So stark was the possibility of going nuke to nuke with the commies in 1960 that not even being, you know, at Auburn could keep the first word of our three-inch-fonted, split-between-the-fold battle cry from sending visitors and even some incoming freshman to Def Con 1.
In case you can’t quite make that out, it reads:
Auburn’s pet phrase caused consternation to new freshmen and campus visitors Friday. Cause of the excitement was the first fall appearance of The Plainsman. Big, black letters, three inches high above the masthead, proclaimed, “WAR EAGLE.”
A Samford Hall hostess offered a visitor a complimentary copy of the paper. Catching only a glimpse of the headline, he drew back horrified, thinking war had been declared.
Freshman men were taken aback. At distribution points, the paper was folded where the word “WAR” was most prominent. Before stampeding to check with draft boards, the freshmen learned that no alarm was intended, that War Eagle is a way of life with Auburnites.
Amen.
War
.
.
.
.
Eagle.
…
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[…] Some awesome stuff this week ’round the site. If you’ve missed it, the Plainsman once accidentally fooled some visitors into thinking World War III had broken out; Georgia-centric film from Pat Sullivan’s Heisman […]