{{yearbox|
in?= |
cp=19th century|
c=20th century |
cf=21st century |
yp1=1965 |
yp2=1966 |
yp3=1967 |
year=1968 |
ya1=1969 |
ya2=1970 |
ya3=1971 |
dp3=1930s |
dp2=1940s |
dp1=1950s |
d=1960s |
dn1=1970s |
dn2=1980s |
dn3=1990s |
}}
{{C20YearInTopic}}
'''1968''' '''(MCMLXVIII)''' was a Leap_year_starting_on_Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar).
==Events==
{{Year GF}}
===January===
* January_5 - Alexander_Dubček elected as the leader of the Czechoslovakian Communist Party - the "Prague_Spring" begins in Czechoslovakia.
* January_15 - An Earthquake occurs in Sicily - 231 dead, 262 injured.
* January_21 - US B-52_Stratofortress crashes in Greenland and in the process discharges four Nuclear_bombs.
* January_23 - North_Korea seizes the ''USS_Pueblo'', claiming the ship violated its territorial waters while spying.
* January_25 - The Israeli Submarine ''Dakar'' sinks in the Mediterranean Sea - 69 dead.
* January_27 - French submarine sinks in the Mediterranean with 52 men.
* January_30 - Vietnam_War: The Tet_Offensive begins, as Viet_Cong forces launch a series of surprise attacks across South_Vietnam.
* January_31 - Viet_Cong soldiers attack the United_States Embassy in Saigon.
* January_31 - Nauru's president Hammer_DeRoburt declares independence from Australia.
===February===
* February - Classical_Gas by Mason_Williams is released.
* February_1 - Vietnam_War: A Viet_Cong officer is executed by Nguyen_Ngoc_Loan a South_Vietnamese National Police Chief. The execution was videotaped and photographed and helped sway public opinion against the war.
* February_8 - Boeing_747 made its maiden flight.
* February_8 - American_civil_rights_movement: A Civil_rights protest staged at a white-only Bowling_alley in Orangeburg,_South_Carolina is broken-up by highway patrolmen leading to the deaths of three college students.
* February_11 - Israeli-Jordan border clashes.
* February_11 - Madison_Square_Garden III closes, Madison_Square_Garden IV opens in New_York.
* February_13 - Civil rights disturbances at the University_of_Wisconsin and University_of_North_Carolina.
* February_16 - In Haleyville,_Alabama the first 9-1-1 emergency telephone system goes into service.
* February_18 - British_Standard_Time introduced.
* February_24 - Vietnam_War: The Tet_Offensive is halted - South_Vietnam recaptures Hué.
* February_28 - Ex-singer Frankie_Lymon is found dead from Heroin Overdose.
===March===
* March_7 - Vietnam_War: The First_Battle_of_Saigon begins.
* March_12 - Mauritius achieves independence from British Rule.
* March_14 - Nerve_gas leaks from US Army Dugway_Proving_Ground near Skull_Valley,_Utah.
* March_15 - George_Brown, British Foreign_Secretary, resigns.
* March_16 - Vietnam_War: My_Lai_massacre American troops kills scores of women and children.
* March_17 - A demonstration in London's Grosvenor_Square against US involvement in the Vietnam_War leads to violence - 91 police injured, 200 demonstrators arrested.
* March_18 - Gold_standard: The U.S. Congress repeals the requirement for a Gold reserve to back US currency.
* March_27 - Russian space pioneer Yuri_Gagarin killed in a crash during a training flight.
* March_31 - American President Lyndon_Johnson announces he will not seek re-election.
===April===
* April - Carl_Brashear, the first African_American United_States_Navy diver, becomes the first amputee certified to make diving missions, after a long battle which started with the accident which amputated his leg in 1966.
* April_2 - Bombs placed by Andreas_Baader and Gudrun_Ensslin explode at midnight in two department stores in Frankfurt-am-Main - 3 dead. Culprits are later arrested and sentenced for Arson.
* April_4 - Martin_Luther_King,_Jr assassinated.
* April_7 - Racing driver Jim_Clark killed in a Formula_2 race at Hockenheim.
* April_11 - London_Bridge sold to Robert_McCullough for £1 million. It is later re-erected in Arizona.
* April_11 - Joseph_Bachmann tries to assassinate Rudi_Dutschke, leader of a left-wing movement.APO in Germany and tries to commit suicide afterwards – failing in both.
* April_11 - German left-wing students blockade the Springer Press HQ in Berlin and many are arrested - one of them Ulrike_Meinhof.
* April_20 - Pierre_Elliott_Trudeau becomes Canada's fifteenth prime minister.
* April_20 - English politician Enoch_Powell makes controversial Rivers_of_Blood_Speech.
* April_23-April_30 - Vietnam_War: Student protesters at Columbia_University in New_York_City take over administration buildings and shut down the university.
* April_23 - Mobutu releases captured mercenaries in Congo.
* April_23 - Surgeons at the Hopital_de_la_Pitie, Paris, perform Europe's first heart transplant on Clovis_Roblain.
* April_29 - Official opening of the musical ''Hair'' on Broadway.
===May-June===
* May -'' "May of 68"'' is a symbol of the resistance of that generation. Agitations and strikes in Paris leads many young to believe that a ''revolution '' is starting. Student and worker strikes sometimes referred to as the French_May nearly bring down the French government.
* May_1 - Professor Giorgios_Rosas declares independence of his platform nation Isle_of_the_Roses off Rimini, Italy. Italian troops demolish it two months later.
* May_2 - The Israel_Broadcasting_Authority commence television broadcasts.
* May_22 - The US nuclear-powered Submarine the USS ''Scorpion'' sinks with 99 men aboard 400 miles southwest of the Azores.
* June_1 - Helen_Keller dies in her sleep in Connecticut.
* June_3 - Valerie_Solanas shoots Andy_Warhol as he enters his studio, wounding him.
* June_5 - U.S. presidential candidate Robert_F._Kennedy is shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los_Angeles,_California by Sirhan_Sirhan. Kennedy died from his injuries the next day.
* June_8 - James_Earl_Ray is arrested for the murder of Doctor Martin Luther King Jr.
* June_10 - Italy beat Yugoslavia 2-0 in a replay to win the 1968 European Championship. The original final on June_8 ended 1-1.
* June_20 - Austin_Currie, Member of Parliament (MP) at Stormont in Northern_Ireland, along with others, squats a house in Caledon to protest discrimination in housing allocations.
* June_23 - Soccer stampede in Buenos_Aires - 74 dead, 150 injured.
* June_29 - Pope_Paul_VI announces an Encyclical entitled "Humanae_Vitae", condemning Birth_control.
===July-September===
* July_1 - The CIA's Phoenix_Program is officially established.
* July_4 - 59-year-old Yachtsman Alec_Rose received a hero's welcome as he sailed into Portsmouth after his 354-day round-the-world trip.
* July_15 - The Soap_opera One_Life_to_Live premieres on the ABC network.
* July_17 - Saddam_Hussein becomes the Vice Chairman of the Revolutionary Council in Iraq after a coup d'état.
* July_23-July_28 - African_American militants led by Fred_(Ahmed)_Evans engage in a fierce gunfight with police in the Glenville_Shootout of Cleveland,_Ohio
* July_26 - Vietnam War: South Vietnamese opposition leader Truong_Dinh_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.
* July_29 - Arenal_Volcano erupts in Costa_Rica for the first time for centuries.
* August_20 - 200,000 Warsaw_Pact troops and 5,000 Tanks invade Czechoslovakia to end the "Prague_Spring" of political liberalization.
* August_22-August_30 - Police clash with antiwar protesters in Chicago,_Illinois outside the 1968_Democratic_National_Convention.
* September_6 - Swaziland becomes independent.
* September_17 - the D'Oliveira_Affair - Marylebone_Cricket_Club tour of South_Africa is cancelled when the South Africans refuse to accept the presence of Basil_D'Oliveira, a Cape_Coloured, in the side.
* September_27 - Marcelo_Caetano becomes Prime_minister of Portugal.
* September_29 - A Referendum in Greece gives more power to the military junta.
===October===
* October_2 - A student demonstration ends in a massacre at La Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Tlatelolco, Mexico_City, Mexico ten days before the inauguration of the 1968_Summer_Olympics.
* 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_12 - The Games_of_the_XIX_Olympiad in Mexico_City, Mexico is inaugurated. The games concludes October 27th.
* 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_19 - Cool_dela_Peña is born in Paniqui, Tarlac.
* 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===
* November_5 - U.S._presidential_election,_1968: In one of the closest elections in US history, Republican challenger Richard_M._Nixon defeats Vice President Hubert_Humphrey and American_Independent_Party candidate George C. Wallace.
* November_5 - Luis_A._Ferre is elected Governor_of_Puerto_Rico.
* December_6 - Donald_Crowhurst leaves to sail around the globe in hopes of winning Golden Globe award of ''Sunday_Times''.
* November_11 - Vietnam_War: Operation_Commando_Hunt initiated to interdict men and supplies on the Ho_Chi_Minh_Trail, through Laos into South_Vietnam. By the end of the operation, 3 million tons of bombs are dropped on Laos, slowing but not seriously disrupting trail operations.
* November_11 - A second Republic is declared in the Maldives.
* November_14 - Yale_University announced it is going co-educational.
* November_26 - Vietnam_War: United_States_Air_Force 1st Lt. and Bell_UH-1F helicopter pilot James_P._Fleming rescues an Army Special_Forces unit pinned down by Viet_Cong fire, earning a Medal_of_Honor for his bravery.
* December_9 - Douglas_Engelbart publicly demonstrates his pioneering Hypertext system, NLS, in San_Francisco.
* December_13 - Nichols_Hall on the campus of Kansas_State_University in Manhattan,_Kansas burns to the ground precipitating the use of the Wabash_Cannonball as a KSU fight song.
* December_24 - US spacecraft Apollo_8 enters orbit around the moon. Astronauts Frank_Borman, Jim_Lovell and William_A._Anders become the first humans to see the far side of the Moon and planet Earth as a whole.
===Undated===
* Booker_Prize_for_Fiction is established by Booker Plc.
* 1968 is known as the year of the Prague_Spring and also the year of the Paris riots.
* The ASCII character code is standardized as ANSI Standard X3.4.
* Nauru adopt its national anthem of the Nauru_Bwiema.
* The Hong_Kong_Flu Pandemic begins in Hong_Kong.
* The International_Baccalaureate_Organisation is founded.
* _Equatorial_Guinea became independent from Spain.
* In Panama Gen. Omar_Torrijos with a coupe d`etat became president and leader.
==Births==
===January-March===
* January_2 - Cuba_Gooding_Jr., American actor
* January_6 - John_Singleton, American film director and writer
* January_14 - LL_Cool_J, American rapper and actor
* January_24 - Mary_Lou_Retton, American gymnast
* January_27 - Mike_Patton, American singer
* January_28 - Sarah_McLachlan, Canadian singer
* January_29 - Edward_Burns, American actor
* February_1 - Lisa_Marie_Presley, American actress
* February_3 - Oscar_Cabot, Vice-President Bonicca Natural Body Care
* February_5 - Roberto_Alomar, baseball player
* February_8 - Gary_Coleman, American actor
* February_10 - Atika_Suri, Indonesian television newscaster
* February_14 - Jules_Asner, American model and television personality
* February_22 - Brad_Nowell, American musician (d. 1996)
* February_22 - Jeri_Ryan, American actress
* February_27 - Matt_Stairs, baseball player
* March_4 - Patsy_Kensit, English actress
* March_11 - Lisa_Loeb, American singer
* March_15 - Mark_McGrath, American musician (Sugar_Ray)
* March_23 - Mike_Atherton, English cricketer
* March_23 - Damon_Albarn, English musician (Blur and Gorillaz)
* March_26 - Kenny_Chesney, American musician
* March_26 - James_Iha, American musician (Smashing_Pumpkins)
* March_28 - Iris_Chang, American author (d. 2004)
* March_28 - Nasser_Hussain, English cricketer
* March_29 - Lucy_Lawless, New Zealand actress and singer
* March_30 - Céline_Dion, Canadian singer
===April-June===
* April_3 - Sebastian_Bach, West Indian-born musician (Skid Row)
* April_8 - Patricia_Arquette, American actress
* April_15 - Stacey_Williams, American model
* April_19 - Ashley_Judd, American actress
* April_23 - Timothy_McVeigh, American terrorist
* May_1 - D'Arcy_Wretzky, American musician
* May_7 - Traci_Lords, American actress
* May_9 - Marie-José_Perec, French athlete
* May_12 - Tony_Hawk, American skateboarder
* May_26 - Crown_Prince_Frederik_of_Denmark
* May_27 - Jeff_Bagwell, baseball player
* May_27 - Frank Thomas, baseball player
* May_28 - Kylie_Minogue, Australian actress and singer
* June_4 - Rachel_Griffiths, Australian actress
* June_20 - Peter_Paige, American actor
* June_26 - Shannon_Sharpe, American football player and commentator
* June_28 - Adam_Woodyatt, British actor
* June_29 - Theoren_Fleury, Canadian hockey player
* June_30 - Philip Anselmo, American musician
===July-September===
* July_7 - Jorja_Fox, American actress
* July_10 - Hassiba_Boulmerka, Algerian athlete
* July_15 - Stan_Kirsch, American actor
* July_16 - Dhanraj_Pillay, Indian field hockey player
*July 16 - Barry_Sanders, American football player
* July_27 - Julian_McMahon, Australian actor
* July_30 - Robert_Korzeniowski, Polish racewalker
* August_9 - Gillian_Anderson, American actress
*August 9 - Eric_Bana, Australian actor
* August_17 - Ed_McCaffrey, American football player
* August_31 - Todd_Carty, British actor
* September_1 - Mohamed_Atta_al_Sayed, Egyptian terrorist
* September_4 - Mike_Piazza, baseball player
* September_7 - Marcel_Desailly, French footballer
* September_11 - Kay_Hanley, American musician
* September_18 - Toni_Kukoc, Croatian basketball player
* September_20 - Darrell_Russell, race car driver (d. 2004)
* September_25 - Will_Smith, American rapper and actor
* September_26 - James_Caviezel, American actor
* September_28 - Naomi_Watts, English-born actress, star of Peter Jackson's King Kong
===October-December===
* October_7 - Toni_Braxton, American singer
* October_10 - Bart_Brentjens, Dutch mountainbiker
* October_11 - Jane_Krakowski, American actress
* October_12 - Hugh_Jackman, Australian actor
* October_31 - Vanilla_Ice, American rapper
* November_4 - Lee_Germon, New_Zealand Cricket Captains
* November_8 - Zara_Whites, Dutch actress
* November_9 - Nazzareno_Carusi, Italian pianist
* November_12 - Sammy_Sosa, Dominican Major_League_Baseball player
* November_13 - Pat_Hentgen, baseball player
* November_15 - Jennifer_Charles, American singer
* November_15 - Ol'_Dirty_Bastard, American rapper (d. 2004)
* November_18 - Owen_Wilson, American actor
* November_23 - Hamid_Hassani, Iranian scholar
* November_27 - Michael_Vartan, French actor
* December_2 - Lucy_Liu, American actress
* December_8 - Mike_Mussina, baseball player
* December_9 - Kurt_Angle, American amateur and professional wrestler
* December_12 - Rory_Kennedy, son of Robert_F_Kennedy and Ethel_Skakel_Kennedy
* December_17 - Paul_Tracy, Canadian race car driver
==Deaths==
===January-April===
* January_11 - Isidor_Isaac_Rabi, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1898)
* January_19 - Ray_Harroun, American race car driver (b. 1879)
* January_21 - Will_Lang_Jr., Chief Regional Director of Life_(magazine)
* January_22 - Duke_Kahanamoku, American swimmer (b. 1890)
* January_26 - Merrill_C._Meigs, American newspaper publisher and aviation promoter (b. 1883)
* February_4 - Neal_Cassady, American writer (b. 1926)
* February_11 - Howard_Lindsay, American playwright (b. 1888)
* February_20 - Anthony_Asquith, British director and writer (b. 1902)
* February_21 - Howard_Walter_Florey, Australian-born pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel_Prize_for_Physiology_or_Medicine (b. 1898)
* February_22 - Peter_Arno, American cartoonist (b. 1904)
* February_27 - Frankie_Lymon, American singer (b. 1942)
* February_29 - Tore_Ørjasæter, Norwegian poet (b. 1886)
* March_16 - Mario_Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Italian composer (b. 1895)
* March_27 - Yuri_Gagarin, cosmonaut (b. 1934)
* April_1 - Lev_Davidovich_Landau, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)
* April_4 - Rev. Martin_Luther_King_Jr., American civil rights activist, recipient of the Nobel_Peace_Prize (assassinated) (b. 1929)
* April_7 - Jimmy Clark, Scottish race car driver (b. 1936)
* April_10 - Gustavs_Celmins, Latvian politician (b. 1899)
* April_14 - Al_Benton, baseball player (b. 1911)
* April_22 - Stephen_H._Sholes, American record executive (b. 1911)
* April_25 - John_Tewksbury, American athlete (b. 1876)
===May-December===
* May_7 - Mike_Spence British race car driver (b. 1936)
* May_9 - Mercedes_de_Acosta, American poet, playwright, costume designer, and socialite (b. 1893)
* May_14 - Husband_E._Kimmel, American admiral (b. 1882)
* June_1 - Helen_Keller, American spokeswoman for deaf and blind (b. 1880)
* June_6 - Robert_F._Kennedy, U.S. Senator and U.S._Attorney_General (assassinated) (b. 1925)
* June_14 - Salvatore_Quasimodo, Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
* June_15 - Sam_Crawford, baseball player (b. 1880)
* July_11 - Mervyn_Peake, British writer and illustrator (b. 1911)
*July_18 - Corneille_Heymans, Belgian physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)
*July_23 - Henry_Hallett_Dale, English scientist, recipient of the Nobel_Prize_in_Physiology_or_Medicine (b. 1875)
* July_28 - Otto_Hahn, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
* August_19 - George_Gamow, Ukrainian-born physicist (b. 1904)
* August_27 - Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent (b. 1906)
* August_29 - Ulysses_S._Grant_III, American soldier and planner (b. 1881)
* September_12 - Tommy_Armour, Scottish golfer (b. 1894)
* October_2 - Marcel_Duchamp, French artist (b. 1887)
* October_13 - Bea_Benaderet, American actress (b. 1906)
* October_30 - Rose_Wilder_Lane, American author and reporter (b. 1886)
* November_4 - Michel_Kikoine, Belarusian painter (b. 1892)
* November_6 - Charles_Munch, French conductor and violinist (b. 1891)
*November_25 - Upton_Sinclair, American writer (b. 1878)
* November_26 - Arnold_Zweig, German writer (b. 1887)
* December_10 - Karl_Barth, German protestant theologian (b. 1888)
* December_10 - Thomas_Merton, American author (b. 1915)
* December_12 - Tallulah_Bankhead, American actress (b. 1902)
* December_19 - Norman_Thomas, American politician (b. 1884)
* December_20 - John_Steinbeck, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
* December_30 - Trygve_Lie, first United_Nations_Secretary_General (b. 1896)
* December_30 - Vladimir_Peter_Tytla, American animator (b. 1904)
===Month/day unknown===
* Berthold_Bartosch, Czech animator (b. 1893)
* Robert_Wood_Johnson, American business leader and philanthropist (b. 1893)
* Jouett_Shouse, American politician (b. 1879).
==Nobel Prizes==
* Physics - Luis_Walter_Alvarez
* Chemistry - Lars_Onsager
* Physiology or Medicine - Robert_W._Holley, Har_Gobind_Khorana, Marshall_W._Nirenberg
* Literature - Yasunari_Kawabata
* Peace - René Cassin
==Further reading==
* Mark Kurlansky (2004), ''1968: the year that rocked the world'', Jonathan Cape
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