Carter commissions first Yale ROTC cadets since Vietnam War

By Jamie McIntyre

Published May 23, 2016 4:01am ET

Carter commissions first Yale ROTC cadets since Vietnam War — On Monday, Carter returns to his alma mater 40 years later to preside over a joint Navy and Air Force ROTC Ceremony to commission the first group of seniors to graduate ROTC since it was restored to the campus in 2012. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Le, File) | Wilfredo Lee

When Defense Secretary Ash Carter graduated summa cum laude from Yale University in 1976 with bachelor’s degrees in physics and medieval history, there was no Reserve Officers’ Training Corps on the New Haven campus.

In the turbulent 1970s, in the wake of faculty protests and sometimes violent anti-war demonstrations, ROTC units were kicked off many Ivy League campuses as an expression of opposition to the Vietnam War.