1968 Timeline
January 21
The bloody, 77-day Siege of Khe Sahn starts in Vietnam, bringing some of the fiercest fighting American forces have yet seen
January 31
The Tet Offensive begins as Viet Cong soldiers seize key strategic and civilian locations and briefly take over the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. Both American and civilian casualties continue to rise alarmingly
February 8
Senator Robert F. Kennedy makes a historic speech saying that the U.S. cannot win the Vietnam War and needs to rethink its policy
February 8
National Guardsmen kill 3 black students and injure nearly 50 in South Carolina during a civil rights protest against a whites-only bowling alley
February 8
Pro-segregation candidate George Wallace enters the race for President
February 18
Beatles George Harrison and John Lennon fly to India to try Transcendental Meditation
February 29
Secretary of Defense Robert MacNamara resigns in the wake of the Tet disaster
March 12
Peace advocate and Democratic candidate for President Eugene McCarthy wins an unexpected 40% of the vote in the New Hampshire Primary, signaling trouble for the incumbent President Lyndon Johnson
March 13
New liberal Czech leader Alexander Dubcek relaxes censorship and begins making democratic reforms for the first time behind the Iron Curtain
March 17
Though the race is already in full swing, Robert F. Kennedy announces his late candidacy for President on an anti-violence platform
March 16
Hundreds of Vietnamese civilians are massacred at My Lai by U.S. troops
March 31
In the wake of the Tet Offensive and given the rising popularity of his rivals, Lyndon Johnson withdraws from the Presidential race with the famous words I shall not seek and I will not accept the nomination of my party . . .
April 4
Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated on the balcony of a Memphis hotel, sparking national grief and racial violence in cities nationwide.
April 11
Days after Martin Luther Kings death, President Johnson signs into law the historic Civil Rights Act of 1968
April 23
An 8-day student sit-in takes place at Columbia University. Students protesting links to the Defense Department take over 5 buildings and more than 600 are arrested
April 29
The musical Hair opens at the Biltmore Theatre in New York
May 3
The city of Paris, France is shut down for days by massive student riots and worker strikes involving more than 10 million people
May 30
Robert Kennedy loses the Oregon primary to Eugene McCarthy, marking the first time a Kennedy had ever lost an election
June 1
Simon and Garfunkels Mrs. Robinson hits number one on the charts
June 3
Poor Peoples March on Washington takes place
June 3
Artist Andy Warhol is shot in his New York studio, The Factory, by Valerie Solanas. Though seriously wounded, he survives.
June 4
Dodger Don Drysdale pitches his sixth straight shut-out game
June 4
Robert Kennedy wins the California Primary, putting him in prime position to take the Democratic nomination in Chicago
June 5
Shortly after midnight, after making a rousing victory speech in the ballroom of the Ambassador Hotel, Kennedy is shot and mortally wounded. Five others are also shot during the melee, but they all survive. Kennedy remains conscious until the ambulance arrives, asking if everyone else is all right.
June 6
Robert F. Kennedy dies in Good Samaritan Hospital, at the age of 42
August 8
Richard Nixon is nominated for President by the Republican Party
August 20
The Soviets invade Czechoslovakia, crushing its fledgling democratic movement
August 24
France becomes the worlds fifth nuclear power
August 26
The Democratic National Convention in Chicago descends into chaos and violence as thousands take to the street in protests and demonstrations, clashing with police
August 29
The Democratic party nominates Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey for President; Humphrey is nominated without winning a single primary.
November 5
Richard M. Nixon is elected President of the United States
