Updated 7:20 AM ET, Thu July 31, 2014
8 events that changed the world in 1968
Story highlights

1968 remains arguably the most historic year in modern American history
Revered leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated
North Korea captured a U.S. ship; Olympic athletes raised fists in Black Power salute
With the Apollo 8 mission, for the first time in history humans orbited the Moon

1968 was a year of triumphs and tragedies. While America reached new heights by introducing the first 747 and orbiting the moon, all was not well down on Earth. The United States lost a Navy intelligence ship and two proponents of peace — the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy.

Here are eight events that made history during that unforgettable year.

1. June 7, 1968: John Bateman entered the world and it became a better place.

2. January 30: North Vietnam launches the Tet Offensive against the United States and South Vietnam

In many ways, the bloody Tet Offensive signified the beginning of the end of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.

The coordinated attack by 85,000 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese targeted 36 major cities and towns in South Vietnam. It caught U.S.-led forces by surprise.

Related: Vietnam War fast facts

Related: North Vietnamese defense minister during Tet Offensive dies

Named after the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, Tet was a holiday during which the North and South had previously observed an informal truce.

U.S. and South Vietnamese forces eventually regained control of the communities they lost during Tet.

Nevertheless, it became a wake-up call for Americans back home, who began withdrawing their support for the war.

3. April 4: Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was standing on the second floor balcony of room 306 at the Lorraine Motel when he was struck by a bullet at 6:01 p.m.

The 39-year-old civil rights leader was rushed to nearby St. Joseph’s Hospital but never regained consciousness. He was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m.

Related: I was with King’s widow the night her husband was killed

King’s fellow civil rights pioneers made public pleas for a nonviolent response to honor his memory. But riots broke out in more than 100 cities across the nation.

Related: King’s last crusade

Two months later, James Earl Ray was captured at London’s Heathrow Airport. Fingerprints that had been traced back to Ray linked him to the crime. He confessed but later attempted to recant.

Then he pleaded guilty to avoid the possibility of a death sentence. Later Ray tried to withdraw his guilty plea and obtain a new trial. He died in prison in 1998.

Related: The case against James Earl Ray

Related: Conspiracy theories live on

On the night King was assassinated, Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy arrived in Indianapolis on a campaign stop. Upon hearing the news, Kennedy informed a crowd of listeners about King’s death.

They reacted with gasps and cries. Kennedy urged the crowd against bitterness, hatred or revenge. He called on them to embrace King’s message of love, wisdom and compassion toward one another. Kennedy’s speech is believed to have prevented rioting in Indianapolis that night.

4. June 5: Robert F. Kennedy assassinated in Los Angeles

Just two months later, Kennedy himself was gunned down by an assassin at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

The attack took place shortly after Kennedy had wrapped up a speech in the hotel ballroom. As he cut through a kitchen corridor on his way to another part of the building, a Jordanian born Palestinian named Sirhan Sirhan opened fire, hitting Kennedy in the head and back.

Kennedy collapsed and was rushed to the hospital, where he underwent brain surgery. Twenty-six hours after the attack, Kennedy died. He was 42.

Related: Witness says there was a second shooter

Related: Sirhan denied parole

Convicted of the murder in 1969, his death sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1972. Sirhan remains in a California prison.

5. September 30: Boeing introduces the first 747 “Jumbo Jet”

When demand for air travel reached sky-high levels in the 1960s, the world’s then-largest passenger aircraft — the Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet — was a game changer. The ability to carry far more passengers than previous airliners suddenly made globetrotting a feasible option for would-be wanderers who previously thought they would never afford such exotic sojourns.
Boeing continues to produce new versions of its historic 747 model airliner more than 40 years after the original. This 747-8 Intercontinental was the 1,500th to come off the production line earlier this year.
Boeing continues to produce new versions of its historic 747 model airliner more than 40 years after the original. This 747-8 Intercontinental was the 1,500th to come off the production line earlier this year.

The massive aircraft was indeed an aviation design milestone. More than six stories tall, it seated 374 passengers and weighed 300 tons.

Related: Boeing through the ages

After its 1968 reveal, the 747 made its first flight on February 9, 1969, near Boeing’s factory in western Washington state. That specific plane flew more than 12,000 test flights, but it never carried passengers for a major airline. Rather, it was a test plane for engine developments, various improvements and future jet airliners.

The 747 is no relic. Amazingly, it remains a major player among global airlines more than 40 years after its unveiling.

6. October 16: U.S. athletes take a stand at the Summer Olympics

During the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, two black athletes staged a silent demonstration against racial discrimination in the United States.

For the simple defiant act of raising their fists during the National Anthem, the International Olympic Committee condemned American medalists Tommie Smith and John Carlos.
This salute made Smith and Carlos famous. But what of sprinter Peter Norman, who finished second?
8 photos: The forgotten Black Power hero

Their protest shocked many people who felt it damaged the spirit of the Olympics and unnecessarily brought politics into the Games.

As Smith and Carlos were awarded the gold and bronze medals for their performances in the 200-meter race, they bowed their heads and each raised a black gloved fist during the playing of the Star Spangled Banner.

The protest didn’t stop with their fists. They also wore black socks and no shoes. On their clothes were badges of the Olympic Project for Human Rights, a group dedicated against racial segregation and racism in sports. Also wearing the patch in support of Smith and Carlos was Australian 200-meter silver medalist Peter Norman.

Related: Peter Norman, the forgotten Black Power hero

Spectators booed the medalists as they walked away from the ceremony.

“If I win I am an American, not a black American,” Smith said later. “But if I did something bad then they would say ‘a Negro.’ We are black and we are proud of being black.”

Smith said his raised right fist symbolized black power in America.

He also wore a black scarf, which he said represented black pride. He said the black socks with no shoes symbolized black poverty.

Carlos, who had raised his left fist, said the gesture was a display of black unity and that the two men’s fists combined had created an arch of unity and power.

Carlos also wore beads, which he explained “were for those individuals that were lynched, or killed that no one said a prayer for, that were hung and tarred.” He said they also were for those thrown off the side of boats that carried slaves across the Atlantic from Africa.

Two days later, Smith and Carlos were expelled from Team USA. When they returned home, they were hailed as heroes by members of the African-American community.

7. November 22: “Star Trek” airs American television’s first interracial kiss

In an episode of TV’s original “Star Trek” entitled “Plato’s Stepchildren,” the crew aboard the Starship Enterprise became enslaved by humanoid Platonians, who possessed a telekinetic ability to force them to do anything the Platonians wanted them to do.
In 1968 "Star Trek" actors Nichelle Nichols and William Shatner performed the first interracial kiss on American TV.
In 1968 “Star Trek” actors Nichelle Nichols and William Shatner performed the first interracial kiss on American TV.

Related: The post-racial revolution will be televised

Enterprise Capt. James Kirk, a white man played by William Shatner, was forced to kiss Nichelle Nichols’ character, Lt. Nyota Uhura, a black woman.

Censors at NBC insisted on filming an alternate version sans smooch — fearing that local TV affiliates in the Deep South would refuse to air the episode.

Shatner is reported to have purposefully ruined all the alternative takes so the network would be forced to air the kiss.

Appropriately, Kirk has this line in the episode: “Where I come from, size, shape or color makes no difference.”

8. December 24: Apollo 8 is the first manned spacecraft to orbit the moon

On Christmas Eve, three astronauts circled the moon 10 times. Jim Lovell, Bill Anders and Frank Borman became the first human beings to travel to the moon.
This 1968 image of the Earth rising over the moon is among the first ever photos of our planet taken by humans from deep space.
This 1968 image of the Earth rising over the moon is among the first ever photos of our planet taken by humans from deep space.

Launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Apollo 8 was a mission of firsts:

-The first photos of Earth taken from deep space by humans, including the now iconic “Earthrise”

-A new rocket speed record of 24,200 mph, a velocity that, according to NASA, was necessary to escape Earth’s gravitational pull

–The first time the lunar surface was broadcast on live television

-The first time humans had traveled to the far side of the moon

The weeklong mission was fueled by a Space Race rivalry with the Soviet Union and the nation’s desire to fulfill President John F. Kennedy’s wishes to land on the moon by decade’s end, a goal accomplished by Apollo 11 seven months later.

As Apollo 8 emerged from the mysterious dark side of the moon before heading back to Earth, a relieved Lovell announced to the world, “Houston, please be informed there is a Santa Claus.”

This amazing and joyous mission was a rare high note in a year filled with historically tragic events. According to “A Man on the Moon,” Andrew Chaikin’s book on the Apollo program, the astronauts received countless telegrams after they returned safely home. But one stuck out from the others.

It said, “You saved 1968.”
Promoted Stories
The 43 Most Powerful Military Forces In The World Geeky Camel
Shot across the bow?: Warships off Alaska signal Chinese… Nikkei Asian Review
How To Learn Any Language In 7 Days Babbel
#1 reason not to buy a new computer Speed Fix Tool
Recommended by

More Promoted Stories
10 Countries With The Most Attractive Women Lost Waldo
These Former Child Stars Did Not Age Well Today’s Lifestyle
Incredible Photos Of Hitler’s Secret Stealth Jet Fighter HistoryInOrbit.com
US Presidents Ranked By Wealth InsideGov
15 Vile Wedding Dresses That Will Hurt Your Eyes Time To Break
N. Korean leader meets 1st foreign leader in over 2 years Nikkei Asian Review
More from CNN
Good girls, not gangsters? Tattoos no longer taboo in China
North Korean defector: Kim Jong Un’s days are numbered
New Zealand bans young adult novel; first book ban in 22 years
China to explore ‘dark side’ of the moon
The song that pushed Simon Cowell to tears
Assertive Japan poised to abandon 70 years of pacifism
Recommended by

The Sixties
1967, Woburn Abbey, Hippies enjoy themselves at the 1967 Woburn Abbey Love In (Photo by Rolls Press/Popperfoto/Getty Images)
60 iconic moments from the 1960s
See images of 60 iconic moments of the 1960s. And experience “The Sixties” on CNN Thursday nights at 9 ET/PT.
Quiz: Hippie? Square? Or revolutionary?
If you lived in the ’60s, would you be hanging at the soda shop? Or protesting injustice? Take this quiz about what you like today to find out who you’d be in the ’60s.
From left to right, Alan Hale Jr. (1921 – 1990) as The Skipper, Tina Louise as Ginger Grant and Bob Denver (1935 – 2005) as Gilligan in the television series 'Gilligan's Island', circa 1964.
TV better or worse than the ’60s?
In the 1960s, there were three TV channels and not much to watch. Now that most people have hundreds of channels, has anything changed?
orig the sixties cold war movies_00000604.jpg
Why Russians are the TV bad guys
Step back in time to when the world was on the brink, and the Soviets became the enemy of choice in US movies and TV.
The civil rights movement was a pivotal part of U.S. history but why is it so dull to so many Americans?
‘That’ civil rights movement
Here’s a dirty little secret about the civil rights movement…
Almost 43 years after his death, Jimi Hendrix remains the model of a guitar hero.
How music shaped a decade
From Jimi Hendrix to Merle Haggard, music shaped the way the world reacted to the events of the 1960s.
Philip Jones Griffiths VIETNAM. The battle for Saigon. U.S. policy in Vietnam was based on the premise that peasants driven into the towns and cities by the carpet-bombing of the countryside would be safe. Furthermore, removed from their traditional value system they could be prepared for imposition of consumerism. This "restructuring" of society suffered a setback when, in 1968, death rained down on the urban enclaves. 1968 Image ReferenceGRP1968010N00001/06(PAR93989)© Philip Jones Griffiths/Magnum Photo
Vietnam: 5 things you might not know
The Vietnam War, especially U.S. involvement, escalated in the 1960s. Here are five things you might not know about the conflict.
Meredith Artley, managing editor of CNN Digital, couldn't help but smile after her parents shared a photo of her mother, Dianna Artley, dressed up in a yellow mini dress back in 1967.
Your favorite ’60s photos
The 1960s were a time of mop tops, tie-dyes, and a host of other fashion-worthy trends. We’d like to see what your family photos looked like.
Volunteers listen through headphones to increasingly intense taunts and threats endured by protesters during staged sit-ins at "whites only" dining counters as part of an exhibit at the new Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta. The museum opens to the public on Monday, June 23.
The rise of the civil rights museum
New civil rights museums, like the one in Atlanta, are all trying to reveal their stake in history while drawing a young, tech-savvy audience.
Name that ’60s TV show
The 60’s were full of new shows with memorable theme songs. Can you guess these famous TV shows just from their music?
Sally Field's 1965 studio headshot for "Gidget"
How ‘Gidget’ broke the rules
Gidget, Emma Peel from “The Avengers,” Samantha from “Bewitched”: The women in ’60s TV kicked ass and spurred changes, Sally Kohn writes.
Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., Lunar Module Pilot, Is Photographed Walking Near The Lunar Module During The Apollo 11 Extravehicular Activity. Man's First Landing On The Moon Occurred Today At 4:17 P.M. July 20, 1969 As Lunar Module 'Eagle' Touched Down Gently On The Sea Of Tranquility On The East Side Of The Moon. The Lm (Lunar Module) Landed On The Moon On July 20, 1969 And Returned To The Command Module On July 21. The Command Module Left Lunar Orbit On July 22 And Returned To Earth On July 24, 1969. Apollo 11 Splashed Down In The Pacific Ocean On 24 July 1969 At 12:50:35 P.M. Edt After A Mission Elapsed Time Of 195 Hrs, 18 Mins, 35 Secs. (Photo By Nasa/Getty Images)
Quiz: Test your ’60s knowledge
How much do you really know about this pivotal decade? Take the quiz (no Internet searches!) and find out.
the sixties carol burnett_00001920.jpg
Pratfalls, songs and sketches, oh my!
Episode 1 excerpt: It’s hard to tell who had more belly laughs on “The Carol Burnett Show”: the cast or audiences.
the sixties smothers brothers 1_00000703.jpg
What got The Smothers Brothers fired?
Episode 1 excerpt: CBS loved Tom and Dick Smothers’ folk satire until they said some topical humor went too far.
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated during a motorcade in Dallas on November 22, 1963. He was 46.
5 things: JFK’s assassination
It has been 50 years since President John F. Kennedy was fatally gunned down in Dallas. Here are five interesting facts about JFK’s assassination.
lead dnt foreman jackie kennedy letters_00020606.jpg
Jackie Kennedy letters not for sale
Jacqueline Kennedy’s personal letters to an Irish priest about her marriage, faith and the 1963 death of her husband will no longer be sold at auction.
MLK and Malcolm X met only once?
Five surprising facts you need to know about the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
promo cnn sixties thu premiere_00000108.jpg
Watch a clip of CNN’s ‘The Sixties’
A preview of the new CNN Original Series, “The Sixties” which debuts Thursday night, May 29 at 9 ET/PT.

More Top Stories
Al Qaeda to ISIS: You’re wrong
Al Qaeda to ISIS: You’re wrong
Huge beer merger in the works
Huge beer merger in the works
Husband won’t let soccer star play
Husband won’t let soccer star play
Did ‘Star Trek’ star flash neighbor?
Did ‘Star Trek’ star flash neighbor?
Hand sanitizer’s big risk to kids
Hand sanitizer’s big risk to kids
Report warns about fast-food meat
Report warns about fast-food meat
Al Qaeda to ISIS: You’re wrong
Huge beer merger in the works
Husband won’t let soccer star play
Did ‘Star Trek’ star flash neighbor?
Hand sanitizer’s big risk to kids
Report warns about fast-food meat

Promoted Stories
List: 20 Surprising Female Celebrity Smokers
List: 20 Surprising Female Celebrity Smokers
Weekend Collective
10 Historical Films That Were Actually Accurate
10 Historical Films That Were Actually Accurate
Entertainment – Answers.com
10 Things You’ll Want to Know About the GI Bill
10 Things You’ll Want to Know About the GI Bill
Villanova University
RANKED: The Presidents with the Lowest IQs
RANKED: The Presidents with the Lowest IQs
InsideGov
Recommended by

More from CNN
Tom Cruise movie crew members in plane crash that kills 2 in Colombia
Tom Cruise movie crew members in plane crash that kills 2 in Colombia
Kevin Spacey reveals ‘House of Cards’ secret
Kevin Spacey reveals ‘House of Cards’ secret
There’s an invisible man standing in the middle of these photos. Look closer
There’s an invisible man standing in the middle of these photos. Look…
Is it OK to shoot down a drone over your backyard?
Is it OK to shoot down a drone over your backyard?
Uprooted tree reveals a violent death from 1,000 years ago
Uprooted tree reveals a violent death from 1,000 years ago
Homo naledi: New species of human ancestor discovered in South Africa
Homo naledi: New species of human ancestor discovered in South Africa

More from us
Noisy supercars disturb Beverly Hills neighborhood
Noisy supercars disturb Beverly Hills neighborhood
hillary clinton phone call donald trump on late show jimmy fallon orig pkg_00001229.jpg
Hillary Clinton gets a call from ‘Trump’ on ‘The Tonight Show’
New findings back up VA whistleblowers’ charges

0 comments
Sign in
Newest | Oldest | Hot Threads
Powered by Livefyre
New York City, NYSunny84°

News
U.S.WorldPoliticsTechHealthEntertainmentLivingTravelMoneySports

Video
CNNgoLatest NewsMust Watch VideosDigital Studios

TV
CNNgoScheduleCNN FilmsShows A-ZFaces of CNN Worldwide

Opinions
Political Op-EdsSocial CommentaryiReport

More…
PhotosLongformInvestigationsCNN profiles A-ZCNN Leadership

© 2015 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Terms of UsePrivacy PolicyAdChoicesAdvertise with usAbout usWork for usHelpTranscriptsLicense FootageCNN Newsource