by Anita and Tawona
1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1968, a year of great excitement and great sadness. Tragedy strikes the nation when Martin Luther King, Jr. is murdered in April and in June Robert Kennedy is murdered. The U.S. makes many technological advances in space and the war in Vietnam divides the nation. The British rock group, the Beatles, continues to be popular. The Beatles make the animated film Yellow Submarine and they launch their Apple record label. The Beatles release the best-selling single of the year called “Hey Jude” in Britain of 1968. The Green Berets, the film, is released starring John Wayne. The 19th Summer Olympics is held in Mexico City, Mexico. The United States wins 45 gold medals. Ratings for films begin. Calvin Klein founds his own fashion line called Calvin Klein. At the Miss America pageant almost two hundred female protesters demonstrate against the pageant. The United States unemployment rate is 3.6%. Find out what else happened in this crazy year:
President Johnson delivered his State of the Union address on January 17.
On January 23 the USS Pueblo accidentally strays into North Korean waters. The USS Pueblo is seized by the North Koreans and 83 U.S. crewmen are captured and held until December 23.
Tet Offensive is initiated in South Vietnamese cities by the Vietcong from January 30 to February 29.
Due to protests at a local bowling alley that excluded blacks, a four day riot began at South Carolina State College in Orangeburg, South Carolina on February 5. It ended with three students being shot.
From February 6 to February 18, the X Winter Olympics take place in Grenoble, France. Jean-Claude Killy makes a name for himself on the slopes and sex tests for women are first introduced.
Under the direction of Lt. William Calley, U.S. soldiers brutally destroy the South Vietnamese village of My Lai on March 16. It would come to be know as the Mai Lai Massacre and causes many Americans to go against the war.
Joe Frazier wins the world heavyweight boxing crown March 24 by knocking out Buster Mathis in the eleventh round of a title bout in New York.
On March 27 the first person to fly in space, Yuri Gagarin, is dead near Moscow, Russia at the age of 34.
After mentioning a halt on North Vietnam bombing, President Lyndon B. Johnson reports he will begin peace talks. LBJ also announces on television on March 31 that he will not seek reelection.
Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., a civil rights activist, is assassinated on April 4, in Memphis, Tennessee. MLK is assassinated as he steps onto his balcony at a Memphis, Tennessee motel room. As a result of his death race riots are erupting in several cities around the world. After his assassination, Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley instructs city police force to shoot to kill after looting stirs up in the city.
The end of racial discrimination is passed by congress in the Civil Rights Act of 1968 on April 11.
From April 23 through April 30, students stage a take-over of buildings at Columbia University in New York City.
Frederick West has the first heart transplant done on him, on May 3, in the National Heart Hospital in London.
Helen Keller, a lady famous for her achievements despite being handicapped, is dead in Connecticut at age 87 on June 1.
Robert F. Kennedy enters the race for President even though his family is worried about his safety. Robert Kennedy is assassinated on June 5th in a Los Angeles hotel after celebrating his victory in the California primary.
The Poor People’s March on June 25, was led by Reverend Ralph Abernathy in Washington D.C., but organized by Martin Luther King, Jr. before his assassination. Nearly 50,000 people march in Washington, D.C., in support of antipoverty legislation.
Pope Paul VI issues the encyclical, Humanae vitae, on July 29.
On September 14, U.S. baseball player Denny McLain of the Detroit Tigers is the first pitcher to win 30 games in a season. Denny McLain beats Dizzy Dean's 1934 record with the St. Louis Cardinals.
On September 14 to September 21, the Soviet spacecraft Zond 5 is the first spacecraft to fly around the moon and it returns to Earth.
60 Minutes, a news program, debuts on television on September 14.
The comedy, Julia, appears on television on September 17. It is the first television program to star a black woman (Diahann Carroll) since 1953.
The first live transmission from Space is made on October 13. Apollo 7 is the first U.S. Apollo space mission with a crew that flies to the moon that does 163 orbits of the Earth between October 11 to October 22.
On November 5 Shirley Chisholm becomes the first African American woman to be elected in the United States Congress.
Richard Nixon is elected President of the United States on November 5.
The author of the renowned novel The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck, is dead in New York at the age of 66 on December 20.
On December 21, The U.S. launches Apollo 8. It orbits the moon 10 times. The crew makes a live broadcasting Christmas day and is many steps closer to landing on the moon.
The emergency 911 phone system is introduced in New York. It is the first system of its kind in the United States.
The musical Oliver!, based on the story by Charles Dickens, is released in Britain.
Douglas Englebart, a U.S. computer scientist, demonstrates the first computer mouse. Look for video clips here: MouseSite
41st Annual Academy
Awards:
Best Picture: Oliver
Best Actresses: Katharine Hepburn in The Lion in Winter
Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl
Best Actor: Cliff Robertson in Charly
Emmy Award:
Outstanding Comedy: Get Smart (NBC)
Outstanding Drama Series: Net Playhouse
11th Annual Grammy
Awards:
Album of the Year: "By the Time I Get To Phoenix" by Glen Campbell
Best New Artist: Jose Feliciano
Song of the Year: "Little Green Apples" by Roger Miller, O.C. Smith
Record of the Year: "Mrs. Robinson" by Simon and Garfunkel