It doesn't make them look good to remove it and it doesn't make them look good that they wrote it. I have my parent's Awake! 1969 bound volume. That statement is definitely in there.
It is also in many other archives of JW material.
The 1975 hype was strong back then. There were JWs who quit their jobs and sold their houses anticipating Armageddon's arrival and the aftermath of a Paradise Earth.
Armageddon and Paradise Earth are Botchtower's whip and carrot methodology. Without the imminence of Armageddon and the promise of a Paradise Earth, what is the incentive to be a JW?