Events of 1968
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 2 department stores in Frankfurt-am-Main; they are later arrested and sentenced for arson.
April 4 - Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Riots erupt in major American cities for several days afterward.
April 4 - Apollo Program: Apollo-Saturn mission 502 (''Apollo 6'') is launched, as the second and last unmanned test-flight of the Saturn V launch vehicle.
April 4 - ''La, la, la'' by Massiel (music and text by Manuel de la Calva and Ramón Arcusa) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1968 for Spain.
April 6 - Double explosion rocks Richmond, Indiana in downtown area. The explosion killed 41 people and injured more than 150.
April 6 - A shootout between Black Panthers and Oakland police results in several arrests and deaths, including 17-year-old Panther Bobby Hutton.
April 7 - Racing driver Jim Clark is killed in a Formula 2 race at Hockenheim.
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, although Dutschke dies of his brain injuries 11 years later.
April 11 - German left-wing students blockade the Springer Press HQ in Berlin and many are arrested (one of them is Ulrike Meinhof).
April 11 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968.
April 20 - Pierre Elliott Trudeau becomes Canada's 15th Prime Minister.
April 20 - English politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial Rivers of Blood Speech.
April 20 - The film ''The Wizard of Oz'' temporarily moves to NBC, after a rights dispute between CBS, which had previously telecast it, and MGM. NBC will telecast the film until 1976. CBS telecasts of the film will resume that year, and will last until 1998, when Turner Broadcasting will win the rights to telecast it.
April 23 - President Mobutu releases captured mercenaries in Congo.
April 23 - Surgeons at the Hôpital de la Pitié, Paris, perform Europe's first heart transplant, on Clovis Roblain.
April 23-April 30 - Vietnam War: Student protesters at Columbia University in New York City take over administration buildings and shut down the university. '' See main article '' Columbia University protests of 1968
April 29 - The musical ''Hair'' officially opens on Broadway.
May
May -'' "May of 68"'' is a symbol of the resistance of that generation. Agitations and strikes in Paris lead many youth 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 2 - The Israel Broadcasting Authority commences television broadcasts.
May 15 - An outbreak of severe thunderstorms produces tornadoes causing massive damage and heavy casualties in Charles City, Iowa, Oelwein, Iowa, and Jonesboro, Arkansas.
May 17 - The Catonsville Nine enter the Selective Service offices in Catonsville, Maryland, take dozens of selective service draft records, and burn them with napalm as a protest against the Vietnam War.
May 19 - General elections are held in Italy.
May 22 - The U.S. nuclear-powered submarine ''Scorpion'' sinks with 99 men aboard, 400 miles southwest of the Azores.
June
July 1 - The grand opening of Astroworld theme park in Houston Texas.
June 1 - Helen Keller dies in her Easton, Connecticut home, just 26 days before her 88th birthday.
June 3 - Valerie Solanas shoots Andy Warhol as he enters his studio, wounding him.
June 4 - The Standard & Poor's 500 index closes above 100 for the first time, closing at 100.38.
June 5 - U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy is shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California by Sirhan Sirhan. Kennedy dies from his injuries the next day.
June 8 - James Earl Ray is arrested for the murder of Martin Luther King Jr.
June 10 - Soccer: Italy beats 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 - A football stampede in Buenos Aires leaves 74 dead and 150 injured.
Jun 24 - Giorgio Rosa declares the independence of his Republic of Rose Island, an artificial island off Rimini, Italy. Italian troops demolish it not long after.
October
October 2 - Tlatelolco massacre: A student demonstration ends in a bloodbath at La Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Tlatelolco, Mexico City, Mexico, 10 days before the inauguration of the 1968 Summer Olympics.
October 5 - An illegal civil rights march in Derry, 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 launch a new operation in the Mekong Delta.
October 11 - Apollo program: NASA launches ''Apollo 7'', the first manned Apollo mission (Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele, Walter Cunningham). Mission goals include the first live television broadcast from orbit and testing the lunar module docking maneuver.
October 11 - In Panama, a military coup d'etat, led by Col. Boris Martinez and Col. Omar Torrijos, overthrows the democratically-elected (but highly controversial) government of President Arnulfo Arias. Within a year, Torrijos will have ousted Martinez and taken charge as de facto Head of Government in Panama.
October 12-October 27 - The Games of the XIX Olympiad are held in Mexico City, Mexico.
October 12 - Equatorial Guinea receives its independence from Spain.
October 14 - Vietnam War: The United States Department of Defense announces that the United States Army and United States Marines will send about 24,000 troops back to Vietnam for involuntary second tours.
October 16 - In Mexico City, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, 2 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 1st and 3rd place.
October 16 - Kingston, Jamaica is rocked by the Rodney Riots, provoked 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 in the Paris peace talks, U.S. 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.
Ongoing
(none)
Fictional
The following are references to year 1968 in fiction: (unknown).
Births
January-February
January 2 - Cuba Gooding Jr., American actor
January 5 - Andrzej Gołota, Polish boxer
January 6 - John Singleton, American film director and writer
January 9 - Joey Lauren Adams, American actress
January 9 - Al Schnier, American rock guitarist
January 13 - Pat Onstad, Canadian footballer
January 14 - LL Cool J, American rapper and actor
January 15 - Chad Lowe, American 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
January 29 - Sora Jung, Korean actress
February 1 - Lisa Marie Presley, American singer
February 3 - Vlade Divac, basketball player
February 5 - Roberto Alomar, baseball player
February 7 - Peter Bondra, Russian ice hockey player in the NHL
February 8 - Gary Coleman, American actor
February 10 - Atika Suri, Indonesian television newscaster
February 10 - Laurie Foell, New Zealand/Australian actress
February 13 - Kelly Hu, American actress and fromer fashion model
February 14 - Jules Asner, American model and television personality
February 14 - Nelson "Viscera" Frazier, Jr., American professional wrestler
February 18 - Tommy Scott, British musician and frontman of 1990s' Britpop group Space
February 18 - Molly Ringwald, American actress, singer and dancer
February 22 - Brad Nowell, American musician (d. 1996)
February 22 - Jeri Ryan, American actress
February 25 - Sandrine Kiberlain, French actress
February 25 - Evridiki, Cypriot singer
February 27 - Matt Stairs, baseball player
March-April
March 1 - Kunjarani Devi, Indian weightlifter
March 1 - Kathryn Cressida, American actress
March 2 - Daniel Craig, British actor
March 4 - Patsy Kensit, British actress
March 4 - Giovanni Carrara, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player
March 6 - Moira Kelly, American actress
March 11 - Lisa Loeb, American singer
March 14 - James Frain, British actor
March 15 - Kahimi Karie, Japanese singer
March 15 - Mark McGrath, American musician (Sugar Ray)
March 18 - Shinichiro Miki, Japanese seiyu (voice actor)
March 22 - Øystein Aarseth, Norwegian musician
March 23 - Mike Atherton, English cricketer
March 23 - Damon Albarn, English musician (Blur and Gorillaz)
March 23 - Mitch Cullin, American novelist
March 26 - Kenny Chesney, American musician
March 26 - James Iha, American musician (The 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 1 - Andreas Schnaas, German director
April 3 - Sebastian Bach, West Indian-born musician (Skid Row)
April 8 - Patricia Arquette, American actress
April 14 - Anthony Michael Hall, American actor and singer
April 15 - Stacey Williams, American model
April 18 - David Hewlett, English born Canadian actor
April 19 - Ashley Judd, American actress
April 20 - J.D. Roth, American television host
April 23 - Timothy McVeigh, American terrorist (d. 2001)
May-June
May 1 - D'Arcy Wretzky, American musician
May 7 - Traci Lords, American actress
May 8 - Jamie Summers, American porn star
May 9 - Marie-José Perec, French athlete
May 12 - Tony Hawk, American skateboarder
May 16 - Chingmy Yau, Hong Kong actress
May 17 - Constance Menard, professional dressage rider
May 21 - Julie Vega, Filipino child actress and singer (d. 1985)
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 1 - Jason Donovan, Australian actor and singer
June 2 - Beetlejuice, member of the Wack Pack from radio's ''The Howard Stern Show''
June 2 - John Culshaw, English comedian and impressionist
June 9 - Alexandr Konovalov, Russian lawyer and politician
June 10 - The D.O.C., rapper
June 13 - Denise Pearson, British singer Five Star
June 20 - Peter Paige, American actor
June 25 - Oleg Taktarov, Russian mixed martial artist
June 26 - Iwan Roberts, Welsh footballer
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-August
July 5 - Ken Akamatsu, Japanese mangaka
July 7 - Jorja Fox, American actress
July 7 - Jeff VanderMeer, American writer
July 8 - Akio Suyama, Japanese seiyu (voice actor)
July 8 - Michael Weatherly, American actor
July 10 - Hassiba Boulmerka, Algerian athlete
July 15 - Stan Kirsch, American actor
July 16 - Robin Nixon, Producer.music.Art.
July 16 - Dhanraj Pillay, Indian field hockey player
July 16 - Barry Sanders, American football player
July 17 - Darren Day, actor and TV presenter
July 19 - Jim Norton, American comedian and radio personality (The Opie and Anthony Show)
July 22 - Rhys Ifans, Welsh actor
July 24 - Kristin Chenoweth, American soprano and actress
July 27 - Julian McMahon, Australian actor
July 30 - Robert Korzeniowski, Polish racewalker
August 1 - Dan Donegan, American musician (Disturbed)
August 3 - Rod Beck, American baseball player (d.2007)
August 5 - Colin McRae, Scottish rally car driver (d. 2007)
August 9 - Gillian Anderson, American actress
August 9 - Eric Bana, Australian actor
August 10 - Greg Hawgood, Canadian ice hockey player
August 11 - Charlie Sexton, American guitarist, singer and songwriter
August 12 - Andras Jones, American actor
August 14 - Darren Clarke, Northern Irish professional golfer
August 15 - Debra Messing, American actress
August 17 - Ed McCaffrey, American football player
August 17 - Bruno van Pottelsberghe, Belgian economist
August 25 - Rachael Ray, American television chef and host
September-October
September 1 - Mohamed Atta al Sayed, Egyptian terrorist
September 4 - Phill Lewis, American actor
September 4 - Mike Piazza, baseball player
September 7 - Marcel Desailly, French footballer
September 11 - Kay Hanley, American musician
September 11 - Tetsuo Kurata, Japanese actor
September 18 - Toni Kukoč, Croatian basketball player
September 20 - Darrell Russell, race car driver (d. 2004)
September 20 - Phillipa Forrester, British TV presenter
September 20 - Leah Pinsent, Canadian actress
September 23 - Yvette Fielding, English television presenter
September 25 - Will Smith, American rapper and actor
September 26 - James Caviezel, American actor
September 28 - Naomi Watts, English-born actress
September 29 - Patrick Burns, American paranormal investigator and television personality.
September 29 - Samir Soni, Indian film and TV actor
October 1 - Mark Durden-Smith, English television presenter
October 2 - Victoria Derbyshire, British radio presenter
October 3 - Paul Crichton, English footballer
October 7 - Thom Yorke, British singer/songwriter
October 8 - CL Smooth, American rapper
October 10 - Feridun Düzağaç, Turkish rock music artist singer and songwriter.
October 10 - Bart Brentjens, Dutch mountainbiker
October 11 - Jane Krakowski, American actress
October 12 - Hugh Jackman, Australian actor
October 14 - Matthew Le Tissier, English footballer
October 15 - Didier Deschamps, French footballer
October 15 - Jyrki 69, Finish singer
October 17 - Ziggy Marley, Jamaican musician and oldest son of Bob Marley
October 22 - Shaggy, Jamaican singer
October 24 - Sal the Stockbroker, American comedian and radio writer for ''The Howard Stern Show''
October 29 - Tsunku, Japanese singer, music producer, and song composer
October 31 - Vanilla Ice, American rapper
November-December
November 3 - Debbie Rochon, Canadian actress
November 4 - Council Nedd II, American, Anglican bishop
November 4 - Lee Germon, New Zealand cricketer
November 8 - Parker Posey, American actress
November 8 - Zara Whites, Dutch actress
November 9 - Nazzareno Carusi, Italian pianist
November 10 - Steve Brookstein, British singer
November 10 - Petra Liebetanz, German-American photographer
November 11 - David L Cook, Christian music singer and comedian
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 - Barry Hunter, Northern Irish footballer and football manager
November 18 - Owen Wilson, American actor
November 22 - Rasmus Lerdorf, Creator of PHP
November 23 - Hamid Hassani, Iranian scholar
November 25 - Jill Hennessy, Canadian actress
November 25 - Jacqueline Hennessy, Canadian actress and talk show host
November 27 - Michael Vartan, French actor
November 29 - Jonathan Knight, American singer
December 2 - Lucy Liu, American actress
December 5 - Margaret Cho, Korean-American actress and comedian
December 7 - Mark Geyer, Australian rugby league player
December 8 - Mike Mussina, baseball player
December 8 - Michael Cole, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) commentator
December 9 - Kurt Angle, American amateur and professional wrestler, 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist
December 17 - Paul Tracy, Canadian race car driver
December 18 - Rachel Griffiths, Australian actress
Deaths
January-March
January 7 - Gholamreza Takhti, The most famous wrestler in Iranian history (b. 1930)
January 15 - Bill Masterton, Canadian hockey player (b. 1938)
January 19 - Ray Harroun, American race car driver (b. 1879)
January 21 - Will Lang Jr., American journalist (b. 1914)
January 22 - Duke Kahanamoku, American swimmer (b. 1890)
January 26 - Merrill C. Meigs, American newspaper publisher and aviation promoter (b. 1883)
January 30 - Robert Wood Johnson, American business leader and philanthropist (b. 1893)
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 16 - Leon Cadore, American baseball pitcher (b. 1890
March 20 - Charles Chaplin Jr., American actor (b. 1925)
March 23 - Edwin O'Connor, American novelist and Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (b. 1918)
March 27 - Yuri Gagarin, cosmonaut (b. 1934)
April-June
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 7 - Mike Spence British race car driver (b. 1936)
May 9 - Mercedes de Acosta, American poet, playwright, costume designer, and socialite (b. 1893)
May 9 - Marion Lorne, American actress (b. 1883)
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)
June 24 - Tony Hancock, British comedian (b. 1924)
July-December
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)
July 31 - Jack Pizzey, incumbent Premier of Queensland, Australia (b. 1911)
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 8 - Luther Perkins, American guitarist (b. 1928)
September 12 - Tommy Armour, Scottish golfer (b. 1894)
October 2 - Marcel Duchamp, French artist (b. 1887)
October 9 - Pierre Mulele, Congolese revolutionary
October 13 - Bea Benaderet, American actress (b. 1906)
October 30 - Rose Wilder Lane, American author and reporter (b. 1886)
October 30 - Ramón Novarro, Mexican actor (b. 1899)
November 4 - Michel Kikoine, Belarusian painter (b. 1892)
November 4 - Council Nedd II, American Anglican bishop (b. 1968)
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 2 - Adamson-Eric, Estonian artist (b. 1902)
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)
December 31 - George Lewis, American musician (b. 1900)
See also
Mark Kurlansky (2004), ''1968: the year that rocked the world'', Jonathan Cape.
Notes
External links
1968 - The Year in Sound An Audiofile produced by Lou Zambrana of WCBS Newsradio 880 (WCBS-AM New York) Part of WCBS 880's celebration of 40 years of newsradio.