The Year 1968 From The People History

1968 In both Europe and America Japanese imported cars and other goods were continuing to rise and trouble the governments of UK and USA as they worried about industries in their own countries being effected and jobs lost. In the spring of 1968 on 4th April The Rev Martin Luther King was assassinated and Robert Kennedy was mortally wounded. The peace movement had continued to grow and more and more Americans were against the war in Vietnam, and once again more riots occurred throughout cities in America. The music scene was once again set by the "Beatles" and the "Rolling Stones" , and fashion flirted with see through blouses and midis and maxis skirts joined the Mini Skirt as part of the fashion trends. There is a Flu Pandemic in Hong Kong and the first Black power salute is seen on Television worldwide during an Olympics medal ceremony

What Events Happened in 1968

• Anti Vietnam War protests throughout the western world

• North Vietnam and Viet Cong troops launch the Tet offensive

• Vietnam US soldiers massacre men, women and children in My lai

• President Lyndon Johnson orders an end to the bombing of North Vietnam

• Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Leader of Negro Civil Rights Movement is killed by James Earl Ray which leads to Violence and Race Riots in US Cities

• Following the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968

• RMS Queen Elizabeth - retired from service

• Dutch Elm Disease continues to increase with tens of thousands of trees now destroyed

• British Post office introduces First Class Post

• China celebrates 20 years of communist rule by Mao Tse-tung

• Senator Robert Kennedy is assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles

• Earthquake in Sicily - 231 dead, 262 injured.

• Enoch Powell's delivers his "Rivers of Blood" anti immigration speech

• The new wide ranging race relations act goes into force

• The Third Heart transplant is performed in South Africa By Dr Christian N Barnard

• London Bridge sold for 1 million. and later re-erected in Arizona.

• President Johnson announces on nationwide television he would not run for another term of office

• The Redwood National Park is created in California to protect the Giant Redwoods.

• Pope Paul VI bans Catholics from using the contraceptive pill for birth control

• 50,000 people participated in " The Poor Peoples March " on June 19th Washington, D.C.

• Population in Europe reaches 455 million ( excluding USSR )

• The Kray twins, arrested for the murders of George Cornell and Jack 'The Hat' McVitie, members of the London underworld.

• The Zodiac serial murderer begins his reign of terror in California in what has been described as the perfect crime ( He claimed in letters sent to the newspapers to have murdered 37, but police files put the number at 11. ( He has never been caught )

• Televisions Installed increases 25 million US , 20.5 million Japan , 19 Million Great Britain

• France becomes the world's fifth nuclear power

• Alec Rose completes his single-handed 354-day round-the-world trip.

• Pierre Elliott Trudeau becomes the Prime Minister of Canada

• Student Occupation at Columbia University over Universities affiliation with the Institute for Defense.

• Aristotle Onassis and Jacqueline Kennedy marry

• The Ferry "TEV Wahine" capsizes in Wellington Harbour, New Zealand

• The nuclear-powered U.S. submarine Scorpion sank in the Atlantic Ocean with the loss of 99 crew members.

• Hong Kong Flu pandemic begins in Hong Kong.

• Student riots threaten Mexico Olympics when thousands of students protest against the military occupation of the National Polytechnic Institute.

• Black power salute is seen on Television worldwide after the gold and bronze medalists in Olympics show salute during medal ceremony in Mexico City, Mexico

• The Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia was to provide political liberalization but was crushed by Warsaw Pact countries

• The Soviet Union invades Czechoslovakia and arrests President Dubcek "Prague Spring"

• The Aswan Dam in Egypt is completed

• The Gateway Arch in St. Louis is dedicated

• Truth In Lending Act is passed to protect consumers during credit transactions.

• The border between Spain and Gibraltar is closed

• Equatorial Guinea Gains Independence From Spain

• The Winter Olympic Games are held in Grenoble, France

• 800,000 teachers, workers and student protestors marched through the French capital during a one day general strike

Technology

• Boeing 747 made its maiden flight.



• NASA launches Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission



• Apollo 8 orbits the Moon, becoming the first manned space mission to achieve the feat.



• Dr. Christian Barnard performs the first successful heart transplant.



• US Explodes experimental hydrogen Bomb.



• The Emergency 911 Telephone service is started in the USA which provides a single number for reporting emergencies and is manned 24 hrs per day 365 days per year
• ATM First Philadelphia Bank installs the first automated teller machine in the U.S.

Popular Culture 1968

The first Big Mac goes on sale in McDonalds costing 49 cents
The Beatles create Apple Records and record "Hey Jude" as the first single on the label
The CBS television newsmagazine program "60 Minutes" shown for the first time
Musical Hair opens at Shaftesbury Theatre in London featuring nudity and drug-taking

Popular Films

• The Graduate
• Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
• Bonnie and Clyde
• Valley of the Dolls
• The Odd Couple
• Planet of the Apes
• Rosemary's Baby

What do you remember ? was this the year you graduated ?, what music was being played the year you were born?

Popular Musicians

• The Rolling Stones
• The Supremes
• The Beatles with " Hey Jude "
• Fleetwood Mac
• Aretha Franklin
• Gary Puckett and The Union Gap
• The Grateful Dead
• The Monkees
• Simon and Garfunkel " Mrs Robinson "
• The Beach Boys
• The Bee Gees
• The Jimi Hendrix Experience
• Cream
• The Doors " Hello I Love You "
• Pink Floyd
• Moody Blues
• Bobby Goldsboro " Honey "
• Marvin Gaye " I heard it through the Grapevine "
• David Bowie

Major World Political Leaders 1968

Australia Prime Minister John McEwen Till 19 December
Australia Prime Minister John Gorton From 19 December

Brazil President Costa e Silva

Canada Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson till April 20,
Canada Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau from April 20,

China Chairman of the People's Republic of China Liu Shaoqi

France President Charles de Gaulle

Germany Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger

India Prime Minister Indira Gandhi

Italy Prime Minister Aldo Moro Till 24 June
Italy Prime Minister Giovanni Leone From 24 June
Italy Prime Minister Giovanni Leone Till 12 December
Italy Prime Minister Mariano Rumor From 12 December

Japan Prime Minister Eisaku Sato

Mexico President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz

Russia / Soviet Union
First Secretary of the CPSU Leonid Brezhnev

South Africa Prime Minister Balthazar Johannes Vorster

United States President Lyndon B. Johnson

United Kingdom Prime Minister Harold Wilson

Political Elections 1968

United States Presidential Election 1968 Richard Nixon (Republican) defeats Hubert Humphrey (Democratic) and George Wallace (American Independent)


Canadian Federal Election 1968 Pierre Trudeau ( Liberal ) defeats Robert Stanfield ( Progressive Conservatives )


The Information above is taken from our new page that gives world leaders from 1920 to current.
WorldLeaders