1968 Sub Turri photo

It’s the middle of spring semester and we’re approaching — 50 years later — tumultuous times both on campus and in the nation. We’ll be looking at some of the bigger issues separately. Here’s some of the less tumultuous things that happened on campus . . . and in the outside world . . . in April each of the years we were at BC.

On campus

1965
The April 2 edition of The Heights announced that the new “Science Building” will be named not for a Jesuit. No, it was not an April Fool’s joke. In recognition of his $500,000 gift toward the cost of the building, Star Market mogul Stephen Mugar was given naming rights, and he chose to name it after his close friend, John Higgins of Arlington. BC’s Fulton Debating Team continued its winning ways, led by our classmates (photo below). In the same issue, a brief article reported a reduction in required A&S courses, mostly in philosophy and theology. Athletic Director Bill Flynn announced in the April 9 Heights that BC would build “a much-needed outdoor track.” To be covered with the “wonder product” Tartan, the track would be inside Alumni Stadium, circling the football field and behind the isolated end zone seats at the northern end.

1966
“S.A.B. Is Falling Down,” proclaimed the headline in the April 6 Heights. The acronym stood for the euphemistic title “Student Activities Building,” applied to the wooden “barracks” that served, The Heights said, as BC’s “unofficial World War II memorial.” In its place, beginning in the fall, would be construction of the “Social Science Building,” the present McGuinn Hall. The April 1 Heights, as reported in an earlier post, April ‘Get,’ had included a “fake news” article, “Women to be Permitted Off Campus Apartments.” The April 29 edition of The Heights reported a “surprise to many” and an April Fool’s joke coming true, at least partially — “Women: Marriages Permitted; Apartments Okay for Seniors.” Also in that issue, classmate Richard Sawaya went off on the state of life in BC residence halls in his article/essay “The Deprivation and Dehumanization of The Resident Community as Perpetrated by the Dormitory Regulations under the Direction of Irratio Studiorum.”

1967
The April 7 Heights reported that, for the first time, the College of Business Administration would have a lay dean. It offered an interview with newly-appointed Albert Kelly, former deputy director of NASA’s Electronic Research Center. The same issue reported that BC’s team on GE College Bowl was seeking its fourth straight victory in the televised college student quiz show. Unfortunately, the Eagles, two of whom were classmates Richard Bruno (CBA) and John Posch (A&S), fell short in a close match, 180-175, with Louisiana State University-New Orleans, ending their run on the show. BC had earlier defeated University of Tampa, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, and Wells College.

1967 Sub Turri photo

“YAF speakers uphold war, outline Communist threat” was the headline in the April 14 Heights. Three speakers, including a Jesuit priest, spoke at the forum sponsored by Young Americans for Freedom (YAF). April 16-21 was to be “Women’s Week” on campus and an article in the same edition outlined activities and programs. A letter to the editor bemoaned “The exploding BC campus.” Just wait! Classmates Jim Kissane and Steve Dowling were announced as captains of the 1967-68 basketball and hockey teams. Classmate Tom Sugrue, in his column “Bits ‘n pieces,” rails against brisk mid-April weather (even back then): “I’m convinced the weather on the polar ice cap is better than that in eastern Massachusetts — at least there you expect sub-freezing temperatures in the middle of April.” In the April 21 edition, there is a small feature article on the Beacon Street Union, a band made up of current and former BC students. The April 28 Heights reported on admissions data for the Class of 1971. It reported that 25 percent of those who applied were accepted. Interestingly, recent news from BC said entrance was offered to 27 percent of those who applied to be in the Class of 2022. Photo below is from same edition.

Notice, April 9, 1968 Heights

1968
Three men’s dorms lost parietal privileges for two weeks because of procedural violations and drunk and disorderly behavior, the April 2 Heights reported. Residents of Kostka, Gonzaga, and Fenwick were those affected. A feature on alternative newspapers cited Cambridge-based Avatar as a model. The April 9 Heights reported on the details of the upcoming “Academic Day of Conscience” to be held on campus April 24. Among the speakers was to be BU Professor Howard Zinn.

The outside world

1965
President Johnson authorizes on April 1 the first offensive actions by US Marines in South Vietnam. The first jet-to-jet combat over Vietnam took place on April 3, when eight North Vietnamese MiG-17s engaged four US F8-E Crusaders. No planes were shot down. The next day, two US Air Force F-105s were shot down, the first on either side in the war. My Fair Lady won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director. Mary Poppins won five Oscars, with star Julie Andrews winning Best Actress. The Harris County Domed Stadium in Houston opened on April 9. It became known later as The Astrodome. On April 13, a 16-year-old high school student from New York City became the first African-American to serve as a Senate page. The first major demonstration against the Vietnam War, organized by Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), was held April 17 in Washington, DC. The United States began a military occupation of the Dominican Republic, in support of a counter-coup to an attempt to establish a second Communist country in the Caribbean.

1966
The final original episode of Dr. Kildare was broadcast on NBC on April 5. Time Magazine’s cover for its April 8 (Good Friday) edition was a black cover with the words, in red ink, “Is God Dead?” American B-52s bombed North Vietnam for the first time on April 12. The “Cultural Revolution” was officially proclaimed in the People’s Republic of China on April 18. On the same day, Bill Russell became the first African-American coach in the National Basketball Association when he was selected to lead the Boston Celtics at the end of the season. The Sound of Music won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Roberta Gibb became the first woman to run the April 19 Boston Marathon, though she was “unofficial.” On April 21, an artificial heart was implanted for the first time into a human being. The New York Herald Tribune published its last issue on April 23.

1967
The Boeing 737 made its first flight on April 9. Academy Awards went to A Man for All Seasons for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor (Paul Scofield). Elizabeth Taylor won Best Actress for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Tom Seaver made his major league debut as a New York Mets pitcher on April 13. Aretha Franklin’s recording of “Respect” is released on April 16. The last original episode of Gilligan’s Island was broadcast on CBS on April 17. A military dictatorship took control of Greece on April 21. James Earl Ray, serving 20 years for armed robbery, escaped from the Missouri State Penitentiary on April 23. Forty-nine weeks later, he would assassinate Dr. Martin Luther King. On April 28, world heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali refused to take the oath of induction into the US Army. He was stripped of his title the same day. Daylight Savings Time went into effect, under federal law, throughout the US on April 30.

1968
The final original episode of The Andy Griffith Show was broadcast April 1 on CBS. On April 2, Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey premiered in the US. Martin Luther King delivered what would be his last speech on April 3 outside the Masonic Temple in Memphis, Tenn. He would be shot and killed the next day. (We’ll have much more about this in a separate post.) Scottish race driver Jim Clark was killed April 7 while competing in a race in Germany. Funeral services for Martin Luther King were held in Atlanta, Ga., on April 9. Infiltrators from North Korea ambushed a US Army truck south of the DMZ on April 14, killing two American and two South Korean soldiers. Columbia University students seize a campus administration building on April 24, beginning a six-day occupation. Vice President Hubert Humphrey officially announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for president on April 27. The musical Hair opened on Broadway on April 29.

(Not exactly “us,” meaning BC students, but fellow college students of our time. The April 2, 1968, issue of Look Magazine featured a report on college student attitudes, collected from 23 editors of college newspapers around the country. Below are excerpts. Do these reflect your views at the time? Do you think BC was typical of American colleges of the day? More conservative? More liberal?)

People who think of the university years as a time of carefree joy and youthful optimism had better go back to campus for a visit. They might be surprised. Today, across the nation, a complicated sickness is eating away at the souls of many American college students. In huge educational factories, on tiny exclusive campuses, at religious schools and among the strongholds of iconoclasm, the anguish is felt. Some students seem to feel it more than others, some verbalize it articulately, while others just vaguely feel something is wrong.

[Speaking with panels of campus newspaper editors from the East, Midwest, and West] we found that the same issues dominated the discussions of all the panels: the Vietnam war, a desire for more student power, race relations in the U.S., and a nameless malaise born of the feeling among students that their personal destinies are caught up in forces they cannot influence.

Vietnam and the draft were the central issues. There is a panic on the American campus of 1968. The long-smoldering uneasiness about the U.S. role in the Vietnam war has suddenly been ignited by the Government’s February decision to end deferments for most graduate students. The senior of ’68 can temporize no longer. Come June, he stands an almost 50-50 chance of being drafted unless there is another sudden shift in the Selective Service laws.

But it is not only the world beyond the university gates that troubles today’s student. The type of learning he gets is also a source of misgivings. Many editors report a growing dissatisfaction, and tell of the rising demand for a more loosely structured curriculum, one that is more relevant to the kind of world into which the students will be emerging. Basic to this desire for education reform is the demand that university administrations give a bigger chunk of the decision-making to students themselves, including the power to discipline.

Not all students on America’s campuses share the views of the college editors on Look‘s panels. As our participants agree, most undergraduates are immersed in the day-to-day demands of academic life, are seldom in the ranks of the placard carriers no matter what the cause.

Vietnam
. . . [T]he war dominated the students’ discussion. . . . Only two students said they were in favor of current U.S. policy in Vietnam. The attitudes of the rest ranged from doubt to outright hostility. But more than policy, the talk centered on the draft, surfacing alienation, confusion and bitterness. . . . “I don’t like the war over there,” [says Notre Dame’s Pat Collins], I don’t think we should be there, but what the hell can I do?” Harvard’s Joel Kramer says: “. . . Students think about the war and what their commitment is to the United States, and whether they believe in their country’s fighting. Then they think about the draft in terms of one question: Am I going to serve in the Army? They don’t worry about whether Negroes are being drafted disproportionately, or poor people being drafted instead of rich people. There is only one question: What am I going to do when they knock on my door?”

. . . Adrienne Manns, reporting on the feeling at predominantly Negro Howard University, says, “A lot of fellows feel they shouldn’t be involved in the Army at all, under any circumstance. It has little to do with Vietnam. They don’t feel that they have a responsibility to the country because they don’t feel it’s their country, that they are considered citizens of it or respected.”

. . . The editors acknowledge that most students will not resist the draft, although they might feel strongly that the war is wrong. They are acutely aware of the penalties for open resistance.

Race
. . . Behind the war and the question of educational reform, the race issue was cited by student editors as the most talked-about topic on campus in 1968. But there was much less unanimity of attitudes. Some students thought the problems of color were easing and believed their generation would be much freer of prejudice than their parents’.

. . . But the race issue elicits feelings that some students confess are ambivalent. . . . Some editors, quizzed on their attitude toward interracial marriage, admitted they “found it troubling,” or “it bothers me,” or “I feel no shock when I see others, but I don’t think I could.” Still others said, “it doesn’t bother me in the least,” and cited interracial couples whom they knew.

For the most part, racial attitudes tended to reflect the students’ regional mores. But like everything else, race is taking a backseat to Vietnam. “The civil-rights issue is dying,” says the University of Nevada’s George Frank. “Now, the war is the most important issue because it hits those between 18 and 25. It means life or death to them.”

Education reform
While they debate the proper way to pierce the walls around many venerated traditions, a growing number of students are also questioning the kind of education being given on their campuses, and calling for innovative revisions. Some of the dissatisfaction comes from the kinds of courses in which lessons and exams are rigidly structured and in which the student’s own contribution seems minimal. “The student no longer sits and listens gullibly as he did in the 1950’s,” says George Frank. “Today, he is evaluating everything the professor says to him in the light of his own knowledge — which may have been gained in or out of the classroom.”

. . . “After four years of Harvard,” says Kramer, “you begin thinking — maybe you start in your junior year — ‘I’ve been going to lectures for four years. Is this whole system of sitting in a room with 500 other students, listening to one man talking about Jonson’s poetry, is this the meaning of education?’ ”

As might be expected, educational philosophy is being affected by religious and racial changes. Frank Quigley of Fordham, a New York Catholic university, says: “The education at Fordham and the teachings we got at grammar school in the Catholic Church are two different things. Fordham is completely detached now from the stereotypical or ghetto [Catholic] mentality. We’ve gotten out of that. But now, you’re disoriented, and there are just no more [automatic] answers.”

. . . Joel Kramer offers an explanation for the students’ growing dissatisfaction with the relevance of their education, an explanation agreed upon by many of the undergraduate editors on Look‘s panels: “This is the first generation of students that is not going to school for purely economic reasons. At Harvard, most of their parents are professionals, and the kids don’t have to go to school just to make a living. Most of them are not worried about that. They, therefore, become the first generation, I think, to look at education as education. You begin to be very critical of it because you’re more interested in what it does to your mind than in what degree or diploma it gives you when you get out.”

Sex and drugs
Among the editors of Look‘s college panels, questions about sex and drugs on campus were received with pained tolerance. Always asked about them, they have become bored. The two subjects, which have furnished juicy tidbits for general newspaper readers, seem to have settled into the warp and woof of contemporary campus life. All three panels indicated that the use of LSD and the so-called “mind-expanding” drugs has peaked in the avant garde schools and is now on the wane. Marijuana, or “pot,” however, is now a standard campus commodity, students say.

. . . On matters of sex, student editors report a groping for significant relationships, sometimes through sex. Premarital sex is more the norm, although both men and women report that, among their acquaintances, sex is reserved for one’s betrothed or steady date. In sex, as in other areas of collegiate life, there are some hang-ups.

. . . Says Stephens College’s Sue Porter: “I think there’s too much concern on NOW in the dating situation. I kind of resent the fact that when somebody calls up for a date at a girls school, the party is probably going to be an emotional stimulation — either through drinking or sex — and not where you can just talk to people, communicate, like we’re doing now.” Everything seems geared “for the moment,” she says, “because it’s been a frustrating week, this is the only change to get away from the grades, the administrators and the frustrations of a week of school. I think maybe the schools are creating this, but I think, too, that we are creating it for ourselves.”

Heroes
. . . Quizzed on current campus heroes, the student editors found it difficult to name any. Some speak wistfully of the Kennedy era as the last of the hero worshipping days.

. . . The nearest thing to heroes for many students is the Beatles. “The Beatles grew up right along with us,” says Notre Dame’s Collins. “If you take the time to go through their music, it is really neat to see how these people with all their money still manage to keep moving, to keep telling the story while we are thinking of it. They’re like the great scribes of our era.”

. . . The names of the Presidential aspirants drew little except derisive laughter from most editors. . . . With few exceptions, LBJ was scorned.

Parents
. . . Many editors spoke devotedly of their parents but confessed to an inability to communicate with them on sensitive subjects. “My father just refuses to accept the fact that things are changing, that people are thinking about new things,” says one editor. . . . A girl says, “My father is all gung ho on education, to get X degrees, regardless of whether you learn or of what it means. I could get a Ph.D. in Brothel Management, and he’d be thrilled because I have a Ph.D. My father’s a dreamer who never realized his dreams. I dream, and I intend to realize mine.”

. . . [One editor says]: “Most of our parents grew up in the Depression, and they were really hurting. They are concerned with money, status, and they’re very insecure. Most of us, on the contrary, grew up in the most abundant society the world’s ever seen. And to us, abundance and all the trappings isn’t something to work for because you have it. You’re used to it, it’s nothing. So you start getting into human values because you’ve gone beyond the security thing. And our parents just can’t understand that.”

Look‘s conclusion
. . . To an adult outsider, the present mood on some campuses may seem like an aimless nihilism, a pointless lashing out at every target within slogan range. Especially, since some of the targets are the most deeply held notions of the over-thirty folk. But the thrashing about is often the outward symptom of a highly idealistic youth in an age when realpolitik dictates the suspension of ideals; when morality is a puzzle wrapped in platitudes; and the “national interest” is invoked to novocaine obvious contradictions. Faced with decisions such as their parents did not confront, the students of ’68 must become instant Thoreaus, micro-Solomons. Predictably, confusion vies with outrage, indecision contends with despair. But under it all runs a strong desire to make a positive achievement. . . . Fordham’s Quigley says: “You begin to feel in college that you are committed to some very high ideal, at least I do, but you don’t know what to do about it. Still, you can’t just go out and on to graduate school, then into your father’s business. Commitment is the antithesis of that. And to achieve something requires work.”

Students picking up the usual Friday edition of The Heights at the beginning of April 1966 saw some jaw-dropping headlines . . . like the one above. On the same front page were these headlines — “O’Connell to be Altered for New Student Union,” “Women to be Permitted Off Campus Apartments,” “CBA Dress Regulations Altered; Coats, Ties No Longer Required,” and “Cafe Will Serve Meat on Friday.”

Had BC suddenly agreed that the hopes and dreams of many students would be realized?

The “beginning” of April occurs on April 1, also known as “April Fools’ Day.” As a small note from the editors said, “Today we print the news of what we consider Boston College should be, but tragically is not. Next issue we shall return to printing news of what Boston College tragically is, but should not be.”

Perhaps not all would agree that the state of BC was “tragic,” but the issue covered a wide range of topics in terms both humorous and aspirational. It was reported, for example, that a joint effort by the Stylus and Humanities Series was to bring contemporary notables William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Lenny Bruce, and Paul Krassner to campus for a “writers’ conference.”

Other items in the eight-page truncated edition included announcements that the Commencement Address would be given by US Senator William Fulbright and that the Dustbowl was to be replaced with a park.

The sports section reported that a new student game ticket policy for football would have students sitting between the 30-yard-lines on the BC side. Now that was unbelievable!

On this date, in 1968, President Lyndon Johnson addressed the nation on television. He had requested the airtime beginning at 9 pm ET for an address on Vietnam peace efforts. Those days, all . . . that is, all three . . . TV networks would show such an address.

I remember sitting in the living room of our apartment in Brookline watching the President’s talk, anticipating not much more than routine announcements. He said he was making additional efforts to bring North Vietnam to the negotiating table. Unilaterally and at once, he said, the US would reduce combat actions against North Vietnam. There would be no air or sea-based attacks on the North, except for the area just north of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) where, LBJ said, there was an ongoing and continuing North Vietnamese buildup that posed a threat to US and South Vietnamese forces on the other side of the DMZ.

Blah, blah, blah. Then there was a change in tone. The “speech,” at least the text of which had been made public beforehand, was over. The next few minutes were riveting and stunning. In an effort to restore national unity, rent asunder by conflict about the Vietnam War, and more, he said, “. . . I do not believe that I should devote an hour or a day of my time to any personal partisan causes or to any duties other than the awesome duties of this office, the Presidency of your country.”

Pause.

“Accordingly, I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President.”

Whaaa! Holy crap! I called out to my roommates to come see what had happened. I was not a fan of Johnson. At the time, I was more attuned to the opposition to the war represented, at least in presidential terms, by Sen. Eugene McCarthy and Sen. Robert Kennedy. But Johnson’s announcement was seismic.

Classmate Kevin O’Malley recalls this night 50 years ago: “I was doing my last event of a four-year gig as the announcer/emcee for the BC Marching/Concert Band in an auditorium in Quincy. They had a meet-and-greet for us afterward in the adjacent lounge, and we all saw the speech live on TV (including probably 25 senior boys who had been 1-A since November). We were stunned, then thoughtful, and then ultimately jubilant on the ride all the way home. We thought maybe the war would be over soon. Little did we know what the balance of 1968 would bring to this still-young republic.”

You can see the last, most relevant, minute of the speech below.

What do you remember? Were you happy? Worried?

Today is St. Patrick’s Day, as you know. There was just about no mention of it in The Heights during our time at BC. Maybe that was because it was also Rector’s Day and it was a day off from school. (The Rector was the priest who oversaw the Jesuit Community. At BC at the time, the Rector and President were the same priest — Michael Walsh, SJ.)

Lining them up at the “Tam.” Classmate Carmine Sarno at right. Sub Turri photo

There were, however, probably quite a few lifted in honor of the Rector . . . and St. Patrick . . . on those days at the Tam O’Shanter Lounge, Beacon Street, Brookline. That was back before craft beer. Indeed, it was before “light” beer, which wasn’t even invented until 1967, let alone popularized.

What was your beer of choice? Carling, Miller, Schlitz, Rheingold, Narragansett? Did you go for foreign, such as Löwenbräu? Looks like it’s Bud in the photo.

School of Ed skit 1968

Spring semesters were in full swing in March, and winter sports were wrapping up their seasons, often in post-season tournaments. Here’s some of what happened on campus . . . and in the outside world . . . in March each of the years we were at BC. (My apologies for this post not appearing earlier. My daughter, son-in-law, and two granddaughters arrived late February from New Hampshire for a visit and my schedule was pleasantly discombobulated. They are here an extra two days because the current New England storm resulted in cancellation of their original flight. :) )

On campus

1965

A member of the Kaydette court and a ROTC cadet exchange admiring glances at the 1965 Military Ball.

The March 12 edition of The Heights had a page one article reporting that the Campus Council had approved a “University Activities Fee” of $5 . . . per year. Our classmates on the basketball and hockey teams finished their seasons. Heights reported the frosh hoop team went 20-0, while the freshman hockey team finished with a 14-4 slate. The March 19 edition led with the news that two contingents of BC students had arrived in Alabama to participate in activities sponsored by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLS), headed by Dr. Martin Luther King.

1966
In the March 4 edition, The Heights celebrated the national collegiate record for consecutive hours broadcasting on radio set by “Jerry Reynolds,” otherwise known to the registrar as classmate Bill McTague, CBA, the Sunday before on WVBC. “Reynolds” spent three days on the air. The chair of the Committee on Day Student Affairs sent a letter to The Heights complaining about that classes were held the previous Friday during a snow storm that produced “treacherous driving conditions.” “No Go in Snow” said BC had shown “a disregard for the interests of the two-thirds of BC students who commuted.

BC students and others honored basketball great John Austin at his last home game on February 25. Classmate Reid Oslin wrote an appreciation of Austin in The Heights that day. Austin’s final home game was somewhat typical. The Eagles trounced Seton Hall 122-77. John left the game with 10+ minutes left, an ankle injury, and 31 points. Senior captain Ed Hockenbury was also honored. Classmate Ed Hattauer was instrumental in making the arrangements for the ceremonies. Concerns about the food in McElroy? Nah. The March 25 edition of The Heights carried a report that allayed all concerns. According to the head of the Newton Board of Health, McElroy operated “one of the finest kitchens in Newton.” So there. The headline says much: “Local Paper Cites Wild Off-Campus BC Parties.” Where?!

1967
A page 6 article in the March 3 Heights analyses the current situation about “Girls in A&S.” President Walsh had said it would take four years to make it happen. He was just about correct. Same issue carried a feature on the fraternities in CBA. Classmate Phil DiBelardino did a review of the School of Ed skits.

1968
Lead article in the March 5 edition of The Heights reported that BC, “in an effort to cut across racial lines in it selection of students,” had set aside $100,000 as a recruitment and scholarship fund “primarily for Negroes (sic) of the Greater Boston area.” A brief item in the March 12 edition says BC fans will have something new to cheer about at football games — “lithe, lovely majorettes.”

Once again, classmate Phil DiBelardino reports on the School of Ed skits and a sweep honors by the Senior class. That’s us! In signs that “the end is near,” an article in the March 19 edition lays out the plan for “Senior Week activities for the class of 1968.” The same issue provided a feature on “A man of quiet protest” — Francis Sweeney, SJ. Another person “of protest,” but perhaps not so quiet, is referenced in an article about Theology Professor Mary Daly’s book The Church and The Second Sex. Women athletes make the sports page of The Heights with an article on the “Eaglettes'” win in basketball over Jackson College, 45-16. The team was captained by classmate Judy Young. The March 26 Heights announced the upcoming “Day of Conscience” on campus to address issues of war and racism.

The outside world

1965
Operation Rolling Thunder, the daily bombing of North Vietnam by US and allied forces, began March 2. The movie The Sound of Music had its premiere on the same day. Sunday, March 7, saw the implementation of various changes in the Roman Catholic Mass brought about by the Vatican Council. On that same Sunday, members of the Alabama Highway Patrol violently broke up a demonstration by civil rights protestors in Selma, Ala. It was the American civil rights movement’s “Bloody Sunday.” The 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, with 1,400 men, came ashore in Da Nang on March 8, becoming the first American military combat troops in South Vietnam. The first “T.G.I. Friday” restaurant opened in New York City on March 15. On March 20, President Lyndon Johnson federalized the Alabama National Guard and authorized the use of US Army troops to protect civil rights marchers between Selma and Montgomery, Ala. Martin Luther King Jr. and 25,000+ civil rights marchers successfully ended their march to Montgomery, Ala., on March 25. The peaceful nature of the events ended tragically later that same day, when participant Viola Luzzo, a mother of five, was shot dead by a sniper.

1966
In an interview published on March 4, Beatle John Lennon was quoted as saying, “We’re more popular than Jesus now.” That statement later led to protests in the US and the burning of Beatles records. Stephen Martin, a baseball player at Tulane, became the first African-American to play a varsity sport in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) when he took the field on March 7. It was also Tulane’s last season as a member of the SEC. On March 19, the Texas Western University Miners, featuring a starting lineup of five African-Americans, defeated the all-white and #1-ranked Kentucky Wildcats, 72-65, to win the NCAA basketball championship. Protestors in dozens of American cities marched against the Vietnam War on March 26.

1967
The week ending March 4 was the bloodiest for US troops in Vietnam since the war began. A total of 232 men were killed and 1,381 wounded. CBS Reports broadcast on March 7 “The Homosexuals,” becoming the first national television show to report on issues related to gays and lesbians. That same day, Alice B. Toklas, partner of Gertrude Stein, died in Paris. The first demonstration of “slow motion instant replay,” showing ski racers, took place on ABC Wide World of Sports on March 18. Despite his request to stay, noting that “prison had become my home,” Charles Manson was released from prison in California. Florida became the first two-party state in the South after elections on March 28. Republicans, for the first time, gained more than 1/3 of legislative seats, preventing Democrats from vetoing actions of the Republican governor. Jimi Hendrix set fire to his guitar for the first time in a March 31 performance. He was taken to the hospital with burns on his hands. He got better at that facet of his performance.

1968
The final episode of Lost in Space aired on March 6. Rock music promotor Bill Graham opened Fillmore East on March 8. President Lyndon Johnson won, but failed to win a majority of the vote in the March 12 New Hampshire Democratic primary for president. US Sen. Eugene McCarthy, who opposed the Vietnam War, received 42 percent of the vote. The “child-proof” cap for medicine containers made its debut on March 14. Though not known publicly until more than a year later, the My Lai Massacre occurred on March 16. US troops killed 504 women, children, and elderly men. Also that day, US Senator Robert F. Kennedy entered the race for president. It was announced on March 22 that US Army General William Westmoreland, who had headed US operations in Vietnam since 1964, would be withdrawn from that post, effective July 2. About 150 students at Columbia University seized an administration building on March 27 and occupied it briefly, in protest of university links to the US military. In a nationwide address on March 31, President Lyndon Johnson announced he would not run for re-election.