Do you remember
the summer of 1972? I assume that most of you who read this do have memories
that go back forty years. At the same time, I hope some readers are younger
than 45 and will enjoy reading about things before they can remember.
One of the main
events in June 1972 was the break-in at the Democratic National Committee
headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. Thus began the
Watergate scandal, which culminated with President Nixon resigning in August
1974, the first and only time a President has resigned.
Of much less
national significance, on June 9, 1972, fourteen inches of rain fell in six
hours in western South Dakota, bursting a dam near Rapid City and drowning 237
people. (I am glad a similar thing did not happen last week when June and I
spent two nights in Rapid City.)
In July 1972 the
Democratic National Convention, held in Miami, nominated Senator George
McGovern to be the Democratic nominee for president. I was delighted with
McGovern’s nomination, for he was one of the first and strongest congressional
opponents to the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.
McGovern, who
turns 90 next month, grew up in and still lives in Mitchell, South Dakota, the
town where we spent the night of May 26. One wonders how much different (and
better off) the nation would be now if McGovern had won the election of ’72.
(The election this fall will also make a great difference in what this nation
will be like four years, or forty years, from now.)
In August 1972
the last U.S. ground troops were withdrawn from Vietnam. I don’t know how much
that was related to the candidacy of the anti-war Sen. McGovern, but in
November Nixon was decisively re-elected President. The end of U.S. involvement
in the Vietnam War was not until 1975, though.
All of us
remember the past not just because of significant national and world events,
such as those mentioned above, but perhaps primarily for personal and family
reasons. That is certainly true for me, as the summer of ’72 was an eventful
one for my family.
The main event
of the summer was the birth of our fourth (and last) child on June 3. (You know
you are getting up in years when your youngest child celebrates his 40th
birthday!)
The summer of
1972 was also the end of our first missionary “furlough.” We went to Japan as a
family of four in 1966 and came back to the States for the first time in August 1971. We went back
to Japan as a family of six, for our second daughter had been born in Japan in
1970.
Not long before
leaving for Japan the second time, we had a family gathering at my folks’ farm
northeast of Grant City, MO. One of the precious pictures taken that day is of
my grandfather (J. Ray) Cousins holding our new baby, Ken. That weekend was the
last time we saw Grandpa Cousins, for he died in 1974.
It wasn’t in the
summer, but not long after arriving back in Japan, partly in protest to the
continuing war in Vietnam (in spite of the withdrawal of ground troops), I
began to grow a beard. So this year is, for me, the fortieth anniversary of my
beard, which I couldn’t shave off now or I wouldn’t look like me anymore!
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