1968 - Our School Year in History

September 1967

September 12: Ronald Reagan cautioned Washington to consider "full technological resources" be employed in order to win the Vietnam War.

October 2: Thurgood Marshall took his seat on the Supreme Court.
October 12: The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Boston Red Sox 7-2 to win the World Series.
October 30: Lt. Gen. Nguyen Van Thieu was sworn in as president of South Vietnam.

November 17: Surveyor 6 made a six-second flight on the moon, followed by the first lift-off from the lunar surface.
November 20: The population of the United States passed 200 million.
November 21: President Johnson signed an air quality act which allotted $428 million to fight air pollution.

December 3: Louis Washkansky received the first human heart transplant during a procedure led by Dr. Christiaan Barnard in South Africa. Mr. Washkansky died 18 days later.
December 10: Otis Redding, American soul singer ("Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay"), died at age 26.
December 23: President Johnson addressed American troops at Cam Ranh Bay, urging them to ignore anti-war protests back home.
December 29-30: At least 546 people were arrested in New York City during protests of the Vietnam War. Arrests included Dr. Benjamin Spock and poet Allen Ginsberg.

January 5: Alexander Dubcek took over control of Czechoslovakia.
January 14: The Green Bay Packers beat the Oakland Raiders 33-14 to win their second straight Super Bowl.
January 20: Washington lawyer Clark Clifford was named to replace Robert McNamara as Secretary of Defense.
January 23: The USS Pueblo, a U.S. Navy intelligence ship, was seized by North Korea.
January 29: LBJ presented a record $186 billion budget to Congress.
January 31: Communist forces in Vietnam launched the Tet Offensive.

February 1: Richard Nixon announced his candidacy for President while in New Hampshire.
February 6-17: The Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France, featured athletes including Peggy Fleming and Jean-Claude Killy.
February 8: George Wallace entered the presidential race.
February 8: Robert F. Kennedy said the United States could not win the war in Vietnam.
February 21: A Delta airliner destined for Miami was hijacked to Havana, Cuba.
February 24: U.S. Marines retook Hue during the Tet Offensive.

March 8: Pope Paul VI named Terence Cooke to succeed Cardinal Spellman as Archbishop of New York.
March 16: President Johnson won the New Hampshire Democratic primary while Eugene McCarthy captured 40% of the vote.
March 16: Robert F. Kennedy entered the presidential race.
March 22: General William Westmoreland was named Army Chief of Staff by President Johnson.
March 23: UCLA beat North Carolina 78-55 to take the NCAA basketball title.
March 27: Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, died in a plane crash.
March 28: The U.S. lost its first F-111 aircraft during a combat mission in Vietnam.
March 31: President Lyndon B. Johnson announced that he would not seek or accept his party's nomination for another term as President.

April 4: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., 39, was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis.
April 9: Rioting following King's assassination continued in several American cities.
April 10: President Johnson named General Creighton Abrams commander of U.S. troops in Vietnam.
April 11: The United States called 24,500 reservists to active duty.
April 11: President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968.
April 19: The FBI identified James Earl Ray as a suspect in the assassination of Dr. King.
April 20: Pierre Trudeau was sworn in as Canada's 15th Prime Minister.
April 23: Columbia University students protested the Vietnam War and occupied campus buildings.
April 24: Black students at Boston University occupied the Administration Building.
April 25: Columbia University closed amid the protests.
April 26: Thousands of New York students cut classes in protest of the Vietnam War.
April 27: Hubert Humphrey announced his candidacy for President.
April 30: New York City police entered the Columbia University campus to remove protesters.

May 8: Jim "Catfish" Hunter of the Oakland Athletics pitched a perfect game.
May 11: The Montreal Canadiens defeated the St. Louis Blues to win the Stanley Cup.
May 13: American and North Vietnamese diplomats opened formal peace talks in Paris.
May 18: 117 protesters were arrested during a sit-in at Columbia University.
May 23: A record 1,100 U.S. servicemen were reported killed in Vietnam during the previous two-week period.
May 28: Senator Eugene McCarthy defeated Senator Robert Kennedy in the Oregon presidential primary.
May 29: Demonstrators involved in the Poor People's Campaign protested at the Supreme Court.
May 30: Bobby Unser won the Indianapolis 500.

June 5: Lee H. Edwards Class of 1968 Graduation, 8 P.M. at the Asheville City Auditorium.
June 5: Senator Robert F. Kennedy was shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles following his victory in the California Democratic primary. He died the following day.
June 8: James Earl Ray was arrested in London in connection with the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
June 10: General William Westmoreland said military victory in Vietnam was unlikely in the face of political restraints.
June 16: Lee Trevino won the U.S. Open.
June 19: Thousands marched in Washington in support of the Poor People's Campaign.