Also Within This Year in History:
1968
The turbulence of 1968 began on New Year’s Day with the Tet Offensive, shocking Americans with the unwinnable realities of the Vietnam War. The assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy darkened the national mood and deepened domestic unrest. Mass protests erupted around the globe, from Chicago to Prague to France, Mexico and beyond. In space, Apollo 8 orbited the moon, while back on earth, “Laugh-In” topped TV ratings, “Hair” premiered on Broadway and McDonald’s debuted the iconic Big Mac.
Senator Eugene McCarthy (D‑Minnesota) announces his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination. McCarthy had been a contender to be President Lyndon B. Johnson’s running mate in the 1964 election, but…
Antonin Novotny, the Stalinist ruler of Czechoslovakia, is succeeded as first secretary by Alexander Dubcek, a Slovak who supports liberal reforms. In the first few months of his rule, Dubcek…
In the midst of depression and a steep decline in his musical career, legendary country singer Johnny Cash arrives to play for inmates at California’s Folsom Prison on January 13,…
U.S. joint‑service Operation Niagara is launched to support the U.S. Marine base at Khe Sanh. The Khe Sanh base was the westernmost anchor of a series of combat bases and…
On January 15, 1968, an 87‑year‑old Jeannette Rankin leads 5,000 women—nicknamed the “Jeannette Rankin Brigade”—in a march in Washington, D.C. against the Vietnam War. The march is a capstone of Rankin’s…
On January 18, 1968, Eartha Kitt, the celebrated actress and singer known for playing Catwoman on the 1960s Batman television series and her sultry holiday hit “Santa Baby,” causes a stir during a…
“Sky Soldiers” from the 173rd Airborne Brigade begin Operation McLain with a reconnaissance‑in‑force operation in the Central Highlands. The purpose of this operation was to find and destroy the communist…
One of the most publicized and controversial battles of the Vietnam War begins at Khe Sanh, 14 miles below the DMZ and six miles from the Laotian border. Seized and…
Operating in the two northernmost military regions, the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) launches two major operations. In the first operation, conducted by the 1st Cavalry Division in Quang Tri and…
On January 23, 1968, the USS Pueblo, a Navy intelligence vessel, is engaged in a routine surveillance of the North Korean coast when it is intercepted by North Korean patrol…
The U.S. intelligence‑gathering ship Pueblo is seized by North Korean naval vessels and charged with spying and violating North Korean territorial waters. Negotiations to free the 83‑man crew of the…
The Israeli submarine Dakar, carrying 69 sailors, disappears on January 25, 1968. It would remain missing for some 30 years. The Dakar was built at the height of World War…
In his annual budget message, President Lyndon B. Johnson asks for $26.3 billion to continue the Vietnam War, and announces an increase in taxes. The war was becoming very expensive,…
In coordinated attacks all across South Vietnam, communist forces launch their largest offensive of the Vietnam War against South Vietnamese and U.S. troops. Dozens of cities, towns, and military bases—including…
At dawn on the first day of the Tet holiday truce, Viet Cong forces–supported by large numbers of North Vietnamese troops–launch the largest and best coordinated offensive of the war,…
On this day in 1968, as part of the Tet Offensive, a squad of Viet Cong guerillas attacks the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. The soldiers seized the embassy and held…
As part of the Tet Offensive, Viet Cong soldiers attack the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. A 19‑man suicide squad seized the U.S. Embassy and held it for six hours until…
Saigon, South Vietnam was a chaotic and bloody place in the winter of 1968. On January 30, North Vietnamese forces struck suddenly and with shocking force at targets throughout the…
Richard M. Nixon announces his candidacy for the presidency. Most observers had written off Nixon’s political career eight years earlier, when he had lost to John F. Kennedy in the…
Bernard Josephs returns to his house in Bromley, England, and finds his wife Claire lying under the bed, her throat slashed and severed to the spine. Defensive wounds to her…
