Members of the Class of 1962 arrive in Hanover June 7 to celebrate their 50th Reunion. In honor of the class, we took a quick look back at what was happening on campus during their Commencement in June 1962.
- Commencement was held June 10, the exact date of Commencement 2012.
- 606 undergraduates received degrees. President John Sloan Dickey ’29 delivered his memorable phrase, “Once again, the words are ‘so long’ because in the Dartmouth fellowship there is no parting.”
- Commencement speaker Arthur Dean, an expert on nuclear proliferation, told the graduates: “Never dare not to care. For to live and to have our society live you must care. To care is to be a full man and not to care to be a dull one. And whoever heard of a Dartmouth man being dull?”
- The valedictorian was James Hale ’62. Hale went on to receive his law degree and to serve as general counsel and vice president for businesses including General Mills and Target.
- Astronaut Alan Shepard received an honorary degree.
- Retiring faculty members that year included Paul Sample '20, artist-in-residence from 1938 to 1962.
- Many of the graduates had heard Martin Luther King Jr. speak at Dartmouth about civil rights one month earlier.
- The Hopkins Center for the Arts was five months from opening. (This year, the new Black Family Visual Arts Center is about five months from opening.)
- A Dartmouth sweatshirt, green with white lettering, sold for $2.50 at the Moose Mountain Store on Allen Street.
- Movies playing at the Nugget Theater included The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.