What Happened in 1968 — Events, Births & Deaths

Alexander Dubček comes to power in Czechoslovakia, effectively beginning the "Prague Spring".

Aeroflot Flight 1668 crashes near Olyokminsk, killing 45.

Surveyor program: Surveyor 7, the last spacecraft in the Surveyor series, lifts off from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 36A.

Johnny Cash performs live at Folsom State Prison.

Vietnam War, Battle of Khe Sanh: One of the most publicized and controversial battles of the war begins.

A B-52 bomber crashes near Thule Air Base, contaminating the area after its nuclear payload ruptures. One of the four bombs remains unaccounted for after the cleanup operation is complete.

Apollo Program: Apollo 5 lifts off carrying the first Lunar module into space.

Operation Igloo White, a US electronic surveillance system to stop communist infiltration into South Vietnam begins installation.

USS Pueblo (AGER-2) is attacked and seized by the Korean People's Navy.

Vietnam War: The 1st Australian Task Force launches Operation Coburg against the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong during wider fighting around Long Bình and Biên Hòa.

Vietnam War: Tet Offensive launch by forces of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army against South Vietnam, the United States, and their allies.

Vietnam War: Viet Cong guerrillas attack the United States embassy in Saigon, and other attacks, in the early morning hours, later grouped together as the Tet Offensive.

Vietnam War: The execution of Viet Cong officer Nguyễn Văn Lém by South Vietnamese National Police Chief Nguyễn Ngọc Loan is recorded on motion picture film, as well as in an iconic still photograph taken by Eddie Adams.

Canada's three military services, the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force, are unified into the Canadian Forces.

The New York Central Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad are merged to form Penn Central Transportation.

American civil rights movement: An attack on Black students from South Carolina State University who are protesting racial segregation leaves three dead and 28 injured in Orangeburg, South Carolina.

Vietnam War: The Phong Nhị and Phong Nhất massacre occurs, allegedly by South Korean troops.

In Haleyville, Alabama, the first 9-1-1 emergency telephone system goes into service.

Civil Air Transport Flight 010 crashes near Shongshan Airport in Taiwan, killing 21 of the 63 people on board and one more on the ground.

The China Academy of Space Technology, China's main arm for the research, development, and creation of space satellites, is established in Beijing.

Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive is halted; South Vietnamese forces led by Ngô Quang Trưởng recapture the citadel of Hué.

Aeroflot Flight 15 crashes Irkutsk Oblast, Soviet Union, due to a loss of control. Eighty-three of the 84 occupants onboard die. The exact cause of the accident is unknown.

Baggeridge Colliery closes, marking the end of over 300 years of coal mining in the Black Country.

Air France Flight 212 crashes into La Grande Soufrière, killing all 63 aboard.

Mauritius gains independence from the United Kingdom.

Vietnam War: My Lai massacre occurs; between 347 and 500 Vietnamese villagers are killed by American troops.

As a result of nerve gas testing by the U.S. Army Chemical Corps in Skull Valley, Utah, over 6,000 sheep are found dead.

Gold standard: The U.S. Congress repeals the requirement for a gold reserve to back US currency.

Battle of Karameh in Jordan between the Israel Defense Forces and the combined forces of the Jordanian Armed Forces and PLO.

Brazilian high school student Edson Luís de Lima Souto is killed by military police at a student protest.

The funeral of Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, begins in Moscow, with thousands of people in attendance.

American President Lyndon B. Johnson speaks to the nation of "Steps to Limit the War in Vietnam" in a television address. At the conclusion of his speech, he announces: "I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President."

Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech; he was assassinated the next day.

Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 6.

In the downtown district of Richmond, Indiana, a double explosion kills 41 and injures 150.

Pierre Elliott Trudeau wins the Liberal Party leadership election, and becomes Prime Minister of Canada soon afterward.

Two-time Formula One British World Champion Jim Clark dies in an accident during a Formula Two race in Hockenheim.

BOAC Flight 712 catches fire shortly after takeoff. As a result of her actions in the accident, Barbara Jane Harrison is awarded a posthumous George Cross, the only GC awarded to a woman in peacetime.

The TEV Wahine, a New Zealand ferry, sinks in Wellington harbour due to a fierce storm – the strongest winds ever in Wellington. Out of the 734 people on board, fifty-three died.

US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing.

A failed assassination attempt on Rudi Dutschke, leader of the German student movement, leaves Dutschke suffering from brain damage.

English politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial "Rivers of Blood" speech.

South African Airways Flight 228 crashes near J.G. Strijdom Airport in South West Africa (now Hosea Kutako International Airport in Namibia), killing 123 people.

Vietnam War: Student protesters at Columbia University in New York City take over administration buildings and shut down the university.

Eighty-five people are killed when Braniff International Airways Flight 352 crashes near Dawson, Texas.

Vietnam War: North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces attack Australian troops defending Fire Support Base Coral.

The nuclear-powered submarine USS Scorpion sinks with 99 men aboard, 400 nautical miles (740 km) southwest of the Azores.

The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri, is dedicated.

H-dagurinn in Iceland: Traffic changes from driving on the left to driving on the right overnight.

Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 892 crashes near Nala Sopara in India, killing 30.

Charles de Gaulle reappears publicly after his flight to Baden-Baden, West Germany, and dissolves the French National Assembly by a radio appeal. Immediately after, less than one million of his supporters march on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. This is the turning point of the May 1968 events in France.

Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan.

James Earl Ray, the man who assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. is arrested at London Heathrow Airport.

U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a national day of mourning following the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy.

Lloyd J. Old identifies the first cell surface antigens that could differentiate among different cell types.

Seventy-four people were killed and 150 others injured in a stampede at a football match between Boca Juniors and Club Atlético River Plate in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Pope Paul VI issues the Credo of the People of God.

The United States Central Intelligence Agency's Phoenix Program is officially established.

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is signed in Washington, D.C., London and Moscow by sixty-two countries.

Formal separation of the United Auto Workers from the AFL–CIO in the United States.

Abdul Rahman Arif is overthrown and the Ba'ath Party is installed as the governing power in Iraq with Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr as the new Iraqi President.

Intel is founded in Mountain View, California.

The first International Special Olympics Summer Games are held at Soldier Field in Chicago, with about 1,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities.

Glenville shootout: In Cleveland, Ohio, a violent shootout between a Black Militant organization and the Cleveland Police Department occurs. During the shootout, a riot begins and lasts for five days.

The only successful hijacking of an El Al aircraft takes place when a Boeing 707 carrying ten crew and 38 passengers is taken over by three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The aircraft was en route from Rome, Italy to Lod, Israel.

Vietnam War: South Vietnamese opposition leader Trương Đình Dzu is sentenced to five years hard labor for advocating the formation of a coalition government as a way to move toward an end to the war.

The coronation of Hassanal Bolkiah, the 29th Sultan of Brunei, is held.

An earthquake hits Casiguran, Aurora, Philippines killing more than 270 people and wounding 261.

Alexandros Panagoulis attempts to assassinate the Greek dictator Colonel Georgios Papadopoulos in Varkiza, Athens.

Cold War: Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia, crushing the Prague Spring. East German participation is limited to a few specialists due to memories of the recent war. Only Albania and Romania refuse to participate.

Cold War: Nicolae Ceaușescu, leader of the Socialist Republic of Romania, publicly condemns the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, encouraging the Romanian population to arm itself against possible Soviet reprisals.

James Anderson Jr. posthumously receives the first Medal of Honor to be awarded to an African American U.S. Marine.

Pope Paul VI arrives in Bogotá, Colombia. It is the first visit of a pope to Latin America.

Police and protesters clash during 1968 Democratic National Convention protests as protesters chant "The whole world is watching".

Start of the Congress of Carrara, one of the major 20th century anarchist congresses.

Operation OAU begins during the Nigerian Civil War.

End of the Congress of Carrara, one of the major 20th century anarchist congresses.

Swaziland becomes independent.

Air France Flight 1611 crashes off Nice, France, killing 89 passengers and six crew.

John Eliot Gardiner conducts Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine with the Monteverdi Choir at the Proms.

Air Canada Flight 303, a Vickers Viscount 757, was the subject of an attempted plane hijacking to Cuba by a person being chased by the CIA.

Cold War: Albania leaves the Warsaw Pact.

The Soviet Zond 5 spaceship is launched, becoming the first spacecraft to fly around the Moon and re-enter the Earth's atmosphere.

The Boeing 747 is rolled out and shown to the public for the first time.

Guyana nationalizes the British Guiana Broadcasting Service, which would eventually become part of the National Communications Network, Guyana.

Mexican President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz orders soldiers to suppress a demonstration of unarmed students, ten days before the start of the 1968 Summer Olympics.

A Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march in Derry is violently suppressed by police.

NASA launches Apollo 7, the first successful crewed Apollo mission.

Equatorial Guinea becomes independent from Spain.

Apollo program: The first live television broadcast by American astronauts in orbit is performed by the Apollo 7 crew.

The 6.5 Mw Meckering earthquake shakes the southwest portion of Western Australia with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), causing $2.2 million in damage and leaving 20–28 people injured.

Jim Hines becomes the first man ever to break the so-called "ten-second barrier" in the 100-meter sprint with a time of 9.95 seconds.

Tommie Smith and John Carlos are ejected from the US Olympic team for participating in the Olympics Black Power salute.

Kingston, Jamaica is rocked by the Rodney riots, inspired by the barring of Walter Rodney from the country.

Yasunari Kawabata becomes the first Japanese person to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

A Fairchild F-27 crashes into Moose Mountain while on approach to Lebanon Municipal Airport in Lebanon, New Hampshire, killing 32 people.

Soyuz 2 is launched.

Space Race: The Soyuz 3 mission achieves the first Soviet space rendezvous.

A squad of 120 North Korean Army commandos land in boats along a 25-mile long section of the eastern coast of South Korea in a failed attempt to overthrow the dictatorship of Park Chung Hee and bring about the reunification of Korea.

Vietnam War October surprise: 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.

Great Drought of 1968: Amidst a collapse of hydropower President of Chile Eduardo Frei Montalva decrees the establishment of daylight saving time.

The Motion Picture Association of America's film rating system is officially introduced, originating with the ratings G, M, R, and X.

Richard Nixon is elected as 37th President of the United States.

The Vienna Convention on Road Traffic is signed to facilitate international road traffic and to increase road safety by standardising the uniform traffic rules among the signatories.

Vietnam War: Operation Commando Hunt initiated. The goal is to interdict men and supplies on the Ho Chi Minh trail, through Laos into South Vietnam.

The Cleveland Transit System becomes the first transit system in the western hemisphere to provide direct rapid transit service from a city's downtown to its major airport.

British European Airways introduces the BAC One-Eleven into commercial service.

Viewers of the Raiders–Jets football game in the eastern United States are denied the opportunity to watch its exciting finish when NBC broadcasts Heidi instead, prompting changes to sports broadcasting in the U.S.

A total of 78 miners are killed in an explosion at the Consolidated Coal Company's No. 9 mine in Farmington, West Virginia in the Farmington Mine disaster.

Japan Air Lines Flight 2 accidentally ditches in San Francisco Bay while on approach to San Francisco International Airport. No one is injured.

The Old Student House in Helsinki, Finland is occupied by a large group of University of Helsinki students.

Vietnam War: United States Air Force helicopter pilot James P. Fleming rescues an Army Special Forces unit pinned down by Viet Cong fire. He is later awarded the Medal of Honor.

Penny Ann Early becomes the first woman to play in a major professional men's basketball league, for the Kentucky Colonels in an ABA game against the Los Angeles Stars.

Wien Consolidated Airlines Flight 55 crashes into Pedro Bay, Alaska, killing all 39 people on board.

Douglas Engelbart gave what became known as "The Mother of All Demos", publicly debuting the computer mouse, hypertext, and the bit-mapped graphical user interface using the oN-Line System (NLS).

Japan's biggest heist, the still-unsolved "300 million yen robbery", is carried out in Tokyo.

Brazilian President Artur da Costa e Silva issues AI-5 (Institutional Act No. 5), enabling government by decree and suspending habeas corpus.

Second Vatican Council: Official revocation of the Edict of Expulsion of Jews from Spain.

The Zodiac Killer murders his first two officially confirmed victims, David Arthur Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, on Lake Herman Road in Benicia, California, United States.

Apollo program: Apollo 8 is launched from the Kennedy Space Center, placing its crew on a lunar trajectory for the first visit to another celestial body by humans.

Cultural Revolution: People's Daily posted the instructions of Mao Zedong that "The intellectual youth must go to the country, and will be educated from living in rural poverty."

The 82 sailors from the USS Pueblo are released after eleven months of internment in North Korea.

Apollo program: The crew of Apollo 8 enters into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so. They performed ten lunar orbits, took the Earthrise photograph, broadcast live TV pictures, and read the first ten verses of Genesis.

Allegheny Airlines Flight 736 crashes on approach to Bradford Regional Airport, killing 20.

Apollo program: Apollo 8 performs the first successful Trans-Earth injection (TEI) maneuver, sending the crew and spacecraft on a trajectory back to Earth from Lunar orbit.

Kilvenmani massacre: Forty-four Dalits (untouchables) are burnt to death in Kizhavenmani village, Tamil Nadu, a retaliation for a campaign for higher wages by Dalit laborers.

The Communist Party of the Philippines is established by Jose Maria Sison, breaking away from the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas-1930.

Pan Am Flight 799 crashes during takeoff from Elmendorf Air Force Base, killing three.

Apollo program: Apollo 8 splashes down in the Pacific Ocean, ending the first orbital crewed mission to the Moon.

North Central Airlines Flight 458 crashes at O'Hare International Airport, killing 28.

The first flight of the Tupolev Tu-144, the first civilian supersonic transport in the world.

MacRobertson Miller Airlines Flight 1750 crashes near Port Hedland, Western Australia, killing all 26 people on board.

Julia Morris, Australian entertainer

Robert F. Kennedy, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 64th United States Attorney General (assassinated) (born 1925)

Dan Duryea, American actor and singer (born 1907)

Konstantin Paustovsky, Russian author and poet (born 1892)

Vittorio Pozzo, Italian footballer, coach, and manager (born 1886)