1968 has been referenced fairly often on the news and I thought I’d share some thoughts on it, nothing heroic from my end I was a junior in high school and more interested in understanding women, playing sports, going to the mountain but the tension and the confusion lay along the path from innocent believe in Exceptionalism to an appreciation of our frailty-Bay of Pigs (WTF?), Gulf of Tonklin (they’re kidding,right?), Assassination of JFK , images of extreme poverty through the South, parental and adult anger but mostly we had no idea where we were heading, where the world was heading, we were along for the ride graduating from the back back of a station wagon to the front seat of a Malibu. Hey gas was still under a buck and unemployment about 3%- the great lesson is we are frail, need each other and Life goes on.
The main point is the timeline cds.library.brown.edu/projects/1968/.../timeline.html which is better in the whole but here it is. Giants fell that year and are disgraced by any comparison to little donny trump. Jan 5- Dr. Benjamin Spock and four others arrested for urging defiance of Draft Board after the demonstration at Lincoln Memorial; Jan 23- North Korean gunboats capture spy ship USS Pueblo with 83 crew men. They would be held until December 22; Jan 31- Tet offensive- 70,000 North Vietnamese over run Nha Tray and briefly capture Us Embassy; Feb 1 General Nguyen Nha Trag executes a Viet Cong prisoner right in from of an American photographer- this sort of thing did not occur on “Combat”. Feb 4- Martin Luther King delivers a speech containing his own eulogy, March 12- Eugene McCarthy comes within 230 votes of defeated LBJ in New Hampshire; March 16- My Lai massacre of over 500 Vietnamese villagers from babies to the elderly. killing goes on for hours until a helicopter crew puts the helicopter between troops and fleeing villagers, March 28 Martin Luther King led march in Memphis turns violent. Reverend King is led away a 16 year old boy is killed, 150 arrested; April 4- Martin Luther King assasinated- subsequent riots in major cities across America- narrative is on opportunistic looters, people burning their “own cities” and, as told in any gated community in Florida- bricks and rocks being thrown at firefighters. May 6- “Bloody Sunday in Paris- student revolt; May 13-22- sympathy strikes across France with as many as 9 million workers. DeGaules mobilizes military.June 3- Andy Warhol shot. June 4/5 Robert Kennedy assassinated. Aug 20- Soviet Union invades Czechoslovakia with 200,000 troops ending Prague Spring. Aug 28- contested Democratic Convention culminates when Chicago Polices charge street demonstrators without provocation-100 to ER, 175 arrested. Famous Mayor Daley quote “the policeman is not there to create disorder, the policeman is there to enforce disorder.” (it was an easy way to infuriate an adult just quoting that line- or letting your hair grow, or giving the peace sign at a glare, actually it reached the point that just being young infuriated most) Sept 7- various Womens Liberation groups protested at the sacred Miss America pageant. an organizer promised no violence “ other than maybe burning a bra” and thus the bra-burning feminist was born, Oct 2- police in Mexico City attack student protesters — most Americans over 50 cheered. Oct 12- Olympics Mexico City over 32 African nations boycott due to participation South Africa. (racist jokes abounded, great White Flight to Pacific Northwest and even Alaska continued); Oct 18 Tommy Smith and John Carlos gave Black Power salute- they were sent home by men no one remembers at all, talk of their not being grateful for their cool uniforms and chance to compete; Nov 5- Nixon 43.4%, Humphrey 42.7%- finally a good law abiding Republican in the White House; December 21 Apollo 8 is launched completing JFK’s challenge; December 22- crew of Pueblo released- “just needed a Republican, God damn it!”
and life went on Woodstock August 15, 1969- I alone of my generation not only was not there but never heard of it until later; May 4, 1970 Kent State Massacre- for some reason this made my Father mad at me. Anyway “Keep on Keeping On” and “Peace Out.”