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Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.
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[edit] Events of 1968
[edit] January
[edit] February
- 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 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 19 - Nigerian forces capture Port Harcourt and form a ring around Biafrans. This contributes to a humanitarian disaster as the surrounded population was already suffering with hunger and starvation.
- May 22 - The U.S. nuclear-powered submarine Scorpion sinks with 99 men aboard, 400 miles southwest of the Azores.
[edit] August
- August 5-August 8 - The Republican National Convention in Miami Beach, Florida nominates Richard Nixon for U.S. President and Spiro Agnew for Vice President.
- August 11 - The last steam passenger train service runs in Britain. A British Rail steam locomotive makes the 120-mile journey from Liverpool to Carlisle and returns to Liverpool before being dispatched to the wrecking yard.
- August 18 - Two charter buses push into the Hida river on national highway route 41 in Japan, in an accident caused by heavy rain. 104 killed.
- August 20 - The Prague Spring of political liberalization ends, as 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 5,000 tanks invade Czechoslovakia.
- August 21 - The Medal of Honor is posthumously awarded to James Anderson, Jr. — he is the first black U.S. Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor.
- August 24 - France explodes its first hydrogen bomb, thus becoming the world's fifth nuclear power.
- August 22-August 30 - Police clash with antiwar protesters in Chicago, Illinois outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention, which nominates Hubert Humphrey for U.S. President, and Edmund Muskie for Vice President.
[edit] September
[edit] 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.
[edit] November
[edit] December
[edit] Undated
[edit] Ongoing
[edit] Births
Template:Year in other calendars
[edit] 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 12 - Keith Anderson, American country music singer-songwriter
- 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, Slovakian 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 former 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 22 - Delphine Boel, out-of-wedlock daughter of King Albert II of Belgium
- February 25 - Sandrine Kiberlain, French actress
- February 25 - Evridiki, Cypriot singer
- February 27 - Matt Stairs, baseball player
[edit] 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 10 - Thio Li-ann, Singaporean law academic and Nominated Member of Parliament
- 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 16 - Trevor Wilson, American basketball player
- 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
[edit] 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 20 - Waisale Serevi, Fijian rugby player
- 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
[edit] 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
- August 28 - Billy Boyd, Scottish actor
[edit] September-October