Our Year in Review

The world changed a lot during our time at Loudon High. I believe that we are able to get through this crazy world today because we cut our teeth on daily body counts, riots, protests, assassinations, and literally "out of this world" headlines from the moon, that sometimes the things that happen today are a walk in the park. I think to try to encapsulate it all would be a huge undertaking, but I am going to try and bring to mind some of the big headlines from our senior year.

First, we'll look back at September 1969, the first month of Senior year.

-- 4th Ho Chi Minh dies.
-- 6th The US formally recognizes Libya.
-- 9th An Israeli task force crossed the Gulf of Suez into Egypt.
-- 12th Nixon orders the resumption of the bombing of North Vietnam
-- 16th Nixon orders the withdrawal of 35,000 troops from Vietnam
-- 19th Nixon cuts the draft call-up by 50,000.
-- 20th The US tennis team retains the Davis Cup.
-- 21st Harvard opened a program of black studies.

Then, to get us back on track, here is October, 1969.

-- 1st The Concorde breaks the sound barrier for the first time.
-- 9th The National Guard are called up in Chicago to quell student riots.
-- 10th The New York Mets win the World Series.
-- 11th The heads of 79 colleges ask Nixon to speed up the withdrawal from Vietnam.
-- 13th Nixon vows not to be swayed by anti-war protests
-- 15th Congress votes to mint a new $1 coin to honor Eisenhower.
-- 18th Cyclamates are banned as a sweetner.
-- 21st Jack Kerouac dies.
-- 21st A spokesman for the Beatles says rumors of Paul’s death are “rubbish”, but fans everywhere still look for cryptic signs in songs and on album covers. (We got that carried away. Imagine how we would have been if we had the internet!)
-- 23rd Laboratory tests show that large quantities of monosodium glutamate produces brain damage in mice.
-- 23rd Cartier of New York pays a record $1.05 million for a diamond.
-- 25th 300 are dead as the PLO invades Lebanon.
-- 29th U. S. Supreme Court orders desegregation at once, superseding a previous “with all deliberate speed” ruling.