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35th Reunion Party at the White House
January 2, 2009
In 2003 Bush, who had spurned
previous reunions, kicked off the Class of '68’s 35th by hosting a
party on the South Lawn of the White House. Hundreds of classmates turned out,
while others stayed away in protest of Bush’s policies—particularly the
recent invasion of Iraq.
There were
no speeches, only a presentation by the Whiffenpoofs of a plaque, two bulldogs, and an honorary membership in Yale’s most celebrated
singing group. The Whiffs confer nicknames on their own, a time-honored
tradition; the newest member’s was “Fermez La” Bush.
Steven R.
Weisman '68
“The Night Dubya Joined the Whiffs”
Summer 2003
What of
those animals of DKE last night? You couldn't distinguish them from the
Elizabethan Club. “Let me put it this way: Nobody behaved like a
Deke,” said author Scott Armstrong, a member of the class of '68.
Armstrong described the affair as “a vanilla concoction” with a
“pretty placid group.”
Dana
Milbank '90, "At Bush Bash, The Dekes Come In Like a Lamb,” Washington Post, May 30, 2003
Steven R.
Weisman dismisses as “self-important” the soul-searching by those who
did not attend for political reasons. I disagree with Weisman. Many classmates
who stayed away sincerely believe that the president is leading the nation in
the wrong direction. To act on one’s principles is not self-important. It is
good citizenship.
John Kohring '68
Letters
September/October 2003
As a member
of the 25th reunion class, the only positive thing I saw in President Bush's
invitation to his class to visit the White House for their reunion was that it
kept him out of New Haven so that those of us who didn't vote for him and repudiate
his actions could enjoy our reunion weekend without the specter of his
presence. I had always held the Class of 1968 in high esteem for their role in
the civil rights movement. No longer.
Harold Levine '78
Letters
September/October 2003
Not only
did the Bushes open the White House to us but also, in over three hours of
unlimited availability to all of those present, they opened their hearts to us
as as well. Those of us who attended consider ourselves very fortunate to have
been able to share in this experience.
Stephen
Hudspeth '68, '71JD
Letters
September/October 2003
[A]lthough Yale was still all-male in 1968, one alum has since had a sex-change operation. “You might remember me as Peter when we left Yale,” said the woman upon coming face to face with the president. George W. didn't pause for a moment, … grabbed the alumna’s hand, and said “Now you've come back as yourself.”
Leah Garchik, “George Bush Gets it Right,” San Francisco Chronicle, June 6, 2003
[O]ne classmate rose to tell the speaker “how proud we all were that George Bush was our president,” accompanied by a round of applause. Go figure! We had just heard a series of anecdotes demonstrating conclusively that the leader of the free world had not matured, emotionally or intellectually, much beyond the swaggering frat guy we knew (or knew of) at Yale and here we were, most—but not all—of us applauding. Were we taken in by this contrived glimpse into the soul of the real Dubya? … Or were we just a group of successful Yalies, who had come of age in the sixties believing we should “ask what we can do for our country,” but who now appreciated a president who assured us that it was OK to “ask only what our country can do for us?”
Allan N. Karlin '68, “Meditations on a White House Reunion (Or How an Unabashed Left Liberal from the Yale Class of '68 Was Mindlessly Sucked Up into the Hoopla of the George W. Bush White House Reunion Only to Be Regurgitated into the Harsh and Painful Reality of the Radical Right Bush World View),” buzzflash.com, July 1, 2003
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