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1968 - Definition and Overview |
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Events
Undated
January
February
March
April
May
- May - "May of 68" is a symbol of the resistance of that generation. Agitations and strikes in Paris led many young to believe that a revolution was starting. Student and worker strikes sometimes referred to as the French May nearly bring down the French government
- May 22 - The nuclear-powered submarine the USS Scorpion sinks with 99 men aboard 400 miles southwest of the Azores
June
July
August
September
October
- October 2 - A student demonstration ends in a massacre at the La Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Tlatelolco, Mexico City, Mexico.
- October 5 - A civil rights march in Derry, (of the six counties of northern) Ireland, which included several Stormont and British MPs, is batoned off the streets by the Royal Ulster Constabulary
- October 8 - Vietnam War: Operation Sealords - United States and South Vietnamese forces launched a new operation in the Mekong Delta
- October 11 - Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission, with astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele and Walter Cunningham aboard. Goals for the mission include the first live television broadcast from orbit and testing the lunar module docking maneuver
- October 14 - Vietnam War: The United States Department of Defense announces that the United States Army and United States Marines will be sending about 24,000 troops back to Vietnam for involuntary second tours
- October 16 - Tommie Smith and John Carlos, two African-Americans competing in the Olympic 200 meter run, raise their arms in a black power salute after winning the gold and bronze medals for first and third place.
- October 16 - Kingston, Jamaica is rocked by the Rodney Riots, inspired by the banning of Walter Rodney from the country.
- October 20 - Aristotle Onassis and Jacqueline Kennedy marry on the Greek island of Skorpios
- October 31 - Vietnam War: Citing progress with the Paris peace talks, US 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.
November
December
Year in topic
Births
January
February
- February 1 - Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis Presley, actress
- February 5 - Roberto Alomar, baseball player
- February 8 - Gary Coleman, actor
- February 14 - Jules Asner, model, television personality
- February 22 - Brad Nowell, Musician
- February 22 - Jeri Ryan, actress (Star Trek: Voyager, Boston Public)
- February 27 - Matt Stairs, professional baseball player
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
- September 1 - Mohammed Atta, Egyptian hijacker and alleged terrorist
- September 4 - Mike Piazza, baseball start
- September 7 - Marcel Desailly, French footballer
- September 11 - Kay Hanley, musician
- September 18 - Toni Kukoc, Croatian basketball player
- September 20 - Darrell Russell, NHRA drag racer (d. 2004)
- September 25 - Will Smith, rapper, actor
- September 26 - James Caviezel, actor (The Passion of the Christ)
- September 28 - Naomi Watts, actress (Mulholland Drive, 21 Grams)
October
November
December
Deaths
- January 19 - Ray Harroun, first winner of the Indianapolis 500 (b. 1879)
- January 22 - Duke Kahanamoku, American swimmer (b. 1890)
- January 26 - Merrill C. Meigs, newspaper publisher, aviation promoter (b. 1883)
- February 4 - Neal Cassady, writer (b. 1926)
- February 11 - Howard Lindsay, United States playwright
- February 20 - Anthony Asquith, British director, writer (b. 1902)
- February 22 - Peter Arno, cartoonist (b. 1904)
- February 27 - Frankie Lymon, singer (b. 1942)
- March 27 - Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space (and the first to orbit the Earth) (b. 1934)
- April 1 - Lev Davidovich Landau, Russian physicist (b. 1908)
- April 4 - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights activist, minister (b. 1929)
- April 7 - Jimmy Clark, racing driver (b. 1936)
- April 10 - Gustavs Celmins, politician (b. 1899)
- April 14 - Al Benton, Major League Baseball player (b. 1911)
- April 25 - John Tewksbury, American athlete (b. 1876)
- May 9 - Mercedes de Acosta, American poet, playwright, costume designer, and socialite (b. 1893)
- June 1 - Helen Keller, spokeswoman for deaf and blind (b. 1880)
- June 6 - Robert F. Kennedy, U.S. Senator (assassinated) (b. 1925)
- June 15 - Sam Crawford, Baseball Hall of Famer (b. 1880)
- July 11 - Mervyn Peake, British writer and illustrator (b. 1911)
- August 27 - Her Royal Highness Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent (b. 1906)
- September 12 - Tommy Armour, professional golfer (b. 1894)
- October 30 - Rose Wilder Lane, author, reporter (b. 1886)
- November 4 - Michel Kikoine, Belarus painter (b. 1892)
- November 6 - Charles Munch, French conductor and violinist (b. 1891)
- November 26 - Arnold Zweig, German writer (b. 1887)
- December 10 - Thomas Merton, American author (b. 1915)
- December 12 - Tallulah Bankhead, American actress (b. 1902)
- December 19 - Norman Thomas, Socialist Party leader (b. 1884)
- December 20 - John Steinbeck, American writer (b. 1902)
- December 30 - Trygve Lie, the first United Nations Secretary General (b. 1896)
- December 30 - Vladimir Peter Tytla, United States animator (b. 1904)
- Berthold Bartosch, Bohemian animator (b. 1893).
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