Reunion and to participate in the planning for our 50th Reunion.
This flashback contains links to articles in the Daily Princetonian to many of the items discussed below. If you are interested in reading more about one or more of the topics in this flashback, you can access the archives of the Daily Princetonian at:
https://theprince.princeton.edu/princetonperiodicals/cgi-bin/princetonperiodicals
Each edition of the Daily Princetonian is easily searchable by date.
This fourth flashback was prepared by our classmate, Kate McCleery '75, and we hope that you enjoy it. We welcome any comments that you have about the flashbacks.
Please let us know if you would like to volunteer to help out with our 50th Reunion or with the Flashbacks!
Julie Raynor Gross '75, Class Co-President
Maureen Kelly Scott '75, Class Co-President
Nikki Ballard Rosengren '75, Reunions Chair
|
|
|
PRINCETON CLASS OF 1975 FLASHBACK: JANUARY 2024
50 years ago in January 1974 in the US and around the world …
The oil crisis:
- … closed gas stations on New Year’s Day.
- … prompted Congress to lower the speed limit to 55mph from 70mph, resulting in a 23% decrease in fatalities (January 1973 compared to January 1974).
- … and led to a trial period of permanent daylight savings time. Legislation later called for a return to standard time in October 1974.
|
|
|
Photo credit: rawpixel.com
Watergate:
- President Nixon refused to turn over more than 500 tape recordings subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee citing executive privilege.
|
|
|
Photo Credit: Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives and Records Administration
- Experts testified that the 18 ½ minute gap in Nixon’s conversation with H.R. Haldeman was made by someone pushing the record-erase button at least 5 times and perhaps as many as 9 times.
- In his State of the Union address, Nixon referred to "the so-called Watergate affair," and said, "I believe the time has come to bring that investigation and the other investigations of this matter to an end. One year of Watergate is enough."
The Middle East:
- Israel and Egypt signed a military disengagement treaty which led to the end of fighting in the Yom Kippur War.
Business:
- The Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Airport (DFW) opened and would later become the world’s second busiest for passenger flights.
Sports:
- Delegates to a meeting of the NCAA amended rules for amateur athletes allowing them to play as professionals in one sport and at the college level in other sports.
- Nike was granted a trademark for its iconic Swoosh.
- Muhammad Ali won a rematch with Joe Frazier at Madison Square Garden in New York City in a unanimous decision after 12 rounds.
Entertainment:
-
Happy Days debuted on ABC. Reviews were mixed. Jay Sharbutt of the AP wrote, "It is a half-hour comedy series. It is set in the 1950s. It is awful," but added that it "does a pretty fair job of recapturing the atmosphere of the era."
- Doubleday published Jaws by Peter Benchley.
- Asylum Records released Joni Mitchell’s 6th studio album, Court and Spark. It eventually became her biggest seller.
Meanwhile, at Princeton University …
In the News:
“The ‘old Princeton’ … is now officially dead,” wrote the Princetonian and added, “The Board of Trustees abolished discriminatory quotas for women.” The move ended 5 years of quotas which produced classes (including ours) with 800 men and 300 women.
The trustees approved a $200 hike in tuition bringing the annual amount to $3500. Dorm rates increased by $70, and a 20-meal Commons contract went up by $90. Reported by Laird Hart ’75.
12 student-initiated seminars were green-lighted for the spring semester. Among the topics were “an electrical engineering course on ‘Artificial Intelligence’ [and] a psychology seminar entitled ‘Perspectives on Homosexuality.’”
A Carnegie Endowment report revealed David Newsom, U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia, helped formulate a policy that resulted in the U.S. turning its back on genocide in Burundi. Newsom had recently been given a Princeton Rockefeller Public Service Award. Andy Pollack ’75 wrote the article.
A stockholder effort led by Ralph Nader ’55 aimed to force officers at 3M “to make good out of their own pockets the amount of illegal campaign contributions to the Committee to Re-Elect the President.” Nader also demanded “the executives refund salary paid to them while breaking the law.” David Jacoby ’75 reported the story. Two days later, the Daily Princetonian’s Editorial Board endorsed Nader’s effort.
Whig Clio hosted Sen. J. William Fulbright at its Annual Banquet. Fulbright told 150 attendees that the U.S. had dealt with adversity by finding a “scapegoat” and having “misplaced priorities.” He called on the government to fund social programs and energy research.
In sports:
- On the basketball court, Penn trounced the Tigers on January 5th, but the team came back to beat Harvard 63-49 on January 11th. “The hot-handed shooting of reserve guard Tim vanBlommesteyn ’75… sparked the victory,” wrote the Prince.
- In the pool, Tiger swimmers beat Dartmouth 84-29 with “fantastic” performances, according to Princeton’s coach. Curtis Hayden ’75, who held university records for distance events, placed second to freshman stand-out Joe Loughran who set a pool record for freestyle.
In the arts:
-
My Three Sons: Dave Brubeck in Concert with His 3 Sons performed at McCarter Theater with his 3 sons (Chris, Darius, and Danny).
- McCarter Theater advertised tickets for Sha Na Na at Dillon Gym on Feb. 23. Prices ranged from $3.50 to $5.95.
|
|
|
- The semi-annual reading period Xanadu movie was The Graduate shown on 1/25 and 1/26 in McCosh 10 with 2 showings each night (7:30pm and 10pm). Tickets cost $1.
-
John Wilhelm ’75 reviewed the movie, American Graffiti, in a column called “Rock Around the Block.” He said the film was “a masterpiece of entertainment – as well as a movie you’ll fall in love with.”
-
The Paper Chase made its first run at the Prince Theater on Route 1.
- Firestone Library marked its 25th anniversary with an exhibit of 100 “notable” items. Among them were Thomas Jefferson’s papers, a letter from James Madison 1771 describing the loneliness of the presidency, and a manuscript of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 1917. The oldest item was a conch shell from Mayan Central America dated to 761.
|
|
|
Photo Credit: The Daily Princetonian
The latest technology:
|
|
|
The weather:
- A photo essay by Bob Durell ’75 captured the beauty of a January ice storm.
|
|
|
Photo Credit: Bob Durell ’75
Bottoms up:
- With the drinking age at 18, a local liquor store took out ads for wines.
|
|
|
Remembering a legend (and the classmate who wrote this article):
-
Frederic E. Fox ’39 took the spot above the masthead. Gail Dorff ’75 profiled the famous alum.
And help!
- In the classified ads, “Corky” pleaded for the return of a Sociology 320 notebook. Who’s Corky, and is he or she a ’75er or not, and did he or she get the notebook back? Hint: it’s not Jon (aka Corky) Yewdell ’75.
|
|
|
Here’s to a happy and healthy 2024! Three Cheers! |
The material and images from the Daily Princetonian in this flashback are used with the consent of the Daily Princetonian and we thank the Daily Princetonian for allowing their use. |
|
|
|
