Throwback Thursday: DeBakey leader in new era
Journey back with us this week to 1969. Richard Nixon was just sworn in as president. The Brady Bunch made its premiere on ABC. In upstate New York, thousands gathered for the Woodstock Festival and the first draft lottery in the United States was held since World War II to enlist men into military service for the Vietnam War.
Just down the road from Baylor College of Medicine at Johnson Space Center, the Mission Control Center for NASA’s Apollo 11 mission heard the magic phase, “Houston… the Eagle has landed.”
A year that seems monumental in hindsight also had big changes in store for the College. The year 1969 would mark a new era in the College’s history as we became known as Baylor College of Medicine and Dr. Michael E. DeBakey would become the first president of the College.
In BCM’s 1969 Aesculapian yearbook, an entire page was dedicated to Dr. DeBakey taking the helm of the newly independent college.
Were you a student at the College during this time? What do you remember from 1969? What do you think of Dr. DeBakey’s quote in the yearbook? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
