1968
1968 in the News

Headlines from 1968
1968 saw some of the most dramatic headlines of the decade--many are well-remembered even today:

January 23--North Korean patrol boats capture the USS Pueblo, a US Navy intelligence-gathering vessel and its 83 man crew, on charges of violating the communist country's twelve-mile territorial limit. The crew is finally released in December.

January 31--Generally acknowledged as the start of the Tet Offensive in Vietnam, a large-scale attack by the "Viet Cong" forces against more than 100 towns and cities in South Vietnam.

February 2--Richard Nixon, Republican, declares he is a candidate for President.

March 12--Eugene McCarthy, campaigning against the war, has a surprisingly strong showing against incumbant President Lynton Baines Johnson in the New Hampshire primary. He is helped by large numbers of student volunteers.

March 16--Robert F. Kennedy, brother of slain President John Kennedy, enters the Presidential race.

March 28--Martin Luther King Jr. leads a march in Memphis which turns violent.

March 31--President Lyndon Johnson announces he will not run for re-election: "I shall not seek, and I will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as your President."

April 4--Martin Luther King Jr. is shot and killed. The King assassination sparks rioting in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Kansas City, Newark, Washington, D.C., and many others.

April 23--Five buildings at Columbia University are occupied in a demonstration/protest by students. It will culminate seven days later when police storm the buildings and violently remove the students and their supporters at the Columbia administration's request.

May 6--In France, "Bloody Monday" marks one of the most violent days of the Parisian student revolt.

June 3--Andy Warhol is shot in his New York City loft by Valerie Solanis.

June 4/5--On the night the California Primary Robert Kennedy is shot after winning California and South Dakota. The 42-year old Kennedy dies in the early morning of June 6.

August 20--The Soviet Union invades Czechoslovakia with over 200,000 troops, putting an end to the "Prague Spring" and beginning a period of renewed oppression.

August 28--Chicago police near the Democratic convention take action against crowds of demonstrators without provocation. The police beat some marchers unconscious and send at least 100 to emergency rooms.

September 1--Democratic nominee Hubert Humphrey kicks off his presidential campaign.

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, and while nothing is actually set on fire, it leads to the expression "bra-burning feminist."

October 11--Apollo 7 is launched from Florida for an eleven day journey which will orbit the Earth 163 times.

October 20--Jacqueline Kennedy is married to Aristotle Onassis, a Greek shipping tycoon.

November 5--Election Day. Nixon gets 43.4 percent of the total; Hubert Humphrey gets 42.7 percent; and George Wallace gets 13.5 percent.

December 28--Apollo 8 splashes down after orbiting the moon with three astronauts. The crew made a Christmas Eve television broadcast. It was the most-watched TV program ever as of 1968.

 

 

 

This website is currently under development and will be updated periodically. Images are from the editor's collecton of photos, and scans from print journals from 1968. If you would like to offer comments or suggestions contact the webmaster at thatwasthen1968@gmail.com

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