February 8 –
Civil rights movement in the United States:
Orangeburg Massacre – A civil rights demonstration on a college campus to protest
racial segregation in
South Carolina is broken up by highway patrolmen; three African American students are killed, the first instance of police killing student protestors at an American campus.
Vietnam War –
My Lai Massacre: American troops kill scores of civilians. The story will first become public in November 1969 and will help undermine public support for the U.S. efforts in Vietnam.
March 19–
23 –
Afrocentrism,
Black Power,
Vietnam War: Students at
Howard University in Washington, D.C., signal a new era of militant student activism on college campuses in the U.S. Students stage rallies, protests and a 5-day
sit-in, laying siege to the administration building, shutting down the university in protest over its
ROTC program and the Vietnam War, and demanding a more Afrocentric curriculum.
March 22 –
Daniel Cohn-Bendit ("Danny the Red") and 7 other students occupy the administrative offices of the
University of Nanterre, setting in motion a chain of events that lead France to the brink of revolution in May.
March 28 –
Brazilian high school student
Edson Luís de Lima Souto is shot by the police in a protest for cheaper meals at a restaurant for low-income students. The aftermath of his death is one of the first major events against the
military dictatorship.
March 31 – In a televised address, U.S. President
Lyndon B. Johnson announces that he will not be a candidate for re-election.
April 10 – The ferry
TEV Wahine strikes a
reef at the mouth of
Wellington Harbour, New Zealand, with the loss of 53 lives, in Cyclone Giselle, which has created the windiest conditions ever recorded in New Zealand.
Josef Bachmann tries to assassinate
Rudi Dutschke, leader of the left-wing movement (
APO) in Germany, and tries to commit suicide afterwards, failing in both, although Dutschke dies of his brain injuries 11 years later.
German left-wing students blockade the
Springer Press HQ in Berlin and many are arrested (one of them
Ulrike Meinhof).
Nigerian forces capture
Port Harcourt and form a ring around the
Biafrans. This contributes to a humanitarian disaster as the surrounded population already suffers from hunger and starvation.
July 18 – The semiconductor company
Intel is founded.
July 20 – The first International
Special Olympics Summer Games are held at
Soldier Field in Chicago, Ill, with about 1,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities.
August 2 – The magnitude (
Mw) 7.6
Casiguran earthquake affects the
Aurora province in the Philippines with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing at least 207 and injuring 261.
August 18 – Two charter buses are forced into the
Hida River on National Highway Route 41 in Japan in an accident caused by heavy rain; 104 are killed.
October 2 –
Tlatelolco massacre: A student demonstration ends in bloodbath at La Plaza de las Tres Culturas in
Tlatelolco, Mexico City, Mexico, 10 days before the inauguration of the
1968 Summer Olympics. 300-400 are estimated to have been killed.
In
Panama, a military coup d'état, led by Col. Boris Martinez and Col.
Omar Torrijos, overthrows the democratically elected (but highly controversial) government of President
Arnulfo Arias. Within a year, Torrijos ousts Martinez and takes charge as de facto
Head of Government in Panama.
In Mexico City, African-American athletes
Tommie Smith and
John Carlos raise their fists in a
black power salute after winning, respectively, the gold and bronze medals in the Olympic men's 200 metres.
October 18 – US athlete
Bob Beamon breaks the long jump world record by 55 cm / 213⁄4 ins at the
Olympics in
Mexico City. His record stands for 23 years, and remains the second longest jump in history.
October 31 –
Vietnam War: Citing progress in the Paris peace talks, U.S. President
Lyndon B. Johnson announces to the nation that he has ordered a complete cessation of "all air, naval, and artillery bombardment of
North Vietnam" effective
November 1.
The "
Heidi Game":
NBC cuts off the final 1:05 of an
Oakland Raiders–
New York Jets football game to broadcast the pre-scheduled Heidi. Fans are unable to see Oakland (which had been trailing 32–29) score 2 late touchdowns to win 43–32; as a result, thousands of outraged football fans flood the NBC switchboards to protest.
December 13 – Prompted by growing unrest and a perceived proliferation of "pro-communist" violent actions,
BrazilianpresidentArtur da Costa e Silva enacts the so-called
AI-5, the fifth of a series of non-constitutional emergency decrees allegedly to help "stabilize" the country after the turmoils of the early 1960s.
Sherman, Daniel J. et al. eds. The Long 1968: Revisions and New Perspectives (Indiana University Press; 2013) 382 pages; essays by scholars on the cultural and political impact of 1968 in France, Mexico, Northern Ireland, the United States, etc.
Kurlansky, Mark. (2004). 1968: The Year that Rocked the World. London: Jonathan Cape.
ISBN978-0-224-06251-0
1968 – The Year in Sound An Audiofile produced by Lou Zambrana of WCBS Newsradio 880 (WCBS-AM New York) Part of WCBS 880's celebration of 40 years of newsradio.
Time, 40th Anniversary Special (2008). "1968: The Year That Changed the World."
February 8 –
Civil rights movement in the United States:
Orangeburg Massacre – A civil rights demonstration on a college campus to protest
racial segregation in
South Carolina is broken up by highway patrolmen; three African American students are killed, the first instance of police killing student protestors at an American campus.
Vietnam War –
My Lai Massacre: American troops kill scores of civilians. The story will first become public in November 1969 and will help undermine public support for the U.S. efforts in Vietnam.
March 19–
23 –
Afrocentrism,
Black Power,
Vietnam War: Students at
Howard University in Washington, D.C., signal a new era of militant student activism on college campuses in the U.S. Students stage rallies, protests and a 5-day
sit-in, laying siege to the administration building, shutting down the university in protest over its
ROTC program and the Vietnam War, and demanding a more Afrocentric curriculum.
March 22 –
Daniel Cohn-Bendit ("Danny the Red") and 7 other students occupy the administrative offices of the
University of Nanterre, setting in motion a chain of events that lead France to the brink of revolution in May.
March 28 –
Brazilian high school student
Edson Luís de Lima Souto is shot by the police in a protest for cheaper meals at a restaurant for low-income students. The aftermath of his death is one of the first major events against the
military dictatorship.
March 31 – In a televised address, U.S. President
Lyndon B. Johnson announces that he will not be a candidate for re-election.
April 10 – The ferry
TEV Wahine strikes a
reef at the mouth of
Wellington Harbour, New Zealand, with the loss of 53 lives, in Cyclone Giselle, which has created the windiest conditions ever recorded in New Zealand.
Josef Bachmann tries to assassinate
Rudi Dutschke, leader of the left-wing movement (
APO) in Germany, and tries to commit suicide afterwards, failing in both, although Dutschke dies of his brain injuries 11 years later.
German left-wing students blockade the
Springer Press HQ in Berlin and many are arrested (one of them
Ulrike Meinhof).
Nigerian forces capture
Port Harcourt and form a ring around the
Biafrans. This contributes to a humanitarian disaster as the surrounded population already suffers from hunger and starvation.
July 18 – The semiconductor company
Intel is founded.
July 20 – The first International
Special Olympics Summer Games are held at
Soldier Field in Chicago, Ill, with about 1,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities.
August 2 – The magnitude (
Mw) 7.6
Casiguran earthquake affects the
Aurora province in the Philippines with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing at least 207 and injuring 261.
August 18 – Two charter buses are forced into the
Hida River on National Highway Route 41 in Japan in an accident caused by heavy rain; 104 are killed.
October 2 –
Tlatelolco massacre: A student demonstration ends in bloodbath at La Plaza de las Tres Culturas in
Tlatelolco, Mexico City, Mexico, 10 days before the inauguration of the
1968 Summer Olympics. 300-400 are estimated to have been killed.
In
Panama, a military coup d'état, led by Col. Boris Martinez and Col.
Omar Torrijos, overthrows the democratically elected (but highly controversial) government of President
Arnulfo Arias. Within a year, Torrijos ousts Martinez and takes charge as de facto
Head of Government in Panama.
In Mexico City, African-American athletes
Tommie Smith and
John Carlos raise their fists in a
black power salute after winning, respectively, the gold and bronze medals in the Olympic men's 200 metres.
October 18 – US athlete
Bob Beamon breaks the long jump world record by 55 cm / 213⁄4 ins at the
Olympics in
Mexico City. His record stands for 23 years, and remains the second longest jump in history.
October 31 –
Vietnam War: Citing progress in the Paris peace talks, U.S. President
Lyndon B. Johnson announces to the nation that he has ordered a complete cessation of "all air, naval, and artillery bombardment of
North Vietnam" effective
November 1.
The "
Heidi Game":
NBC cuts off the final 1:05 of an
Oakland Raiders–
New York Jets football game to broadcast the pre-scheduled Heidi. Fans are unable to see Oakland (which had been trailing 32–29) score 2 late touchdowns to win 43–32; as a result, thousands of outraged football fans flood the NBC switchboards to protest.
December 13 – Prompted by growing unrest and a perceived proliferation of "pro-communist" violent actions,
BrazilianpresidentArtur da Costa e Silva enacts the so-called
AI-5, the fifth of a series of non-constitutional emergency decrees allegedly to help "stabilize" the country after the turmoils of the early 1960s.
Sherman, Daniel J. et al. eds. The Long 1968: Revisions and New Perspectives (Indiana University Press; 2013) 382 pages; essays by scholars on the cultural and political impact of 1968 in France, Mexico, Northern Ireland, the United States, etc.
Kurlansky, Mark. (2004). 1968: The Year that Rocked the World. London: Jonathan Cape.
ISBN978-0-224-06251-0
1968 – The Year in Sound An Audiofile produced by Lou Zambrana of WCBS Newsradio 880 (WCBS-AM New York) Part of WCBS 880's celebration of 40 years of newsradio.
Time, 40th Anniversary Special (2008). "1968: The Year That Changed the World."