Making the Cut

The West Point Admissions Office records that 4478 young American men
were nominated and examined for the Class of 1969.

They found 2017 of these young men were qualified academically,
medically and in physical aptitude. By the day of admission, July 1, 1965, 1138 candidates would be admitted. On that day, there were still 879 young men on a waiting list with no vacancies available.

Service Connected Categories

Categories	Number Nominated	Vacancies
Presidential	802	27
Regular Army	157	27
Honor Schools	100	13
Army Reserve	61	27
Sons of Deceased	–	–
Veterans	26	23

Developing Leaders of Character

The mission of the United States Military Academy is to educate, train, and
inspire each graduate as a leader of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country leading to a career as an officer in the United States Army and a lifetime of service to the Nation. The pamphlet, “Class of 1969, United States Military Academy”, explains it further.

The Army Officer faces challenges in a diversity of assignments. Command
of troops, management of logistical operations and research and development are examples of possible areas of concentration later in his career. An officer is a teacher, for he is responsible for training the men under his command. Furthermore, he is a student and as part of his Army career an officer may do graduate work at civilian universities in addition to study at the Service Schools. (Quoting John Milton) “A complete and generous education (is) that which fits a man to perform justly, skillfully, and magnanimously all the offices, both private
and public, of peace and war.
Class of 1969, United States
Military Academy,

Quite a task for a young teenager to contemplate and yet, 1138 young men
wanted to see if they had the right stuff!

A Well-Rounded Candidate

West Point looks each year for those who excel in many ways so that they
will be successful cadets and officers of character after graduation. For the Class of 1969, they found many outstanding young men.

High School Class Rank

	Number	Percentage
Top fifth	889	78.5%
Second fifth	177	15.6%
Third fifth	60	5.3%
Fourth fifth	4	0.4%
Bottom fifth	2	0.2%
Valedictorians	67	5.9%
Salutatorians	35	3.1%

Extracurricular Activities in Secondary School

	Number	Percentage
Class President	157	13.9
Editor of Publication	108	9.5
Team Captains	377	33.3
Athletic Award Winners	276	24.4
Debate Team Members	156	13.8
Boy’s State Delegates	299	26.4
Club Presidents	363	32.0
Eagle Scouts	150	13.2
Athletic Team Lettermen	863	76.2