In the first interview session, conducted on October 1, 1995, Vaughan discusses his family background and early life in Seattle, Washington; near Kelso, Washington; and in Longview, Washington, including his education, his family’s experience during the Depression, and working in sawmills as a teenager. He talks about his service in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1943 to 1945, about his education at Yale University, and about working for the Macmillan Company after graduation. He describes a trip to Alaska, and talks about working in the Southwest in the 1940s. He then talks about his experiences at the University of Wisconsin.