45 Years Ago!

Today, June 4, 2010, is the 45th anniversary of the graduation of the Douglas MacArthur High School Class of 1965.

Where we all went, what we did, and whom we became have their roots on that day. Graduation.

The other events happening on June 4, 1965, were mostly ignored, missed, or forgotten because we were so preoccupied with ourselves, our futures, our celebrations, and our fears of our tomorrows.

Therefore, for some memory moments, here are some highlights of what occurred on June 4, 1965.


The big news of the day was that Gemini IV was in its second day of flight. Gemini IV performed the first American extra-vehicular activity (EVA), also called a space walk. Astronaut Edward White took his space walk for 22 minutes, the previous day. It thus was all over the news on the 4th.


President Lyndon Johnson, meanwhile, was giving one of the most famous speeches of his life, his Civil Rights address at the Howard University commencement, as we were graduating from MacArthur:

To shatter forever not only the barriers of law and public practice, but the walls which bound the condition of many by the color of his skin. To dissolve, as best we can, the antique enmities of the heart which diminish the holder, divide the great democracy, and do wrong — great wrong — to the children of God. ~ LBJ, June 4, 1965.

Miss USA 1965, the 14th Miss USA pageant, took place in Miami Beach, Florida on June 4, 1965. It was the first Miss USA pageant to be televised live (on the CBS network). The pageant was won by Sue Downey of Ohio.



Life ran a story on this date saying that only baseball players wore sunglasses to keep the sun out of their eyes, and everyone else wore them because they were cool.


Some trains had a decidedly modern deco look then. Pictured is the 20th Century Limited, Train #26, taken in the Midwest, on June 4, 1965, by Dr. Louis Marre.



Memorable music was released on June 4, 1965. There was a Beatles album containing "I'll Follow the Sun," "Baby's In Black," and "Words of Love." The Rolling Stones' classic, "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" first appeared, as well, on this day.


On June 4, 1965, Andrea Jaeger, a future American tennis player was being born in Chicago, Illinois. Jaeger would later become an Anglican Dominican nun in 2006.



Finally, Life ran an ad on June 4, 1965, for a new vehicle that would be just right for an emerging generation who liked to travel around in groups, to concerts and on various exploratory road trips.

After graduating on this date 45 years ago, many of us moved on from Decatur and explored the globe, in VWs and other means of hitting the road. Many others stayed in Decatur, investigating systematically the brave new world from there. In June 2011, hundreds will find their way back to Decatur, to say hello again, no matter where you've been.

Congratulations, everyone!