While not necessarily a scarlet letter in recent decades, the circumstances surrounding Van Dyke’s birth were a significant mark of shame and stigma for much of human history. Of course it was far from uncommon — many historical figures have either been born out of wedlock, are the parent of someone born out of wedlock, or suspected of either. While it was certainly a shock, the revelation did not seem to have too much of a long-term impact on how he viewed his parents, or how he had been raised by them.
By his account, they were upstanding people. Van Dyke’s mother was a stenographer, and his father was a baseball player/musician, though once Dick was born his father became a salesman (per Biography). The couple managed to hold the family together during the Depression, and for better or worse had a casual attitude toward Dick’s school grades. However, their journey out of the state and subsequent agreement to conceal his true birth-date — at all, let alone months after he had technically already become an adult — does reflect how seriously such social norms were taken at the time. Ultimately, Dick dropped out of high school his senior year to serve in the Army Air Force during World War II (per War History Online).
