Yavapai College : Remembering '68

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Yavapai College > Office of Public Information > YC's Fortieth Anniversary > Remembering '68

At Home in the USA

U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson edges out anti-war candidate Eugene J. McCarthy in the New Hampshire Democratic primary, a note which highlights the deep divisions in the country, as well as the party, over Vietnam.

U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy (D-NY) enters the race for the Democratic Party presidential nomination on March 16th.
U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces he will not seek re-election on March 31st.
American Civil Rights Movement: A civil rights protest staged at a white-only bowling alley in Orangeburg, South Carolina is broken up by highway patrolmen, leading to the deaths of three college students.
On April 4th, Martin Luther King, Jr. is shot and killed at the Lorriane Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Riots erupt in major American cities for several days afterward.
Civil Rights Act of 1968 is signed by President Johnson on April 11th.
On May 17, the Catonsville Nine enter the Selective Service offices in Catonsville, Maryland, take dozens of selective service draft records, and burn them with napalm as a protest against the Vietnam War.

On June 5th, U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy is shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California by Sirhan Sirhan. Kennedy dies from his injuries the next day.

On June 8th, James Earl Ray is arrested for the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr.
On August 30th, Police clash with anti-war protesters in Chicago, Illinois, outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention, which nominates Hubert Humphrey for U.S. President, and Edmund Muskie for VP.
Yale University announces it is going co-educational on November 14th.
The Republican National Convention in Miami, Florida, nominates Richard Nixon for U.S. President and Spiro T. Agnew for VP.
On November 5th, Richard M. Nixon defeats Hubert Humphrey in the U.S. presidential election.

In Vietnam

Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive begins, as Viet Cong forces launches a series of surprise attacks across South Vietnam.

Viet Cong soldiers attack the United States Embassy in Saigon.
March 7th - The First Battle of Saigon begins.
On July 26th, South Vietnamese opposition leader Truong Dinh Dzu is sentenced to five years hard labor, for advocating the formation of a coalition government as a way to move toward an end to war.
On October 14th, The United States Department of Defense announces that the United States Army and United States Marines will send approximately 24,000 troops back to Vietnam for involuntary second tours.
Citing progress in the Paris peace talks, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces to the nation that he has ordered a complete cessation of "all air, naval, and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam" effective November 1st.
On November 11th, Operation Commando Hunt is initiated to interdict men and supplies on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, through Laos into South Vietnam. By the end of the operation, three million tons of bombs are dropped on Laos, slowing but not seriously disrupting trail operations.

International

France explodes its first hydrogen bomb on August 24th, becoming the world's fifth nuclear power.

On August 20th, The Prague Spring of political liberalization ends, as 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 5000 tanks invade Czechoslovakia.

On July 17th, Saddam Hussein becomes Vice Chairman of the Revolutionary Council in Iraq after a coup d'etat.

Science & Health

Surgeons at the Hopital de la Pitie, Paris, perform Europe's first heart transplant on Clovis Roblain on April 23.
On October 11th, Apollo Program: NASA launches Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission. Mission goals include the first live-television broadcast from orbit and testing the lunar module docking maneuver.
On December 24th, Apollo Program: U.S. spacecraft Apollo 8 enters orbit around the Moon. Astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William A. Anders become the first Americans to see the far side of the Moon and planet Earth as a whole.

People & Entertainment

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In debuts on NBC.
The musical Hair officially opens on Broadway on April 29th.
Radical feminist Valerie Solanas shoots artist Andy Warhol as he enters his studio, wounding him on June 3rd.
Aristotle Onasis and Jacqueline Kennedy marry on the Greek island of Skorpios.
The top 3 songs for the year, according to Billboard, were Bobby Goldsboro's "Honey" at Number 3, Paul Mauriat's "Love Is Blue" at Number 2, and the Number 1 song was "Hey Jude" by the Beatles.
On Sept. 7th, 150 women protest the Miss America Pageant, as exploitative of women.
Pope Paul VI publishes the encyclical entitled Humanae Vitae, condemning birth control on June 25th.

Sports

Green Bay Packers win Bowl II.
The 1968 Winter Olympics were held in Grenoble, France.
The Heidi Game: On November 17th, NBC cuts off the final 1:05 of an Oakland Raiders - New York Jets football game to broadcase the pre-scheduled Heidi. Fans are unable to see Oakland (which had been trailing 32-29) score two late touchdowns to win 43-32; as a result, thousands of outrages football fans flood the NBC switchboards to protest.
The Games of the XIX Olympiad are held in Mexico City, Mexico from October 12 - 27.

The information listed below was taken from various sources including TIME Magazine, 40th Anniversary Special - "1968: The Years That Changed the World", and NEWSWEEK Magazine - "1968: The Year That Made US Who We Are", Wikipedia - 1968, and Billboard.com.