Boston skyline November 9, 1965. Boston Globe file photo Joe Dennehey.

Shortly after 5 pm on this date in 1965, the lights went out. And they would stay out for 13 hours. It was what was later termed the Great Northeast Blackout.

The loss of electrical power hit more than 35 million people in eight states: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, and parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, as well as the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. In Boston, people were trapped on the T and in elevators, and traffic was snarled even more than usual.

In 2015, the Boston Globe published an article about the blackout on its 50th anniversary. The Heights didn’t say much about it at all at the time. A truncated November 12, 1965, edition had a column called “Puff” in which item #5 was “Blackouts which force us to go four pages instead of twelve.” There was no mention I could find of it in the next Heights.

This time of year, it was dusk then, not quite complete darkness, though soon after it was dark. I remember very few details about that evening. What I recall is more a growing sense of concern as the power stayed off longer and longer. Just about all radio and TV stations were knocked off the air. If someone had a transistor radio, I assume people would have gathered around it.

The blackout would also have started around mealtime. Were meals still served in McElroy? Only uncooked options? We welcome recollections!

Classmate Bill Dalton performing on opening night, Middle Earth, November 11, 1966. Heights photo.

Football games, except for Holy Cross in 1967, ended in November, and for the most part basketball and hockey didn’t start until December. School was in forward gear, but thoughts of the Thanksgiving break . . . and the climactic Holy Cross football game . . . loomed large. Here’s some of what happened in Chestnut Hill and in the world in Novembers, 1964-67.

On campus

1964
The School of Education advised that, while there might be an exception or two, women students would not be permitted to marry as undergraduates. In the November 13 article, Mary Kinnane, dean of women at Education, said, “We adhere to the position that a woman cannot be a full time undergraduate student, a full time wife, and a full time homemaker.”

We elected class officers in each school, as reported in the November 20 Heights. Elected president were Peter Driscoll (A&S), Felix Albano (CBA), Peggy Grace (Nursing), and Kathy Cooney (Education).

1965
The requirement that Catholic students attend a religious retreat each year was cancelled. A Heights editorial in the November 5 issue entitled “Amen” praised the decision. It reported that an annual retreat was compulsory for all Catholic students a year before and argued that a “compromise” six months previous that had reduced the requirement to two retreats in four years was insufficient.

The November 19 edition contained an interview of Robert Drinan, SJ, dean of the law school, conducted by four Heights editors. Fr. Drinan was outspoken on many matters during the mid- and late-sixties and was elected in 1970 to Congress. He was re-elected four times and left Congress in 1981 after Pope John Paul II ordered all priests to withdraw from electoral politics. Fr. Drinan died in 2007.

1966
A two-day convocation November 11-12 marked the dedication of Higgins Hall, the new science center. The November 18 Heights article about the dedication reported that the building was named for John Higgins, a close friend of Boston businessman and philanthropist Stephen Mugar. Among the four scientists presented honorary degrees during the dedication ceremonies was James Van Allen of the University of Iowa, after whom the Van Allen radiation belts are named and Time Magazine’s Man of the Year in 1960. An article in the November 4 Heights previewing the dedication provided additional information.

We’ll talk much more about the “coffee house” in O’Connell. Here we simply note that Middle Earth opened on November 11, as reported in the November 18 Heights. Among those appearing in the first talent lineup was classmate Bill Dalton.

1967
The November 3 Heights had several articles related to controversy generated by an incident at the BC Law School several days earlier when three members of the Law faculty confronted a representative of the Dow Chemical Co. on campus and asked that he leave. The Dow representative was there (BC Law was then in More Hall) to see three students who had signed up for interviews. Dow was the principal manufacturer of napalm, an incendiary chemical used by the US military in Vietnam and the focus of criticism. An estimated 200 Law students and faculty gathered to observe or participate in a debate over the actions of the faculty members. A Heights editorial on the subject criticized the faculty members’s attempt to bar the recruiter, saying, “No one has the right to judge another person’s worthiness in regard to his possible appearance on campus.” A followup article in the November 13 Heights reported on BC policy regarding on-campus recruiting and mentioned that Law students had voted 319 to 63 in support of a completely open recruiting policy.

About 400 students, faculty members, and staff attended a “Rally in Support of Troops in Vietnam” November 6 on the Bapst Library lawn. The rally was sponsored by the BC chapter of Young Americans for Freedom.

Classmate Richard Sawaya resigned as editor of The Stylus, the campus literary magazine, because of a censorship dispute, according to the top story in the November 17 Heights. Francis Sweeney, SJ, “advisor” to the magazine, had objected to a Sawaya story in which he described “an act of love between a man and his wife and the use of religious imagery in a sexual connotation in a second story, which Sweeney considered blasphemous,” the Heights reported. Sawaya and Fr. Sweeney had brought the issue to Carl Kowalski, director of student activities, who determined that faculty advisors did not have veto power over student decisions. Fr. Sweeney, appointed by the BC president, brought the issue to President Michael Walsh, SJ, who decided that Fr. Sweeney, in this case, did have veto power. The same issue carried a Heights editorial that criticized both the decision and the process that brought it about.

The outside world

1964
LBJ won big, easily defeating challenger Barry Goldwater on November 3, winning in 44 states and the District of Columbia. The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge connecting Staten Island and Brooklyn opened. English replaced Latin in Masses in the US.

1965
Days of Our Lives premiered on NBC. A crowd estimated at 15,000+ protested the Vietnam War in Washington, DC. US and North Vietnamese regular forces met for the first time in the Battle of Ia Drang.

1966
For the first time, the entire program lineup on NBC was broadcast in color. Ronald Reagan was elected governor of California. US bishops ended the rule that Roman Catholics could not eat meat on Fridays. Massachusetts voters elected Republican Edward Brooke to the US Senate, making him the first African-American senator since Reconstruction. The Washington Redskins defeated the New York Giants, 72-41, the highest scoring game in NFL history.

1967
Sen. Eugene McCarthy (D-Minn.) announced his candidacy for US President. US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara resigned.

Our Octobers were pretty full of activities. We started school around mid-September and both November and December had holiday vacations, so October was replete with classes, exams, mixers, football games, Homecomings . . . and more. A cornucopia.

On campus

1964
Evangelist Billy Graham came to BC on October 7 and his appearance filled Roberts Center with several thousand students, faculty members, and community members. Heights article

The Heights also reported in an interview with Bill Flynn, director of athletics, that BC was building six tennis courts behind McHugh Forum.

A “Tea” for female resident students of the School of Education was held on October 28 in Kirkwood Hall. The 150 students who attended were “introduced to” Edward Hanrahan, SJ, “dean of resident students” (previous mention was Fr. Hanrahan as “dean of resident men”) and Mary Kinnane, a member of the Education faculty and “dean of women.” Marion Mahoney, “director of women’s housing” was also in attendance. Topics reportedly discussed were “How to develop a more integral relationship between the girls and the University” and “The female students’ contribution to the academic and social aspects of Boston College.”

1965

The caption for the photo above in the Heights of October 8 is” “Eagles assemble for the annual B.C.-Army game riot. At this rally in front of Roberts Center the predominantly dorm student group prepares to ‘charge’ for [Cleveland] Circle.”

“The first girl to march with the BC Band,” as the Heights described her, also twirled a baton or two as well. Bobbi McKuskie ’69 (Nursing), at right, attained many honors as a baton twirler and was, at the time of her BC debut, also reigning New Hampshire Junior Miss.

1966
The Heights article previewing the upcoming Penn State game referred to “new coach” Joe Paterno.

The October 21 Heights had a note that the Council of Resident Men was to hold a contest, open to all students, to “Name the Coffee House.” The winner would receive free admission for two people for a year. Can I guess?

A column in the same issue by Mimi Hirsh entitled “Fashions Flailed: Villagers, Preppies, Seven-Day Drunkies,” provided what she described as A “tongue-in-cheek and, therefore I hope, mildly inoffensive cross-section of typical clothing types at Boston College,” both male and female. It’s certainly “cheeky.”

1967
The first weekend of “parietals,” in which resident men were permitted visitations by women in their rooms, took place October 14/15. Despite numerous restrictions, etc., the Council of Resident Men, which had long advocated for parietals, said the results were “excellent.”

An exhibit entitled “Education USSR” opened the week of October 16 in Campion Hall (Education). Anatoly Dobrynin, Soviet ambassador to the United Nations, officiated at the opening ceremonies. According to the Heights article, the month-long exhibit was accompanied by 32 Soviet educators, technicians, and artists.

In its October 20 edition, the Heights began carrying articles by the “Liberation News Service,” a “new left,” antiwar news service.

In the same edition, sophomore Hillard Pouncy had an op-ed entitled “The Negroes’ frustrating fight.”

The outside world

1964
The “Free Speech Movement” was launched at the University of California, Berkeley. Nikita Krushchev was succeeded as leader of the Soviet Union by Leonid Brezhnev. China became the world’s fifth nuclear power. The Rolling Stones made their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. More locally, Boston’s WSBK-Channel 38 began broadcasting.

1965
President Johnson signed the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which ended quotas based on national origin. Pope Paul VI made the first ever visit by a pontiff to the US. On the day before the New York World’s Fair closed (October 17), a time capsule was lowered 50 feet into the ground. Among many other items, it contained “credit cards, a bikini, contact lenses, birth control pills, tranquilizers, a plastic heart valve, a pack of filter cigarettes, an electric toothbrush, and a heat shield from Apollo 7.” The capsule is to be opened in 6939. The 630-foot-tall Gateway Arch in St. Louis was completed.

1966
The Black Panther Party was created by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale. Bobby Orr made his debut with the Boston Bruins. The National Organization for Women (NOW) was founded.

1967
Thurgood Marshall was sworn in as the first African-American justice on the US Supreme Court, Cuban Ché Guevara was executed following capture by the Bolivian army. LBJ signed an executive order expanding federal affirmative action programs to include women. “Stop the Draft” week started in front of induction centers in 30 cities around the US. The first “rock musical,” Hair, premiered in New York’s East Village. A Viet Cong ambush killed 64 and wounded 75 members of the US Army’s 28th Infantry Regiment on the Battle of Ong Thanh, South Vietnam. Up to 100,000 people participated in antiwar protests in Washington, DC. Navy pilot John McCain was captured after his plane was shot down over Hanoi, beginning more than five years in captivity.

Some of the things that happened those first few weeks of school each September, 1964-67.

On campus

1964
Carney Faculty Center was dedicated on the 17th. It was one of the few buildings at BC not named after a Jesuit. Andrew Carney was a Irish immigrant to Boston who donated $5,000 to John McElroy, S.J., and covered all the construction costs of Boston College and the Church of the Immaculate Conception in the South End in the late 1850s. Heights

The September 25, 1964 edition of the Heights introduced us to “The Heights Reader of the Week”

John Willis, SJ, was appointed dean of A&S. He succeeded John Long, SJ, who had been named dean in the summer, but died suddenly in July. Other appointments announced were George Drury, SJ, as executive assistant to the president; Edward Hanrahan, SJ, as dean of resident men; and Alfred Jolson, SJ, as associate dean of CBA. Fr. Jolson also became moderator of the Campus Council.

In an interview with the Heights, Fr. Hanrahan said curfews and other regulations were in place “to provide good conditions” and they should be considered guideposts and not harassment. The article also notes that dorm residents among the senior class had declined to about 170 students.

An advertisement in the Heights for the Algonquin Package Store offered “ice cubes for rent,” with fast, free delivery “in plain brown wrappers by unmarked sedan.”

1965
This year, Fr. Drury was in a post, new both to BC and him — director of student personnel services. The new office oversaw admissions, extracurricular activities, housing and resident student affairs, health services, and programs for international students.

The Mass of the Holy Spirit that traditionally marked the beginning of the academic year was for the first time a concelebration, by Michael Walsh, SJ, BC president, and seven other Jesuit faculty members. It took place, the Heights said, because of the liturgical changes brought about by Vatican II.

We learned that two classmates — Francis Piatti and John Duffney — had been killed in auto accidents during the summer.

More in the Heights

1966

The September 30, 1966, Heights asks “But Would Mother Wear a Mini” and acknowledges in its caption that this skirt is not a mini. ?

Students returned to find the popular chairman of the Classics Department, Robert Healey, SJ, gone. Fr. Walsh had dismissed the untenured professor in late June and Fr. Healey was apparently, according to the Heights, teaching at Fairfield University, which, at the time, had no classics department.

Margo, the eagle BC used as a mascot at football games, had died recently in her cage at her home, Franklin Park Zoo. Efforts were underway to find a replacement.

1967
“Romney due at BC this morning” was the headline in the September 29 edition of the Heights. Described as the “leading Republican presidential hopeful,” Governor George Romney came to talk with BC faculty about urban problems. George Romney was Mitt Romney’s father.

Ad from the September 29, 1967, Heights. Note ticket prices.

Seniors (that was us) were reminded they could have Sub Turri photos taken until October 13.

Army football played BC for the first time in Chestnut Hill on September 30. The six previous games between the two institutions had all been at West Point and all had been Army victories. Army had played in Boston or Cambridge 17 previous times, against Harvard in 16 games and BU once. Change of venue didn’t make a lot of difference. It was Army 21, BC 10.

In the outside world

1964
It was in August of that year that the US Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, a joint resolution providing President Lyndon Johnson the authority to do “whatever necessary” to retaliate for reported North Vietnamese attacks on US Navy destroyers and to protect any Asian ally. Two senators voted against it.

Premiering on television that September were Shindig and Bewitched on ABC and Man from Uncle on NBC. You can actually find videos of some/most/all of those programs on YouTube.

1965
That summer, LBJ signed the Voting Rights Act, Satisfaction had been released by the Rolling Stones, LBJ signed a bill requiring that warnings be printed on cigarette packs, US troops received orders to operate offensively in South Vietnam, Bob Dylan released Like a Rolling Stone and went electric at the Newport Folk Festival, and the US Supreme Court ruled that married couples could use contraceptive products.

The Today Show for the first time was broadcast entirely in color in September. Other shows premiering that month were F-Troop, Lost in Space, Hogan’s Heroes, Get Smart, and I Dream of Jeannie.

1966
That summer, civil rights activist James Meredith had been shot by a white sniper in Mississippi, the NFL and American Football League announced their merger, the US Supreme Court announced its Miranda decision, US planes bombed Hanoi and Haiphong for the first time, Charles Whitman shot 42 people (killing 11) from the University of Texas’s tower, and the Beatles held their last public concert in Candlestick Park, San Francisco.

Labor Day weekend was the first Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy telethon. Premiering this month on television were Star Trek (NBC), That Girl (ABC), and The Monkees (NBC). Chevrolet introduced the Camaro.

1967
During that “long hot summer,” there were riots in Roxbury, Mass, as well as in 12 other communities, with major conflicts in Newark, N.J., and Detroit, Mich.; Israel and neighboring Arab states fought “The Six-Day War”; the Monterey Pop Festival took place; Red Sox star Tony Conigliaro was beaned during the team’s iconic run for the World Series title; and the last episode of The Fugitive attracted millions of viewers.

The United State and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics conducted numerous tests of nuclear weapons tthroughout the month.

Mission Impossible premiered on CBS.

For those of us arriving in Boston in fall 1964, as well as for those who lived in the Boston area, the skyline was like nothing ever before. For decades, the old John Hancock Building, at left in the photo below, along with the Custom House Tower closer to the harbor, defined the Boston skyline.

“The Pru” nears completion in 1963

On its completion in 1964, “the Pru” was the new definition of the skyline of the new Boston. In that first year at BC, the Pru, was our orientation when being in the city. (John Hancock got its revenge a dozen years later with the more modern . . . and taller . . . new John Hancock Building.)

The Cities Service sign in Kenmore Square was another helpful marker. Well, for maybe a year, and in the daytime. The old Cities Service sign may have been illuminated but it was not as lit as the Citgo sign that replaced it in 1965. Back then, too, the Citgo sign with neon lights was not as dynamic . . . or as historic . . . as it is today using LED.

The original Cities Service sign, erected in 1940.

Citgo sign, c. 1980