January 15
At age 87, Jeannette Rankin, who as a congresswoman from Montana voted against U.S. participation in both world wars, leads some 5,000 women on a march in Washington, D.C. to…
Read moreJanuary 20
Game of the Century! Top-ranked UCLA, led by the future Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, faces second-ranked University of Houston, led by Elvin Hayes, at the Astrodome. Houston snaps UCLA’s 47-game winning streak,…
Read moreJanuary 22
“Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” debuts as an NBC-TV series and, over six seasons, sets a standard for sketch comedy unmatched until NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” launches in 1975.
Read moreJanuary 22
Release of Aretha Franklin, Lady Soul Release: Jan. 22 It says something about how rare and electrifying Aretha Franklin was in 1968, as a 26-year-old singer making her third album for Atlantic, that she…
Read moreJanuary 30
North Vietnamese communists launch the Tet Offensive. The assault contradicts the Johnson administration’s claims that the communist forces are weak and the U.S.-backed south is winning the war. Tet Offensive, attacks…
Read moreFebruary 1
Memphis sanitation workers Echol Cole and Robert Walker are crushed to death by a malfunctioning garbage truck. Their deaths lead to a strike that becomes a civil rights movement.
Read moreFebruary 7
After a battle for the Vietnamese village of Ben Tre, an American officer tells Associated Press reporter Peter Arnett, “It became necessary to destroy the town in order to save it.”…
Read moreFebruary 8
At the South Carolina State campus, police open fire on students protesting segregation at Orangeburg’s only bowling alley. In 1968, Three Students Were Killed by Police. Today, Few Remember the…
Read moreFebruary 23
Release of Otis Redding, The Dock of the Bay. In some ways, 1968 began with a great sadness. On Dec. 10, 1967, the blossoming soul star Otis Redding was killed in a…
Read moreFebruary 28
Walter Cronkite, in a CBS-TV special on his recent tour of Vietnam, says the U.S. war effort is “mired in stalemate” and amplifies public skepticism of the war. When Walter…
Read moreFebruary 29
The report of the Kerner Commission, appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson to examine the causes of race riots in American cities in previous years, declares the nation is…“moving toward two…
Read moreMarch 1 – 8
Some 15,000 Latino high school students in Los Angeles walk out of classes to press their demand for a better education.
Read moreMarch 5
The government of Czechoslovakia abolishes censorship, underscoring the expansion of freedom during the “Prague Spring” and angering its Communist overlords in the Soviet Union.
Read moreMarch 6
Some 500 New York University students picket a university-sponsored recruiting event for the Dow Chemical Company,
Read moreMarch 12
Nixon wins 78 percent of the vote in New Hampshire’s GOP primary. Eugene McCarthy, Minnesota’s antiwar senator, takes a shocking 42 percent of the Democratic vote.
Read moreMarch 13
Atlantic Richfield and Humble Oil (now ExxonMobil) announce the discovery of an oil field beneath Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, the largest oil and natural-gas discovery in North American history.
Read moreMarch 16
New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy enters the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, saying McCarthy’s showing in New Hampshire “has proven how deep are the present divisions within our party…
Read moreMarch 19
Hundreds of students take over the administration building at Howard University in Washington, D.C., seeking a greater voice in student discipline and the curriculum.
Read moreApril 3
Release of Simon & Garfunkel, Bookends Release: April 3 The most fully realized album of Simon and Garfunkel’s middle-period career, Bookendsshowed that the duo were capable of more than merely poignant, introspective balladry….
Read moreApril 4
Martin Luther King Jr., in Memphis for the sanitation workers’ strike, is fatally shot on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. Gunman James Earl Ray, a white supremacist, flees the…
Read moreApril 6
After a 90-minute shootout between Black Panthers and police in Oakland, California, police shoot Bobby Hutton, 17, as he tries to surrender. On April 6, 1968, Oakland police ambushed a…
Read moreApril 11
Johnson signs the Fair Housing Act, banning discrimination in housing on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin. It is the last of the landmark civil rights laws…
Read moreApril 19
Alfredo Jaar, Life Magazine, April 19, 1968, 1995, three chromogenic prints, Smithsonian American Art Museum, © Alfredo Jaar, Courtesy Galerie Lelong, New York, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz…
Read moreApril 19
Release of The Zombies, Odessey and Oracle Release: April 19 One of the ‘60s great unsung masterpieces of that hallowed decade, the Zombies’ Odyssey and Oracle followed on the heels of the group’s early…
Read moreApril 23
Students take over five buildings on Columbia University’s campus and briefly hold a dean hostage, calling for the university to cut its ties to military research. Before dawn on April…
Read moreApril 29
Hair opens on Broadway and runs for more than 1,700 performances, introducing mainstream theatergoers to sex, drugs, rock ’n’ roll and draft resistance. In a year marked by as much social…
Read moreMay 6
A riot breaks out between police and more than 5,000 university students in Paris. Within a week workers throughout France are staging sympathy strikes, threatening the economy. In France, the…
Read moreMay 7
Release of Johnny Cash, At Folsom Prison Release: May When Johnny Cash arrived at Folsom Prison in California on Jan. 13, 1968, he was fortunate that he was there to perform for inmates and…
Read moreMay 10
After 34 days of discussions to select a site, the United States and North Vietnam agree to begin formal negotiations in Paris on May 10, or shortly thereafter. Hanoi disclosed…
Read moreMay 17
Nine antiwar activists enter a Selective Service office in Catonsville, Maryland, remove nearly 400 files and burn them in the parking lot with homemade napalm. The example of the Catonsville…
Read moreMay 24
Release of Small Faces, Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake Marking a definitive break from Small Faces’ early mod and R&B underpinnings, the two-act Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake was a bold move into the realms of…
Read moreMay 27
The Supreme Court rules 7-1 that burning a draft card is not an act of free speech protected by the First Amendment.
Read moreJune 3
Andy Warhol is shot and critically wounded in his New York City loft by Valerie Solanas, apparently for losing a copy of a play she’d written. She pleads guilty to…
Read moreJune 4
Robert F. Kennedy, gaining momentum in his presidential campaign, wins the California primary—and is assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Gunman Sirhan Sirhan, a Jordanian citizen of Palestinian descent,…
Read moreJune 8
James Earl Ray is arrested in London. Extradited to the United States, he pleads guilty to murdering King but later recants, saying he was an unwitting pawn in a conspiracy….
Read moreJune 19
The efforts of the Poor People’s Campaign climaxes in the Solidarity Day Rally for Jobs, Peace, and Freedom in Washington, D.C. Fifty thousand people join the 3,000 participants living at…
Read moreJuly 1
Johnson signs the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which remains the world’s primary means of preventing the spread of nuclear weapons to non-nuclear states and reducing nuclear weapons…
Read moreJuly 1
Release of The Band, Music From Big Pink Release: July 1 By the time The Band released their debut full-length, they were already a well-known, road-tested outfit who’d played behind Dylan…
Read moreJuly 18
Intel was founded on July 18, 1968, by semiconductor pioneers Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore, who left Fairchild Semiconductor to do so. Originally called “NM Electronics” for Noyce and Moore,…
Read moreJuly 20
The first Special Olympics opens at Chicago’s Soldier Field, with more than a thousand athletes with intellectual disabilities competing in 200 events. The Beginning of a Worldwide Movement
Read moreJuly 25
Pope Paul VI issues Humanae Vitae, reaffirming the Roman Catholic Church’s opposition to artificial contraception and rejecting recommendations made under his predecessor, Pope John XXIII. Read Here
Read moreAugust 7
Release of Cream, Wheels of Fire Wheels of Fire had a hard precedent to follow, coming as it did on the heels of Cream’s 1967 sophomore breakthrough, Disraeli Gears and the blues-embossed psychedelia that preceded…
Read moreAugust 8
At the Republican National Convention in Miami, Richard M. Nixon and Spiro T. Agnew are chosen as the presidential and vice-presidential nominees for the upcoming election. In his speech accepting the nomination,…
Read moreAugust 12
Release of Big Brother & Holding Company, Cheap Thrills Cheap Thrills, the second album featuring Janis Joplin, marked the emphatic emergence of the Texas-born singer in the San Francisco band that had already…
Read moreAugust 20
On August 20, 1968, the Soviet Union led Warsaw Pact troops in an invasion of Czechoslovakia to crack down on reformist trends in Prague. Although the Soviet Union’s action successfully halted the pace of reform in…
Read moreAugust 21
Pvt. First Class James Anderson Jr., who died covering an enemy grenade to protect fellow Marines during a firefight in Vietnam, becomes the first African-American Marine to receive the Medal…
Read moreAugust 26
“Hey Jude,” the first Beatles single issued on their Apple label, is released in the U.S. At more than seven minutes, it becomes the longest song to hit Number 1…
Read moreAugust 28
At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, police and Illinois National Guardsmen go on a rampage, clubbing and tear-gassing hundreds of antiwar demonstrators, news reporters and bystanders, with much of…
Read moreSeptember 7
The Miss America pageant has never been a progressive event, but in 1968, it sparked a feminist revolution. As women organized the first protest against Miss America, they were responding…
Read moreSeptember 9
Arthur Ashe wins the U.S. Open, becoming the first black man to win a Grand Slam tennis tournament. Read more here
Read moreSeptember 16
Nixon, seeking to dispel his sourpuss image, appears on Laugh-In just long enough to proclaim, “Sock it to me” on-camera. It is a rare intersection of politics and entertainment—Humphrey declines a similar…
Read moreNovember 20
Consolidation Coal’s No. 9 mine in Farmington, West Virginia, explodes, killing 78 miners and becoming a catalyst for new mine-safety laws. Memo Suggests Cause Of 1968 Mine Deaths – NPR
Read moreJuly 23
In Cleveland, the Glenville Shootout, between police and black militants, leaves three dead on each side, plus one bystander. Riots rock the city for five days. Mayor Carl Stokes, seven…
Read moreDecember 23
North Korea releases the Pueblo crew but keeps the ship. It is now an exhibit in the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum in Pyongyang. In 1968, North Korea captured a U.S. war…
Read moreSeptember 24
The very first episode of 60 Minutes aired September 24th, 1968 — a Tuesday night — without a trace of its trademark ticking clock. Harry Reasoner opened that broadcast with…
Read moreSeptember 30
Boeing rolls out the 747 Jumbo Jet, the biggest passenger plane the world has seen to date—231 feet long, wings spanning 196 feet and seats for 490. The History and…
Read moreOctober 2
In Mexico City, police and troops fire on a student-led protest, killing or wounding thousands. The precise number is still unknown. Mexico’s 1968 Massacre: What Really Happened? – NPR: Radio…
Read moreOctober 7
Release of Traffic, Traffic Release: October A follow-up to their excellent and eclectic debut, Traffic’s eponymous sophomore set found a fully congealed ensemble. The on-again, off-again participation of Dave Mason was…
Read moreOctober 11
This day in 1968 marked the first live television broadcast from a manned, orbiting American spacecraft. All eyes were on the Apollo 7 team — the first American crew to attempt…
Read moreOctober 16
At the Olympic Games in Mexico City, Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos receive the gold and bronze medals in the 200-meter dash, then raise gloved fists during the national…
Read moreOctober 16
Release of The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Electric Ladyland Release: Oct. 16 Jimi Hendrix radiated genius from the get-go with Are You Experienced? and Axis Bold As Love, his first two albums with the Experience in 1967….
Read moreOctober 31
Citing progress in the Paris peace talks, Johnson orders a halt to “all air, naval and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam,” effective the next day. Read speech here
Read moreNovember 5
Eight years after being defeated by John F. Kennedy in the 1960 election, Richard Nixon defeats Hubert H. Humphrey and is elected president. Two years after losing to Kennedy, Nixon ran for governor of California and…
Read moreNovember 5
On this date at the opening of the 91st Congress (1969–1971), Shirley Anita Chisholm of New York became the first African-American Congresswoman. Trained as a school teacher, Chisholm served two terms in the New…
Read moreNovember 9
Yale University, after 267 years, decides to admit female undergraduates, beginning in 1969. ____ Yale President Kingman Brewster announced yesterday that Yale will become coeducational in September 1969. The announcement…
Read moreNovember 12
The Supreme Court unanimously rules that an Arkansas law prohibiting the teaching of evolution in public schools violates the First Amendment. Epperson v. Arkansas: Facts of the case The Arkansas legislature passed…
Read moreNovember 22
Release of The Kinks, Are the Village Green Preservation Society Release: Nov. 22 The Kinks were never rabble-rousers in the truest sense of the word. For every proto-punk attempt at slash…
Read moreNovember 22
Release of The Beatles, The Beatles Release: Nov. 22 After the critical success of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and the rapid follow-up of the equally colorful and hallucinogenic Magical Mystery Tour, this…
Read moreNovember 26
O. J. Simpson became USC’s second Heisman Trophy winner in 1968 when he captured the award by the most one-sided margin in history. During the regular 1968 season, O.J. established…
Read moreNovember 29
Release of Van Morrison, Astral Weeks Release: November After attaining his initial success back in Belfast with the band Them and a couple of hits (“Gloria,” “Here Comes the Night”), Van Morrison launched…
Read moreDecember 3
Elvis Presley begins a comeback from years of torpor and schlock with a one-hour special on NBC-TV. Call It a Comeback: The Inside Story of Elvis Presley’s Iconic 1968 Special –…
Read moreDecember 6
Release of The Rolling Stones, Beggar’s Banquet Release: Dec. 6 Following 1967’s critically panned Their Satanic Majesties Request, attempt to cash in on psychedelia, the Stones revealed their essence on Beggar’s Banquet—a dirty,…
Read moreDecember 9
Douglas C. Engelbart’s 90-minute demonstration at the Fall Joint Computer Conference in San Francisco includes the world’s first mouse and word processor.
Read moreDecember 21
Apollo 8 becomes the first manned spacecraft to orbit the Moon and return safely to Earth. During the mission the “Earthrise” photograph is taken. Apollo 8: First Around the Moon
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