
Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
On June 5, 1968, 42-year-old presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was mortally wounded shortly after midnight PDT at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. He had just won the California presidential primaries in the 1968 election. After winning the California and South Dakota primary elections for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States, […]
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1968 Olympics Human Rights Salute
The 1968 Olympics Human Rights Salute was a political demonstration conducted by African-American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos during their medal ceremony on October 16, 1968, at the 1968 Summer Olympics in the Olympic Stadium in Mexico City. After Smith and Carlos won gold and bronze medals, respectively, in the 200-meter running event, they […]
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The Prague Spring of 1968
The Prague Spring of 1968 is the term used for the brief period of time when the government of Czechoslovakia led by Alexander Dubček seemingly wanted to democratise the nation and lessen the stranglehold Moscow had on the nation’s affairs. The Prague Spring ended with a Soviet invasion, the removal of Alexander Dubček as party […]
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The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders
The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, known as the Kerner Commission after its chair, Governor Otto Kerner, Jr. of Illinois, was an 11-member Presidential Commission established by President Lyndon B. Johnson in Executive Order 11365 to investigate the causes of the 1967 race riots in the United States and to provide recommendations for the […]
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Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In
Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In (often simply referred to as Laugh-In) is an American sketch comedy television program that ran for 140 episodes from January 22, 1968, to March 12, 1973, on the NBC television network. It was hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin. Laugh-In originally aired as a one-time special on September 9, […]
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Nixon Elected President: November 5, 1968
Winning one of the closest elections in U.S. history, Republican challenger Richard Nixon defeats Vice President Hubert Humphrey. Because of the strong showing of third-party candidate George Wallace, neither Nixon nor Humphrey received more than 50 percent of the popular vote; Nixon beat Humphrey by less than 500,000 votes. Nixon campaigned on a platform designed […]
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The Mỹ Lai Massacre
The Mỹ Lai Massacre (/ˌmiːˈlaɪ/; Vietnamese: Thảm sát Mỹ Lai, [tʰâːm ʂǎːt mǐˀ lāːj] was the Vietnam War mass murder of unarmed Vietnamese civilians by U.S. troops in South Vietnam on 16 March 1968. Between 347 and 504 unarmed people were massacred by the U.S. Army soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, […]
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Frankie Lymon dies of an overdose
Franklin Joseph Lymon (September 30, 1942 – February 27, 1968), known professionally as Frankie Lymon, was an American rock and roll/rhythm and blues singer and songwriter, best known as the boy soprano lead singer of the New York City-based early rock and roll group The Teenagers. The group was composed of five boys, all in […]
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Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress
Shirley Anita Chisholm (née St. Hill; November 30, 1924 – January 1, 2005) was an American politician, educator, and author.[1] In 1968, she became the first black woman elected to the United States Congress,[2] and she represented New York’s 12th congressional district for seven terms from 1969 to 1983. In 1972, she became the first […]
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Fosbury Flop – Decades TV Network
Twenty-one-year-old Dick Fosbury changed the high jump on October 20, 1968. His backward facing jump won the gold and set an Olympic record. The record-breaking 7-foot 4-1/4-inch high jump propelled Fosbury into the limelight. His high jump technique, which became known as the “Fosbury Flop,” would later become a standard style at high jumping events.
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Andy Warhol is shot in his New York City
Andy Warhol is shot in his New York City loft by Valerie Solanis, a struggling actress, and writer. On June 3, 1968, Valerie Solanas shot Warhol and art critic and curator Mario Amaya at Warhol’s studio. Before the shooting, Solanas had been a marginal figure in the Factory scene. She founded a “group” called S.C.U.M. […]
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Robert F. Kennedy Delivers Speech on the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
A speech on the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. was given by New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy on April 4, 1968. Kennedy was campaigning for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination. He had spoken at the University of Notre Dame and Ball State University earlier that day. Before boarding a plane to fly to […]
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Bill Russell, first black head coach of a major American pro team to win a championship.
It was the year when Boston Celtics player-coach Bill Russell, one of the most influential athlete activists ever, became the first black head coach of a major American pro team to win a championship.
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Wes Montgomery [Heart attack – June 15, 1968]
John Leslie “Wes” Montgomery (March 6, 1923 – June 15, 1968) was an American jazz guitarist. Montgomery was known for his unusual technique of plucking the strings with the side of his thumb, and for his extensive use of octaves, which gave him a distinctive sound. Montgomery often worked with his brothers Buddy (Charles F.) and Monk (William H.) and with organist Melvin Rhyne. His […]
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The Mamas & the Papas
The Papas & The Mamas is the fourth studio album by the American folk rock vocal group the Mamas and the Papas, released in 1968.
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The Big Mac was created by Jim Delligatti
Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions – on a sesame seed bun – The Big Mac is a hamburger sold by international fast food restaurant chain McDonald’s and was introduced nationwide in 1968, and remains the company’s flagship products.
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Apollo 7 Mission on October 11, 1968
Apollo 7 is launched from Florida for an eleven day journey which will orbit the Earth 163 times.
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Hasbro (NASDAQ: HAS) Oct. 10th at $15.00
Hasbro (NASDAQ: HAS) started in the 1920s and spent those early years making textiles and pencils. It didn’t make its first toy until Mr. Potato Head in the 1950s. By the time Hasbro had its initial public offering (IPO) in 1968, the brand was famous for G.I. Joe, which made up two-thirds of the company’s sales at the time. […]
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Super Bowl II
The second AFL-NFL World Championship Game in professional football, known retroactively as Super Bowl II, was played on January 14, 1968, at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida. The National Football League (NFL)’s defending champion Green Bay Packers defeated the American Football League (AFL) champion Oakland Raiders by the score of 33–14. This game and Super Bowl III are the only two Super Bowl games to be played in back-to-back […]
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Apollo 8: Christmas at the Moon
Christmas Eve, 1968. As one of the most turbulent, tragic years in American history drew to a close, millions around the world were watching and listening as the Apollo 8 astronauts – Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders – became the first humans to orbit another world. As their command module floated above the […]
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Leroy Eldridge Cleaver Black Panther Shoot Out
Leroy Eldridge Cleaver (August 31, 1935 – May 1, 1998) was an American writer, and political activist who became an early leader of the Black Panther Party. n the aftermath of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, there were riots across the nation. On April 6, Cleaver and 14 other Panthers was involved in […]
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USS Pueblo Spy Ship Capture
USS Pueblo (AGER-2) is a Banner-class environmental research ship, attached to Navy intelligence as a spy ship, which was attacked and captured by North Korean forces on 23 January 1968, in what is known today as the “Pueblo incident“[1] or alternatively, as the “Pueblo crisis“. The seizure of the U.S. Navy ship and her 83 crew members, one of whom was killed in the attack, came […]
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Oliver! An adaptation of Charles Dickens’s 1838 novel Oliver Twist
Oliver! is a 1968 British period musical drama film based on Lionel Bart‘s 1960 stage musical of the same name, itself an adaptation of Charles Dickens‘s 1838 novel Oliver Twist. Directed by Carol Reed from a screenplay by Vernon Harris, the picture includes such musical numbers as “Food, Glorious Food“, “Consider Yourself“, “As Long as He Needs Me“, “You’ve Got to Pick a Pocket or Two“, and […]
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Jan. 29, 1968, Dr. Benjamin Spock plead innocent to charges of counseling young men to avoid the Vietnam draft.
Spock, who’d embraced nuclear disarmament as a cause in 1962, was an early critic of the Vietnam War. He believed the U.S. was illegally waging war in Southeast Asia and that it was his patriotic obligation to oppose it, even if it meant risking his iconic status. In 1966, 1967 and 1968, the Selective Service drafted […]
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Hank Aaron hits career homer No. 500
July 14, 1968 – Hank Aaron launches the 500th home run of his career with a three-run shot off of the Giants’ Mike McCormick. The Braves defeat San Francisco 4-2 at Fulton County Stadium. Aaron becomes the eighth player to reach the 500 home run threshold.
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February 8, 1968: Orangeburg Massacre
Racial tensions were still running very high in the south in the late ’60s. Before high profile cases of brutality at Kent State and Jackson State in 1970s, there was the Orangeburg massacre. On February 8, 1968, three black men, Samuel Hammond, Henry Smith and Delano Middleton, were killed by South Carolina Highway Patrol officers […]
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Diahann Carroll remembers Julia
There are a handful of television shows that truly, boldly broke new ground in their depiction of the real-world. The Rifleman was the first show to center around a single father. The 1972-73 ABC sitcom The Corner Bar was the first series to feature a recurring LGBT character. Julia is one of those shows. Premiering in the fall of 1968 on […]
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February 16, 1968: First 911 call
It’s tough to imagine a time before having the option to just dial three digits when you needed immediate emergency assistance. However, it wasn’t until 1968 that 911 became available for anyone who needed police or firefighters to arrive as soon as possible. Callers were expected to either know or have the phone number for each […]
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Frank Sinatra releases ‘My Way’
‘My Way’ named Greatest Song of all time My Way is a 1968 song performed by Frank Sinatra.
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Author of ‘The Grapes of Wrath,’ John Steinbeck passed away at age 66
The work of American author John Steinbeck sought to detail the the rural working class in America and their economic and social conditions. His most famous work ‘The Grapes of Wrath’, published in 1939, followed a family of Oklahoma tenant farmers escaping the dust bowl for California and won the Pulitzer prize in 1940. His […]
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U.S. Army biological warfare mistakenly kill 6K sheep in Utah, USA ranch
The Dugway sheep incident, also known as the Skull Valley sheep kill, was a 1968 sheep kill that has been connected to United States Army chemical and biological warfare programs at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. Six thousand sheep were killed on ranches near the base, and the popular explanation blamed Army testing of chemical […]
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Byodo-In Temple – dedicated in August 1968
Oahu’s Byodo-In Temple was built to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first Japanese immigrants to arrive in Hawai’i in 1868. The original temple in Japan is over 950 years old and was built out of wood without the use of nails. However, this temple is constructed mostly out of concrete. The Byodo-In Temple (平等院, […]
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Stax Records – Every 1968 Single
Stax Records will highlight its 1968 releases with the forthcoming five-disc box set, Stax ’68: A Memphis Story. The massive box set – which includes songs from Otis Redding, the Staple Singers, Booker T. & the M.G.’s, Isaac Hayes, William Bell, and Rufus and Carla Thomas – will feature 134 songs. The set will comprise […]
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We’re a Winner Album by The Impressions
We’re a Winner is an album (and song) by the American soul music group the Impressions. The album was their last one released before they changed to the Curtom Records label. Curtis Mayfield, born 70 years ago today, wrote music that inspired a generation and a movement. Though he may be best remembered for the […]
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Dick Gregory for President
In the middle of the hothouse atmosphere of the 1968 U.S. presidential election — racial strife splitting cities, antiwar protests on college campuses, segregationist George Wallace growling up out of the South — Dick Gregory barnstormed the country, pitching audiences his acid mix of jokes and politics. The African American comic and activist was looking for votes in […]
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Released January 8, 1968 “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay”
Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, arranger, and talent scout. He is considered one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. Redding’s style of singing gained inspiration from […]
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Grazing in the Grass – Hugh Masekela
“Grazing in the Grass” is an instrumental composed by Philemon Hou and first recorded by the South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela. Released in the United States as a single in 1968. Single by Hugh Masekela from the album The Promise of a Future B-side “Bajabula Bonke (Healing Song)” Released May 1968 Recorded March 12, 1968 Genre Jazz Length 2:55 Label Uni (55066) […]
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Chicago Eight, also Conspiracy Eight/Conspiracy Seven
The Chicago Seven (originally Chicago Eight, also Conspiracy Eight/Conspiracy Seven) were seven defendants—Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, and Lee Weiner—charged by the federal government with conspiracy, inciting to riot, and other charges related to anti-Vietnam War and countercultural protests that took place in Chicago, Illinois, on the occasion […]
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Linda Ronstadt, The Stone Poneys – Different Drum
She is woman, hear her roar! Linda Ronstadt is one of the most influential rock n roll women has collaborated with everyone from the Eagles, to Paul Simon, and even Emmylou Harris. In 1968 Ronstadt was performing with her band The Stone Poneys and enjoying success with their cover of “Different Drum” by Mike Nesmith […]
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3.3% National Unemployment Rate
December 11, 1968 the unemployment rate, at 3.3 percent, is the lowest it has been in fifteen years. The Cost of Living and the Prices in 1968 inlcude; Yearly Inflation Rate USA 4.27% Yearly Inflation Rate UK 4.7% Year-End Dow Jones Industrial Average 943 Average Cost of new house $14,950.00 Average Income per year […]
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Miami Civil Protest
A group of black organizations in Miami called for “a mass rally of concerned Black people,” to take place on August 7, 1968, at the Vote Power building in Liberty City, a black neighborhood. Sponsors were the Vote Power League, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the Student Nonviolent […]
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San Francisco State College Student Strike
“On strike! Shut it down!” From November 1968 to March 1969, those words rang out daily on the campus of San Francisco State College. Like clockwork, between noon and 3 p.m., striking students would gather at the Speaker’s Platform on campus for a rally, then turn in a mass and march on the Administration Building, […]
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Mod Squad
The Mod Squad is an American crime drama series that ran on ABC from 1968 to 1973. It starred Michael Cole as Peter “Pete” Cochran, Peggy Lipton as Julie Barnes, Clarence Williams III as Lincoln “Linc” Hayes, and Tige Andrews as Captain Adam Greer. The executive producers of the series were Aaron Spelling and Danny […]
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The Beatles release ‘White Album’ November 22, 1968
The Beatles, also known as “The White Album”, is the ninth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles, released on 22 November 1968. A double album, its plain white sleeve has no graphics or text other than the band’s name embossed, which was intended as a direct contrast to the vivid cover artwork […]
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The Yippies are Going to Chicago
July 7 Abbie Hoffman’s “The Yippies are Going to Chicago” is published in The Realist. The yippie movement, formed by Hoffman, Jerry Rubin and Paul Krassner, all committed activists and demonstrators, is characterized by public displays of disorder ranging from disrupting the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange to the destruction of the […]
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November 22, 1968 “Star Trek” airs American television’s first interracial kiss
In an episode of TV’s original “Star Trek” entitled “Plato’s Stepchildren,” the crew aboard the Starship Enterprise became enslaved by humanoid Platonians, who possessed a telekinetic ability to force them to do anything the Platonians wanted them to do. Enterprise Capt. James Kirk, a white man played by William Shatner, was forced to kiss Nichelle […]
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TCB was the First musical TV special of the rock era to air on American broadcast television
TCB is a 1968 television special produced by Motown Productions and George Schlatter–Ed Friendly Productions of Laugh-In fame. The special is a musical revue starring Motown’s two most popular groups at the time, Diana Ross & the Supremes and The Temptations. Containing a combination of showtunes, specially prepared numbers, and popular Motown hits, the special […]
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Women’s Liberation groups target the Miss America Beauty Contest
September 7 Women’s Liberation groups, joined by members of New York NOW, target the Miss America Beauty Contest in Atlantic City. The protest includes theatrical demonstrations including ritual disposal of traditional female roles into the “freedom ashcan.” While nothing is actually set on fire, one organizer’s comment – quoted in the New York Times the […]
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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar boycotted the Olympics
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then named Lew Alcindor, boycotted the Olympics because of inequality at home.
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Bob Gibson most dominant pitching season in baseball history
It was the year when St. Louis pitcher Bob Gibson compartmentalized his grief over the assassination of King — “the one man in my lifetime who had been able to capture the public’s attention about racial injustice” — and put together the most dominant pitching season in baseball history.
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McDonald’s Big Mac Makes it’s Debut, 1968
McDonald’s had already been America’s most successful fast-food chain by 1968—having opened its 1,000th restaurant that year— Jim Delligatti, manager of the Uniontown, Pennsylvania, McDonald’s, saw his gastronomic creation become part of the company’s permanent menu. Delligatti, who first became a McDonald’s manager in 1957, tried in the mid ’60s to convince the company honchos […]
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Motion Picture Films Released in 1968
Rank Title, Studio, Gross 1 2001: A Space Odyssey, MGM, $56,715,371 2 Funny Girl, Columbia, $52,000,000 3 The Love Bug, Disney, $51,264,000 4 The Odd Couple, Paramount, $44,527,234 5 Bullitt, Warner Bros., $42,300,873 6 Romeo and Juliet, Paramount, $38,901,218 7 Oliver!, Columbia, $37,402,877 8 Rosemary’s Baby, Paramount, […]
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Soviet Union – Zond 5 Space Mission
The Soviet Union launches the Zond 5 space mission during September 1968. The unmanned spacecraft became the first to circle the Moon and successfully return to Earth intact. It was also the first mission to carry life to the Moon and back. There were various forms of life on board the spacecraft including wine flies, […]
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United States – Surveyor 7 Lunar Lander
NASA launches the final Surveyor mission, Surveyor 7 on January 7, 1968. The mission objectives for Surveyor 7 were to achieve a soft landing on the surface of the Moon in the highland area, photograph the area after landing, test the chemical composition of the soil, and gather data related to the mechanics of the […]
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United States — Intel Corporation is created
The Intel Corporation is created by Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce. More Information for the founding of Intel. The Intel Corporation was founded in Santa Clara, California during July 1968 as N M Electronics. Engineers Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce created the company after receiving $2.5 million in funding from venture capitalist and financier Arthur […]
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Alexander Dubcek becomes the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
1. January 5th Alexander Dubcek becomes the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia 2. April 5th Alexander Dubcek and the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia call for the acknowledgment of individual liberties, the introduction of political and economic reforms, and a change in the structure of the nation. “Action Programme” 3. April 5th “Action […]
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Japan’s biggest heist, 300 Million Yen Robbery takes place in Tokyo ($817,520 at 1968 exchange rates)
The 300 million yen robbery (三億円事件 San Oku En Jiken), also known as the 300 million yen affair or incident, was the single largest heist in Japanese history at the time. It occurred on the morning of December 10, 1968, in Tokyo, Japan. Half a century later, the case remains unsolved. On the morning of […]
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Saddam Hussein part of the military coup in 1968
The Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council was established after the military coup in 1968, and was the ultimate decision making body in Iraq before the 2003 American-led invasion. It exercised both executive and legislative authority in the country, with the Chairman and Vice Chairman chosen by a two-thirds majority of the council. In July 1968, Saddam […]
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The ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech, 20th of April 1968
The ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech was made by British Member of Parliament Enoch Powell on 20 April 1968, to a meeting of the Conservative Political Centre in Birmingham, United Kingdom. His speech strongly criticised mass immigration, especially Commonwealth immigration to the United Kingdom and the proposed Race Relations Bill. It became known as the ‘Rivers […]
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HOTWHEELS INVENTED 5/18/68
Hot Wheels is a brand of die-cast toy cars introduced by American toy maker Mattel in 1968. It was the primary competitor of Matchbox until 1997, when Mattel bought Tyco Toys, then-owner of Matchbox. Many automobile manufacturers have since licensed Hot Wheels to make scale models of their cars, allowing the use of original design […]
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British rule ended on 12 March 1968, when Mauritius became independent
British Mauritius was a British crown colony off the Southeast coast of Africa. Formerly part of the French colonial empire, the crown colony of Mauritius was established after a British invasion in 1810 and the subsequent Treaty of Paris that followed. British rule ended on 12 March 1968, when Mauritius became independent. History[edit] Isle de […]
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Walter Cronkite reports on his recent trip to Vietnam
February 27 Walter Cronkite reports on his recent trip to Vietnam to view the aftermath of the Tet Offensive in his television special Who, What, When, Where, Why? The report is highly critical of US officials and directly contradicts official statements on the progress of the war. After listing Tet and several other current military […]
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At Folsom Prison Live album by Johnny Cash
At Folsom Prison is a live album and 27th overall album by Johnny Cash, released on Columbia Records in May 1968. After his 1955 song “Folsom Prison Blues”, Cash had been interested in recording a performance at a prison. His idea was put on hold until 1967, when personnel changes at Columbia Records put Bob […]
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Volatile Civil Unrest in France with Massive General Strikes
The volatile period of civil unrest in France during May 1968 was punctuated by demonstrations and massive general strikes as well as the occupation of universities and factories across France. At the height of its fervor, it brought the entire economy of France to a virtual halt. The protests reached such a point that political […]
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Historic Student Uprising at Columbia University
April 23 A rally and occupation of the Low administrative office building at Columbia University, planned to protest the university’s participation in the Institute for Defense Analysis is scuttled by conservative students and university security officers. The demonstrators march to the site of a proposed new gymnasium at Morningside Heights to stage a protest in […]
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Hong Kong Flu
The first record of the outbreak in Hong Kong appeared on 13 July 1968. By the end of July 1968, extensive outbreaks were reported in Vietnam and Singapore. Despite the fatality of the 1957 Asian Flu in China, little improvement had been made regarding the handling of such epidemics. The Times newspaper was actually the […]
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9-1-1, also written 911, emergency telephone number deputes in 1968 for the North American Numbering Plan (NANP)
On February 16, 1968, Alabama Speaker of the House Rankin Fite placed the first-ever 9-1-1 call from Haleyville City Hall, to Congressman Tom Bevill, at the city’s police station. Bevill was accompanied by Gallagher and Alabama Public Service Commission director Eugene “Bull” Connor. The phone used to answer the first 9-1-1 call, a bright red […]
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Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson July 7, 1968
Ellsworth Raymond Johnson (October 31, 1905 – July 7, 1968)—known as “Bumpy” Johnson—was an American mob boss and bookmaker in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood. The main Harlem associate of Charles “Lucky” Luciano and what would become later known as the Genovese crime family, Johnson’s criminal career has inspired films and television. Johnson was under a […]
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CBS Debuts the Doris Day Show in September 1968
The Doris Day Show is an American sitcom which was originally broadcast on the CBS Television network from September 1968 until March 1973, remaining on the air for five seasons and 128 episodes. The series is remembered for its multiple format and cast changes over the course of its 5-year run. The show is also […]
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Operation Danube – Joint Invasion of Czechoslovakia
The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, officially known as Operation Danube, was a joint invasion of Czechoslovakia by five Warsaw Pact countries – the Soviet Union, Poland, Bulgaria, East Germany and Hungary – on the night of 20–21 August 1968.[17] Approximately 250,000[4] Warsaw pact troops attacked Czechoslovakia that night, with Romania and Albania refusing to […]
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Muhammad Ali’s 1968 ‘Esquire’ cover is one of the greatest of all time
It’s usually hard to pinpoint the exact moment a bright star goes supernova. But Muhammad Ali did that very thing in April 1968, thanks in large part to Esquire magazine’s cover of the world’s most famous and controversial athlete “dressed” as St. Sebastian, the third-century Christian martyr. In hindsight, Ali-as-St. Sebastian was both a stroke […]
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March 13, 1968: Oil discovered on Alaska’s North Slope
The Atlantic Richfield Company and Humble Oil and Refining Company announce the discovery of oil on the North Slope of Alaska at Prudhoe Bay.
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Miss Black America Pageant on August 17, 1968
It was originally a local Philadelphia area contest to protest the lack of black women in the Miss America pageant. J. Morris Anderson created and produced the Miss Black America Pageant on August 17, 1968, at the Ritz-Carlton in Atlantic City.[1] With support from Phillip H. Savage, Tri-State Director of the NAACP, the pageant received […]
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Hair: Opened on Broadway in April 1968
Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado and music by Galt MacDermot. A product of the hippie counterculture and sexual revolution of the late 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement. The musical’s profanity, its […]
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Berkeley – The Protest Pulse of the World
The major political/counterculture/New Left/radical events in Berkeley in 1968 were the Telegraph Avenue riots; the Eldridge Cleaver Social Analysis 139X controversy in the context of the new Yippie movement; and the Vietnam commencement. Telegraph Avenue Riots The first round of riots on Telegraph Avenue started in late June with a demonstration organized by Peter Camejo […]
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Washington, D.C. Civil ‘War’ Riots of 1968
The Washington, D.C. riots of 1968 were 4 days of riots in Washington, D.C. that followed the assassination of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968. The King assassination riots affected at least 110 U.S. cities; Washington, along with Chicago and Baltimore, was among the most affected. The ready availability of […]
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Lisa Marie Presley (born February 1, 1968
Lisa Marie was born on February 1, 1968, to Elvis and Priscilla Presley at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, nine months to the day after her parents’ May 1, 1967, wedding. She is the only child of singer and actor Elvis Presley and actress Priscilla Presley, as well as the sole heir to her […]
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Apollo 8 Mission
Apollo 8, the second manned spaceflight mission flown in the United States Apollo space program, was launched on December 21, 1968, and became the first manned spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit, reach the Moon, orbit it, and return.[1] The three-astronaut crew—Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders—were the first humans to witness and photograph […]
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The US national debut of the Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood show occurred on February 19, 1968
Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood (sometimes shortened to Misterogers[ or simply Mister Rogers) is an American half-hour educational children’s television series that was created and hosted by Fred Rogers. The series originated in 1963 as Misterogers on CBC Television, and was later re-branded in 1966 as Misterogers’ Neighborhood and later Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood on the regional Eastern […]
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South Vietnam Mỹ Lai Massacre – 16 March 1968
The Mỹ Lai Massacre (/ˌmiːˈlaɪ/; Vietnamese: Thảm sát Mỹ Lai, was the Vietnam War mass murder of unarmed Vietnamese civilians by U.S. troops in South Vietnam on 16 March 1968. Between 347 and 504 unarmed people were massacred by the U.S. Army soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade, 23rd (Americal) […]
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60 Minutes the American newsmagazine television program, debuted on September 24, 1968
60 Minutes is an American newsmagazine television program broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation. In 2002, 60 Minutes was ranked #6 on TV Guide‘s 50 Greatest TV […]
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1968 Belice Earthquake (Sicily Italy)
The 1968 Belice earthquake sequence took place in Sicily between 14 and 15 January. The largest shock measured 5.5 on the moment magnitude scale, with five others of magnitude 5+. The maximum perceived intensity was X (Extreme) on the Mercalli intensity scale. The earthquake sequence, centered between the towns of Gibellina, Salaparuta and Poggioreale, killed […]
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Democratic National Convention in Chicago – Tense and Violent Protest
August 26 Mayor Richard Daley opens the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. While the convention moves haltingly toward nominating Hubert Humphrey for president, the city’s police attempt to enforce an 11 o’clock curfew. On that Monday night demonstrations are widespread, but generally peaceful. The next two days, however, bring increasing tension and violence to the […]
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1968 movement in Italy or Sessantotto
The 1968 movement in Italy or Sessantotto was inspired by distaste for traditional Italian society and international protests. In May 1968 all universities, except Bocconi, were occupied. In the same month a hundred artists, including Gio Pomodoro, Arnaldo Pomodoro, Ernesto Treccani and Gianni Dova occupied for 15 days the Palazzo della Triennale. The background of […]
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Mexican Student Movement of 1968
The Mexican Student Movement of 1968 was a student movement against the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which occurred in the context of the buildup to the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City and the worldwide protests that year. The events that happened from July–October 1968 are colloquially called Mexico 68. For several years prior […]
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Student Union Building in Stockholm occupation
Scandinavia Police action in connection with the 1968 Båstad riots. On May 3, 1968 activists protested the participation of two apartheid nations, Rhodesia and South Africa’s, in the international tennis competition held in Båstad, Sweden. The protest was among the most violent between Swedish police and demonstrators during the 1960s, resulting in a dialogue between […]
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Polish 1968 political crisis
The Polish 1968 political crisis, also known in Poland as March 1968 or March events (Polish: Marzec 1968; wydarzenia marcowe), pertains to a series of major student, intellectual and other protests against the government of the Polish People’s Republic. The crisis resulted in the suppression of student strikes by security forces in all major academic […]
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Pickering v. Board of Education , 391 U.S. 563 (1968)
Pickering v. Board of Education , 391 U.S. 563 (1968) Facts: A high school science teacher wrote a letter to the editor of a community newspaper, criticizing the board of education’s allocation of funds between academics and athletics. The school board terminated the teacher, saying that the letter contained false statements that impugned the integrity […]
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Apollo 8 begins the first US mission to orbit the Moon
December 21 The launch of Apollo 8 begins the first US mission to orbit the Moon.
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Close Election Results for POTUS
November 5 Election Day. The results of the popular vote are 31,770,000 for Nixon, 43.4 percent of the total; 31,270,000 or 42.7 percent for Humphrey; 9,906,000 or 13.5 percent for wallace; and 0.4 percent for other candidates.
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Jacqueline Kennedy is married to Aristotle Onassis
October 20 Jacqueline Kennedy is married to Aristotle Onassis, a Greek shipping magnate on the private island of Skorpios.
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Chief of Staff Curtis E. Lemay — “I don’t believe the world would end if we exploded a nuclear weapon.”
October 3 George Wallace, who has been running an independent campaign for the presidency which has met significant support in the South and the Midwest, names retired Air Force Chief of Staff Curtis E. LeMay to be his running mate. At the press conference, the general is asked about his position on the use of […]
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Alice’s Restaurant
July 24 At the Newport (Rhode Island) Folk Festival singer Arlo Guthrie performs his 20 minute ballad “Alice’s Restaurant” to rave reviews.
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2,500 people occupy Resurrection City
May 11 Ralph Abernathy, Martin Luther King Jr.’s designated successor, and the Southern Christian Leadership Corps are granted a permit for an encampment on the Mall in Washington, DC. Eventually, despite nearly a solid month of rain, over 2,500 people will eventually occupy Resurrection City. On June 24th the site is raided by police, 124 […]
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Martin Luther King Jr. leads a march in Memphis
March 28 Martin Luther King Jr. leads a march in Memphis which turns violent. After King himself had been led from the scene one 16 year old black boy is killed, 60 people are injured, and over 150 arrested.
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The East Los Angeles Walkouts or Chicano Blowouts
The East Los Angeles Walkouts or Chicano Blowouts were a series of 1968 protests by Chicano students against unequal conditions in Los Angeles Unified School District high schools. The first protest took place on March 1, 1968. The students who organized and carried out the protests were primarily concerned with the quality of their education. […]
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December 24: Apollo 8 is the first manned spacecraft to orbit the moon
On Christmas Eve, three astronauts circled the moon 10 times. Jim Lovell, Bill Anders and Frank Borman became the first human beings to travel to the moon. Launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Apollo 8 was a mission of firsts: -The first photos of Earth taken from deep space by humans, including the now iconic […]
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September 30: Boeing introduces the first 747 “Jumbo Jet”
When demand for air travel reached sky-high levels in the 1960s, the world’s then-largest passenger aircraft — the Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet — was a game changer. The ability to carry far more passengers than previous airliners suddenly made globetrotting a feasible option for would-be wanderers who previously thought they would never afford such exotic […]
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January 23: North Korea captures the USS Pueblo
When North Korea captured the American surveillance ship USS Pueblo, it sparked an 11-month crisis that threatened to worsen already high Cold War tensions in the region. The trouble started with the Pueblo. It had been nearly 15 years since the Korean War between U.S.-led forces and the North. The Navy intelligence ship was monitoring […]
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Riots Following Martin Luther King, Jr. Assassination Spread to Baltimore
The Baltimore Riot of 1968 began two days after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. Rioting broke out in 125 cities across the United States, and spread to the city of Baltimore, Maryland on Saturday, April 6. The Governor of Maryland, Spiro T. Agnew, called out thousands […]
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Coretta Scott King Leads Silent Memorial March For Martin Luther King Jr.
An assassin finally snuffed out Dr. King’s life on April 4, 1968, while he led a strike of 1,300 black sanitation workers – the working poor of their day – to demand the right to have a union. Many whites in Memphis, calling him a communist and racial agitator, said they were glad he was […]
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Richmond Explosion
The Richmond, Indiana explosion was a double explosion which occurred at 1:47 PM EST on Saturday, April 6, 1968 in downtown Richmond, Indiana. The explosions killed 41 people and injured more than 150. The primary explosion was due to natural gas leaking from one or more faulty transmission lines under the Marting Arms sporting goods […]
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A speech on the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. was given by New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy
A speech on the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. was given by New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy on April 4, 1968. Kennedy was campaigning for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination. He had spoken at the University of Notre Dame and Ball State University earlier that day. Before boarding a plane to fly to […]
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“The Producers” Is Released
The Producers is a 1968 comedy film written and directed by Mel Brooks, which tells the story of a theatrical producer and an accountant who attempt to cheat their investors by deliberately producing a flop show on Broadway. The film stars Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder and features Dick Shawn. The Producers was the first […]
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Apollo 5 Mission
Apollo 5 was the first unmanned flight of the Apollo Lunar Module, which would later carry astronauts to the lunar surface. It lifted off on January 22, 1968. As with Apollo 4, this flight experienced long delays. The primary cause of this was the Lunar Module, which was well behind schedule. Some of the delay […]
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Aretha Franklin Releases “Lady Soul”
Lady Soul is a soul album by Aretha Franklin, released on January 22, 1968 (see 1968 in music). The album was her second chart-topper, the follow-up to “Aretha Arrives” and included some of her biggest hit singles, “Chain of Fools” (#2 Pop), and (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman (#8 Pop), and “(Sweet […]
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United States Air Force Launches Operation Igloo White
Operation Igloo White was a covert United States Air Force electronic warfare operation conducted from late January 1968 until February 1973, during the Vietnam War. This state-of-the-art operation utilized electronic sensors, computers, and communications relay aircraft in an attempt to automate intelligence collection. The system would then assist in the direction of strike aircraft to […]
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“2001: A Space Odyssey” Is Published
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) is a science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke. It was developed concurrently with Stanley Kubrick’s film version and published after the release of the film. The story is based in part on various short stories by Clarke, most notably “The Sentinel” (written in 1948 for a BBC competition but […]
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Shriver Creates the Special Olympics
The first International Special Olympics Games were held in Chicago in 1968. Anne McGlone Burke, a physical education teacher with the Chicago Park District, began with the idea for a one-time Olympic-style athletic competition for people with special needs. Burke then approached Eunice Kennedy Shriver, head of the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation, to fund […]
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George Foreman won a gold medal heavyweight bout against Soviet boxer
And on the last day in Mexico City, George Foreman won a gold medal heavyweight bout against Soviet boxer Ionas Chepulis dubbed the “Cold War clash.” To celebrate, Foreman gripped a small American flag and ran around the ring. Some were offended, considering it a rebuke to Carlos and Smith. Others saw Foreman’s act as […]
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Bob Beamon set a long-jump world record
Bob Beamon set a long-jump world record that would last nearly 23 years.
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Willie Horton lead the Tigers to a Game 7 World Series victory
It was the year when Detroit outfielder Willie Horton, who, in 1967, walked the Motor City streets wearing his uniform and trying to persuade rioters to stop the violence, helped lead the Tigers to a Game 7 World Series victory over Gibson’s Cardinals. That championship did a lot for the city’s post-riot healing.
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Arthur Ashe – first black man to win a major tennis title
It was the year when Arthur Ashe became the first black man to win a major tennis title, at the U.S. Open.
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Petula Clark and Harry Belafonte remember a televised moment that inadvertently became a scandal—and a civil-rights cause célèbre.
50 Years Ago, a White Woman Touching a Black Man on TV Caused a National Commotion On April 2, 1968, America watched as, for the first time, a white woman touched a black man’s arm on primetime television. The white woman was Petula Clark, the two-time Grammy-winning British singer with a slew of top 10 […]
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Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr., an American clergyman and civil rights leader, was shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. He was rushed to St. Joseph’s Hospital, and was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m. CST. He was a prominent leader of the Civil Rights Movement and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate […]
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1968 National Convention of the U.S. Democratic Party
The 1968 National Convention of the U.S. Democratic Party was held August 26–29 at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois. As President Lyndon B. Johnson had announced he would not seek reelection, the purpose of the convention was to select a new presidential nominee to run as the Democratic Party’s candidate for the office. The […]
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The Poor People’s Campaign
The Poor People’s Campaign, or Poor People’s March on Washington, was a 1968 effort to gain economic justice for poor people in the United States. It was organized by Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and carried out under the leadership of Ralph Abernathy in the wake of King’s assassination. […]
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Columbia University protests of 1968
The Columbia University protests of 1968 were one among the various student demonstrations that occurred around the globe in that year. The Columbia protests erupted over the spring of that year after students discovered links between the university and the institutional apparatus supporting the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War, as well as their […]
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Orangeburg massacre
The Orangeburg massacre refers to the shooting of protesters by South Carolina Highway Patrol officers in Orangeburg, South Carolina, on the South Carolina State University campus on the evening of February 8, 1968. The approximately 200 protesters had previously demonstrated against racial segregation at a local bowling alley. Three of the protestors, African American males, […]
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Tet Offensive
The Tet Offensive (Vietnamese: Sự kiện Tết Mậu Thân 1968), or officially called The General Offensive and Uprising of Tet Mau Than 1968 (Vietnamese: Tổng Tiến công và Nổi dậy Tết Mậu Thân 1968) by North Vietnam and the NLF (National Liberation Front), was one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War, launched […]
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“Boys in the Band” debuts
“Boys in the Band” debuts on New York stage. This was not the first production with a gay theme, but nothing before this had flung open the closet door with such emphatic flair. Looking back today, “Boys” seems somewhat primitive and not always fully enlightened, with a lot of self-doubt in some of the characters. […]
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‘The Foot Book: Dr. Seuss’s Wacky Book of Opposites’ is Published
The Foot Book is intended for young children, and it seeks to convey the concept of opposites through depictions of different kinds of feet. The text of The Foot Book is highly stylized, containing the rhymes, repetitions, and cadences typical of Dr. Seuss’s work. Reading this book will teach the reader that you should not […]
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Volvo 164 is First Produced
The Volvo 164 was a six cylinder sedan unveiled by Volvo Cars at the Paris Motor Show early in October 1968 for the 1969 model year. The company built 146,008 examples before production ended in 1975. Introduced with a faux wood dashboard, a six cylinder engine and an optional leather interior, the 164 represented Volvo’s […]
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Memphis, Tennessee looting that followed the break-up of a march led by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
March 28, Memphis, Tennessee, USA: A police officer uses his nightstick on a youth reportedly involved in the looting that followed the break-up of a march led by Dr Martin Luther King Jr. March 29, Memphis, Tennessee: National guardsmen brandishing bayonets block civil rights activists trying to stage a protest on Beale Street. The marching […]
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On strike! Shut it down
December 3, 1968 Militant demonstrator is arrested at San Francisco State College as police tried to quell demonstrations. A college established in the final year of the 19th century, San Francisco State College found itself confronted by the idealism of the youth of the 1960s and anger over academic bureaucratic policies. From November 1968 to […]
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