In 1976, President Gerald Ford signed Public Law 94-106 requiring the service academies to admit women by 1976. Women began their training that fall for the class of 1980
Eighty-one women were in that first class and 55 graduated. Elizabeth Belzer was the first woman graduate and Janie L. Mines, the first black female graduate.
This photograph of the class of 1980 comes from USO On Patrol.
Hinges of History 