1968 in History

War Abroad, Riots at Home, Fallen Leaders and Lunar Dreams:
This is the Year That Changed the World

Many things happened during the year we graduated. This page will cover just a few of the things that changed our lives and the course of history.
Some photos will remind us of good times, others may not, in fact some may be graphic in nature.

Musicians that were changing the world:

Protests and what we were protesting:



Vietnam








1968 Facts

Economy

President—Lyndon B. Johnson
Vice President—Hubert H. Humprey
Population—200.706.052
Life Expectancy—70.2 years
Dow Jones
High—985
Low—825
Federal spending—$178.13 Billion
Federal Debt—$368.7 Billion
Inflation—4.2%
Consumer Price Index—34.8
Unemployment—3.8%

Prices

Average Cost of new house—$14,950.00
Average Income per year—$7,850.00
Average Monthly Rent—$130.00
Gas per Gallon—34 cents
A Dozen Eggs—$.53
A Gallon of Milk—$1.07
Average Cost of a new car—$2,822.00
Cost of a First-Class Stamp—$.05, went up to $.06 on 1/7/68
Movie Ticket—$1.50
The Federal Hourly Minimum Wage is $1.60 an hour

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What Events Happened in 1968

• Anti Vietnam War protests; throughout the western world
  
  

• North Vietnam; and Viet Cong troops launch the Tet offensive

• Vietnam; US soldiers massacre men, women and children in My lai

• President Lyndon Johnson orders an end to the bombing of North Vietnam
  
  

• Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Leader of Negro Civil Rights Movement is killed by James Earl Ray which leads to Violence and Race Riots in US Cities
  
  

• Following the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968

• RMS Queen Elizabeth - retired from service

• Dutch Elm Disease continues to increase with tens of thousands of trees now destroyed

• British Post office introduces First Class Post

• China celebrates 20 years of communist rule by Mao Tse-tung
  
  

• Senator Robert Kennedy is assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles
  
  

• Earthquake in Sicily - 231 dead, 262 injured.

• Enoch Powell's delivers his "Rivers of Blood" anti immigration speech

• The new wide ranging race relations act goes into force

• The Third Heart transplant is performed in South Africa By Dr Christian N Barnard

• London Bridge sold for 1 million. and later re-erected in Arizona.

• President Johnson announces on nationwide television he would not run for another term of office

• The Redwood National Park is created in California to protect the Giant Redwoods.

• Pope Paul VI bans Catholics from using the contraceptive pill for birth control

• 50,000 people participated in " The Poor Peoples March " on June 19th Washington, D.C.
  
  

• Population in Europe reaches 455 million ( excluding USSR )

• The Kray twins, arrested for the murders of George Cornell and Jack 'The Hat' McVitie, members of the London underworld.

• The Zodiac serial murderer begins his reign of terror in California in what has been described as the perfect crime ( He claimed in letters sent to the newspapers to have murdered 37, but police files put the number at 11. ( He has never been caught )

• Televisions Installed increases 25 million US , 20.5 million Japan , 19 Million Great Britain

• France becomes the world's fifth nuclear power

• Alec Rose completes his single-handed 354-day round-the-world trip.

• Pierre Elliott Trudeau becomes the Prime Minister of Canada

• Student Occupation at Columbia University over Universities affiliation with the Institute for Defense.

• Aristotle Onassis and Jacqueline Kennedy marry
  
  

• The Ferry "TEV Wahine" capsizes in Wellington Harbour, New Zealand

• The nuclear-powered U.S. submarine Scorpion sank in the Atlantic Ocean with the loss of 99 crew members.
  
   

• Hong Kong Flu pandemic begins in Hong Kong.

• Student riots threaten Mexico Olympics when thousands of students protest against the military occupation of the National Polytechnic Institute.

• Black power salute is seen on Television worldwide after the gold and bronze medalists in Olympics show salute during medal ceremony in Mexico City, Mexico (see photo above)

• The Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia was to provide political liberalization but was crushed by Warsaw Pact countries

• The Soviet Union invades Czechoslovakia and arrests President Dubcek "Prague Spring"

• The Aswan Dam in Egypt is completed

• The Gateway Arch in St. Louis is dedicated

• Truth In Lending Act is passed to protect consumers during credit transactions.

• The border between Spain and Gibraltar is closed

• Equatorial Guinea Gains Independence From Spain

• The Winter Olympic Games are held in Grenoble, France
  
  

• 800,000 teachers, workers and student protestors marched through the French capital during a one day general strike
  
  
  

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  WOODSTOCK
  40 Years ago
  
  Can't be that long ago, is it?