1965-1970
1965
The homes and hearts of Salem were opened to the world on November 8, 1965, Tom and Alice Horton were almost alone in a house that once brimmed with the activity of five children: twins Tommy and Addie, Mickey, Bill and Marie. Only Marie, the youngest, remained at home. She was a university student planning her Thanksgiving wedding to Tony Merrit. More than ten years earlier, Tom Jr.had been killed in Korea, but his body had naver been recovered. Before shipping out, he had married Kitty, whom he met while in basic training. She bore them a daughter, Sandy.
Social climber Addie married into the richest family in Salem when she wed Ben Olsen. They had two spoiled teenagers: Steve and Julie. Outspoken Addie never paased up an opportunity to flaunt her status to Marie, who preferred to follow her heart. Mickey, a bachlor, was a successful lawyer. Bill was finishing his final year at Harvard Medical School. The two were constantly competing for Tom's apooroval. Julie was troubled, and her penchant for shoplifting finally got her arrested. It became clear that she had everything she needed or wanted-except large doses of parental love, understanding and involvement. Ben was a workaholic and Addie filled her time with social events, leaving the household and the children in the care of hired help.
Marie was on Cloud Nine preparing for her wedding. She was too enraptured to notice her fiance was having bouts of pain and dizziness. On the night before the nuptials, Tony jilted Marie without explaining that he had a potentially fatal illness. Fragile Marie became so depressed that she attempted suicide
1966
Craig Merrit, Tony'a dad, married Marie in 1966. She became pregnant but suffered a heartbreaking miscarriage. Shortly after, Tony was cured, and he confided to his father that he still loved Marie. Beacause Craig felt he was the only obstacle to Tony and Marie's relationship, he selflessly divorced her. Although he truly loved her, he went to Rangoon and started his own charter airline company. Marie, no longer a naive younge girl, moved back into the Horton home and eventually began to date Tony it was no longer the same.
There was an ecological problem in Salem that caused bitter tension between Mickey and Bill when they took oppsing sides. To his parents' chagrin, Mickey dated divorcee and former client Diane Hunter. However, by the end of the year, after thier daughter Susan played Cupid, Diane and Richard Hunter remarried.
Addie and Ben took Steve with them when they moved to Europe, but they left rebellious Julie in her grandparents' care. Soon Julie became secretly engaged to David Martin. He had a one-night stand with Julie's friend Susan Hunter. She became pregnant and married David to give the child a name, but she intended to give the baby up for adoption. Their marriage was a sham.
After months of anguosh and obsessive spying on David and Susan, Julie joined her parents in Paris for the holidays. Bill, who took up a position at Salem University Hospital, started dating psychiatry intern Dr. Laura Spencer.
1967
In early 1967 Susan's baby delivered prematurely by Cesarean. While the infant was in critical care, Susan decided to keep the child. She named him Richard and told David they would make their marriage work for the baby's sake. The decision shocked Julie, who expected David to be free to marry after a quick divorce from Susan. But Susan's dadplaced pressure on David to take reponsibility for his family. Nonetheless, Julie planned to get David back into her life. Tony, meeting with so much family disapproval from the Hortons, left Salem. Marie was sad, but she'd become stronger, and she worked as a lab tech at the hospital.
Despairing that he had tuberculosis in his scalpel hand, Bill also left town without explanation, even though he was engaged to Laura. He took a job far from Salem.
In spite of Julie's constant urging to leave, David stayed with Susan and Dickie. Tragically while on an outing to the park, David accidentally fall from a swing. After a week in the hospital the child died. Susan was distraught, and she shot and killed David. After an emotionally wrenching murder trial, she was ruled temporarily insane.
The trial brought further repercussions. It was publicly disclosed that Julie was pregnant with David's child. Laura and Mickey, as Susan's psychiatrist and lwayer respectively, fell in love. After the verdict, david's mother shot Susan, but she survived with partial paralysis and a lingering heart problem.
Tommy Jr.'s widow and their daughter Sandy came to Salem. Bill also returned, bringing youngster Timmy McCall with him. The boy's mom had died after naming Bill legal guardian. Also in tow was Dr. Mark Brooks, a Korean War vet suffering recurring nightmares of capture and physical torture. He had no momory of his life before the military, but he was a good doctor and he got a job at University Hospital. Marie was his research assistant, and the two fell in love.
Mickey and Laura were married between Christmas and New Year's.
1968
Bill was obsessed with Laura in 1968. In his resntment and jelousy, he raped her late one night in her hospital quarters. She kept the secret of the attack for of fueling more trouble between the brothers, and she secretly harbored guilt over her own resonsibility for the situation. Ironically, Mickey had tested sterile, but his father and Laura kept the results from him because Laura was pregnant.
After a complicated investigation, Tom and Mickey learned Mark's true identity: Tom Horton Jr. After his torture and escape, he'd had extensive reconstructive surgary. In the end, he was hailed was a war hero and welcomed back into the family. Marie, devastated, became a nun and a medical missionary in Africa.
Tommy and Kitty tried to rebuild thier own relationship and marriage. From his daughter Sandy, he learned that Kitty was a man-hungry woman. He hired a P.I. and found she was having an affair with married Dr. Kincaid. Feigning a heart attack, Kitty manipulated Tommy's sympathy and avoided divorce.
Bill called for his own medical chart, but was mistakenly given Mickey's. When he read the last entry about the sterility test, he realized he had fathered Laura's child Michael. He still wanted to marry Susan Martin but she refused, knowing he should stay in Salem near is family. He kept the paternity results secret, however, for the over overall sake of the Horton family.
Susan helped care for Scott Banning's terminally-ill wife Janet, and their newly adopted son, Bradley. He was, in reality, Julie's infant whom she gave up at birth.
1969
After Tommy's P.I. uncovered Kitty's unsavory past with a number of married men, Tommy divorced her in 1969. Sandy stayed with her dad while Kitty took an apartment and began another affair. She also came into possession of a recorded conversation between Tom and Laura regaring Bill's paternity. She kept the tape and tried to blackmail Bill. En Route to the airport to begin a new life in New York, Bill stopped at Kitty's apartment. THey struggled while he searched for the tape. He left when he found it, never knowing Kitty had had a fatal heart attack.
When a doorman recognized a photo, Bill was arrested. He refused to explain his presence in Kitty's apartment, leading to his conviction on a charge of involuntary manslaughter. He was sentenced to three to fourteen years. Eventuallu Tom found the tape amoung Bill's possessions in his NY hotel safe deposit box. Tom decided the best thing to do was keep it locked in his own desk drawer.
Susan and Scott became fond of each other, but Julie stepped in when she disovered Brad was actually her son David. Since Scott was a widower, she sued to have the boy returned to her. In the end, Julie stole Scott from Susan and married him.
1970
As 1970 started, Sandy had problems dealing with her mom's death, and she blamed the Hortons. She moved out of Tom and Alice's house and into a dorm, to be close to her boyfriend Bruce. Marie moved back to Salem and into her old bedroom.
Bill was denied probation appeals, and he went to jail. He worked in the prison infermary, but not as a doctor. He became friends with Doug Williams, a con man. Bill didn't relize he was setting up Susan Martin for trouble when he mentioned to Doug that she had inherited a large sum of money. When Doug was released from jail, he headed for Salem.
Susan soon after figured out what Doug was up to, and she was not attracted to him. She did offer him an alternate plan: she would pay him to break up Scott and Julie's marriage. Ironically, Julie and Doug fell in love. After many months of hesitation they became lovers.
While Julie was stepping out on Scott, Mickey was attracted to his secretary, Linda Patterson. Laura refused to make love to Mickey, but he didn't start an affair with Linda until he and Laura had separated. After a short time, Mickey and Laura reconciled. Then Linda dated Bill, but they never made love. She did have a brief encounter with an old flame and became pregnant, but she really believed Mickey was the father.