Major Events
- Jan 21 The Battle of Khe Sanh - one of the most publicized and controversial battles of the Vietnam War - begins at the Khe Sanh Air Base
- Feb 1 Saigon police chief Nguyễn Ngọc Loan executes Viet Cong officer Nguyễn Văn Lém with a pistol shot to head. The execution is captured by photographer Eddie Adams and becomes an anti-war icon.
- Apr 4 US civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee
- Apr 11 US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs 1968 Civil Rights Act
- Apr 20 British politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial "Rivers of Blood" speech
- Apr 23 1st decimal coins issued in Britain (5 & 10 new pence, replacing shilling and two-shilling pieces)
- Jun 5 Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan assassinates Robert F. Kennedy, shooting him 3 times and wounding 5 others at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California. Kennedy dies the next day.
- Aug 20 During the night 250,000 Soviet and Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia in response to the Prague Spring
- Aug 24 France becomes the world's fifth thermonuclear power with a detonation on Mururoa Atoll in the South Pacific
- Nov 12 US Supreme Court: Epperson v. Arkansas, court declares unconstitutional Arkansas law banning teaching evolution in public schools
- Dec 9 In “The Mother of All Demos" Douglas Engelbart demonstrates the computer system NLS (oN-Line System) to a live audience in San Francisco. Shows for the first time, the mouse, word processing, windows, hypertext links, video conferencing, real-time collaboration, and other modern computing concepts. [1]
- Dec 21 First manned Moon voyage launched with Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William Anders aboard Apollo 8
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1968 in Film & TV
- Feb 27 CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite delivers a scathing editorial on America's chances of winning the Vietnam War
- Mar 17 Bee Gees make their US TV debut on "The Ed Sullivan Show" performing "To Love Somebody" and "Words"
- Apr 2 "2001 A Space Odyssey" directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood, premieres at the Uptown Theater in Washington, D.C.
- Sep 24 "60 Minutes" premieres on CBS-TV
- Sep 26 "Oliver!" directed by Carol Reed and starring Mark Lester and Ron Moody premieres in London (Best Picture 1969)
- Oct 1 Cult zombie film "Night of the Living Dead" directed by George A. Romero, starring Duane Jones and Judith O'Dea premieres in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Dec 3 Elvis Presley's Comeback Special airs on NBC, his 1st live performance in seven years, re-launching his singing career
- Dec 30 Frank Sinatra first records "My Way" with lyrics were written by Paul Anka and based on the French song "Comme d'habitude"
1968 in Music
- Jan 22 "Lady Soul" 14th studio album by Aretha Franklin is released (Billboard Album of the Year, 1968)
- Feb 16 Beatles George Harrison, John Lennon and their wives fly to India for transcendental meditation study with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
- Feb 29 Beatles' "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" wins Grammy Award for Album of the Year, the first rock LP to do so
- Jun 1 Simon & Garfunkel's single "Mrs Robinson" from "The Graduate" hits #1 (first rock song to win Grammy for Record of the Year)
- Jul 15 Fantasy Records releases the self-titled debut album "Creedence Clearwater Revival"; it feature's their cover of Dale Hawkin's "Susie Q"
- Aug 26 "Hey Jude" single released by the Beatles in US (Billboard Song of the Year 1968, Billboard 10th biggest song of all time 2013)
- Aug 30 1st record released on Apple label in UK is The Beatles single "Hey Jude"
- Sep 28 Beatles' "Hey Jude" single goes #1 and stays #1 for 9 weeks
- Dec 21 Glen Campbell's album "Wichita Lineman" goes to #1 in the US
1968 in Sport
- Feb 23 Wilt Chamberlain becomes 1st NBAer to score 25,000 points
- Mar 4 Italian boxer Nino Benvenuti regains world middleweight title with a 15-round points decision over American champion Emile Griffith at Madison Square Garden, NY; last of famous trilogy of fights
- Oct 12 IXX Summer Olympic Games open at Mexico City, Mexico; first Olympics in Latin America
- Oct 16 Americans Tommie Smith (gold 19.83 WR) and John Carlos (bronze) famously give the Black Power salute on the 200m medal podium during the Mexico City Olympics to protest racism and injustice against African-Americans
- Oct 18 US Olympic Committee suspends Tommie Smith and John Carlos for giving the Black Power salute to protest racism and injustice against African-Americans during Olympic medal ceremony
Did You Know?
American radical feminist Valerie Solanas attempts to assassinate Andy Warhol by shooting him three times. She is later diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and pleads guilty to "reckless assault with intent to harm", serving a 3 year sentence.
More People Born in 1968
Fun Fact About 1968
Japan's biggest heist, the still-unsolved "300 million yen robbery", occurs in Tokyo.
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Articles About 1968
Execution of a Viet Cong Prisoner
General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan summarily executes Viet Cong prisoner Nguyễn Văn LémFebruary 1My Lai: America's Village of Shame
American soldiers fighting in Vietnam entered the village of My Lai on this day. What followed was a massacre of civilians that shames US military history.March 16Martin Luther King Shot Dead
Martin Luther King Jr, the celebrated (‘I have a dream’) civil rights campaigner, was shot dead on this day as he stood on a motel balcony in Memphis Tennessee.April 4Martin Luther King Assassination Riots
Front page of The Washington Post on April 7, 1968, three days after the assassination of Martin Luther KingApril 4Bobby Kennedy Gunned Down on Campaign Trail
Less than five years after President Kennedy was assassinated, his younger brother Bobby, hoping to win the White House, was felled by a gunman on this day.June 5Warsaw Pact Invasion of Czechoslovakia
Crowds of protesters surround Soviet tanks during the first days of the invasion of CzechoslovakiaAugust 20Black Power Salute
Tommie Smith and John Carlos on the podium at 1968 OlympicsOctober 16
Famous Weddings in 1968
- Jan 20 Actress Sharon Tate (24) weds actor and director Roman Polanski (34) in Chelsea, London
- Feb 20 British future Monty Python comedian John Cleese (28) weds American actress and writer Connie Booth (27); divorce in 1978
- Mar 1 Singer-songwriter and actress June Carter (38) weds singer-songwriter Johnny Cash (36) at a church in Franklin, Kentucky
Famous Divorces in 1968
- Aug 8 Actor Jack Nicholson (31) divorces Sandra Knight (28) after 6 years of marriage
- Aug 16 Singer and actor Frank Sinatra and 3rd wife actress Mia Farrow divorce after 2 years of marriage
- Aug 22 Cynthia Lennon sues Beatle member John Lennon for divorce on grounds of adultery
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