Middle Township High School - Middletonian Yearbook (Cape May Court House, NJ)

Page 132 text:

vi: 46 2 of 7' 72577 For the nation, 1987-88 was the best of times. The year began with the celebration of the 200th anniversa- ry of the Constitution. The selection of a justice to the Supreme Court, one of the institutions created by this document, became the object of great controversy, but the scandal ended quietly when Anthony Kennedy won the seat over Robert Bork and Douglass Ginsberg. America had more to cheer about as President Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev signed a peace agreement dur- ing the December summit at Washington. The early months of 1988 were dominated by the Presidential Primaries across the country, as we again participated in the unique democratic process of selecting a Presi- dent from a field of candidates including Robert Dole, George Bush, Paul Simon and Jesse Jackson. It was also the worst of times. The Iran-Contra affair rocked the nation and raised several questions about the Constitution. The public admired Oliver North, the hero of the moment, as hundreds of OLLIE items went on sale in his support, even the crew style OL- LIE haircut. October saw panic spread on Wall Street as Black Monday sent the stock market into a disas- trous tailspin. To round off a nightmarish year, scandals surfaced almost daily in the media. The Presidential race had its victims, with Joe Bieden dropping out be- cause of plagiarism in his campaign speeches, and Gary Hart's infidelity as he dropped in on Donna Rice. For the faithful, it was a year of betrayals. The Pope's visit was overshadowed by the revelation of Presiden- tial candidate Pat Robertson's shotgun wedding. The PTL faithful were shocked at the accusations against their leader, Jim Bakker, and outraged at the extrava- gant lifestyle he lived, including the air conditioned dog house. Tammy Faye Bakker's makeup couldn't hide her feelings toward her husband and call girl Jessica Hahn. The final disappointment came when another TV evan- gelist, Jimmy Swaggart, an adamant foe of pornography and sinners like the Bakkers, gave a tearful confession of his own obsessions and transgressions. Local beaches also experienced the worst of times, as tons of garbage washed ashore. Tourists as well as na- tives were driven away, as many beaches closed during the week, but miraculously all were open on the week- end! Tourism took another fatal blow as hundreds of bottle nosed dolphins died from a mysterious virus and washed ashore on our beaches. Sports enthusiasts endured the tragedy of the Winter 'is I X