[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 168 (Monday, September 27, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6695-S6696]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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         RECOGNIZING THE WALT WHITMAN HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 1970

 Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, on Saturday, October 9, 2021, 
nearly 200 members of the class of 1970 of Walt Whitman High School in 
Bethesda, MD, will hold their 50th class reunion, an event delayed a 
year by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is my pleasure to congratulate them 
on this special occasion.
  This distinguished class of 1970 from Walt Whitman has an exemplary 
history of contributions to society and to advancing social justice. As 
children, a number of class members from the Bannockburn neighborhood 
in Bethesda joined a contingent from Howard University for the first 
multiracial civil rights protest in America, picketing segregated Glen 
Echo Amusement Park daily for 22 weeks in 1960 after Blacks were 
arrested for riding its carousel. As the result of these and other 
efforts, the policy was changed, and the park reopened to all the next 
year. And this year, those members of the class of 1970 will return to 
Glen Echo during their 50th reunion to ride that same carousel on its 
100th anniversary.
  The class of 1970 came of age at an important time in our Nation's 
history, a period of great change and dramatic events. When they were 8 
years old in 1961, they saw President John F. Kennedy call for all 
citizens to commit to work for the common good. They saw the beginning 
of space exploration, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the arrival of the 
Beatles, the passage by the U.S. Congress of landmark bills on voting 
rights and fair housing, the Vietnam war, and the tragedies of the 
assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Senator Robert 
Kennedy.
  This social awareness led to lifelong commitment and activism for so 
many in this remarkable class. In protest of the Vietnam war, many 
participated in the National Moratorium Against the War. In the 
dramatic March Against Death, dozens of members of the class carried 
the names of fallen soldiers whose families could not travel here to 
join the protest. As the first class of students subject to a draft 
lottery conducted by the Selective Service System, many classmates 
participated in efforts to abolish military conscription in the U.S. 
and in support of lowering the voting age from 21 to 18.
  In 1970, when members of this class were in their senior year, WWHS 
was named the No. 1 public high school in the Nation by ``U.S. News & 
World Report,'' which also recently named Whitman the best high school 
in Maryland. Whitman's first principal, Dr. Daryl Shaw, called the 
class of 1970 ``the most challenging'' he ever had, in light of their 
frequent questioning of authority and vigorous advocacy for social 
change. Profound events that changed

[[Page S6696]]

the Nation happened during their high school years. The first moon 
landing and Woodstock happened only 27 days apart. And just 5 weeks 
before graduation, in a reflection of the profound tension in our 
Nation, 13 unarmed students were shot at Kent State, four fatally.
  Some in their generation warned, ``Don't trust anyone over 30.'' Now, 
as the class of 1970 approaches 70, its members can look back on 50 
years of lives well lived. This class can boast of significant 
achievement, as its members include, among many other graduates of 
great distinction, elected officials, physicians, lawyers, real estate 
developers, orchestra conductors, musicians, magazine publishers, and 
at least one juggler.
  I ask my colleagues to join me in sending our very best wishes and 
congratulations to the Walt Whitman High School class of 1970 as its 
members gather--1 year late--for their 50th reunion.

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