What happened in 1968
117 entries recorded for 1968, listed by date. That was 58 years ago.
1968 at a glance
- Years ago
- 58 (as of 2026)
- Century
- 20th century
- Decade
- 1960s
- Generation born
- Generation X
- Entries here
- 117
- Breakdown
- 115 historical events · 2 deaths
January
- January 5
Alexander Dubček
Alexander Dubček comes to power in Czechoslovakia, effectively beginning the "Prague Spring".
- January 6
Aeroflot Flight 1668
Aeroflot Flight 1668 crashes near Olyokminsk, killing 45.
- January 7
Surveyor program
Surveyor program: Surveyor 7, the last spacecraft in the Surveyor series, lifts off from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 36A.
- January 13
Johnny Cash
American singer Johnny Cash recorded his landmark album At Folsom Prison live at Folsom State Prison in California.
- January 20
Houston Cougars men's basketball
The Houston Cougars upset the UCLA Bruins in what became known as the "Game of the Century" (pictured), ending the Bruins' 47-game winning streak and establishing college basketball as a sports commodity on American television.
- January 21
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: The People's Army of Vietnam attacked Khe Sanh Combat Base, a U.S. Marines outpost in Quảng Trị province, South Vietnam, starting the Battle of Khe Sanh.
- January 21
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress
A B-52 bomber carrying four nuclear weapons crashed onto sea ice near Thule Air Base, Greenland, causing localized radioactive contamination.
- January 22
Operation Igloo White
Operation Igloo White, a US electronic surveillance system to stop communist infiltration into South Vietnam begins installation.
- January 22
Apollo program
Apollo Program: Apollo 5 lifts off carrying the first Lunar module into space.
- January 22
Apollo 5
Apollo 5 (pictured), the first flight of NASA's Lunar Module, lifted off from Cape Kennedy Air Force Station.
- January 23
USS Pueblo (AGER-2)
USS Pueblo was seized by North Korean forces, who claimed that it had violated their territorial waters while spying.
- January 24
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: The 1st Australian Task Force launched Operation Coburg against the North Vietnamese army and the Viet Cong.
- January 30
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: Forces of the Viet Cong and the Vietnamese People's Army launched the Tet Offensive to strike military and civilian command and control centers throughout South Vietnam.
- January 31
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: Viet Cong guerrillas attack the United States embassy in Saigon, and other attacks, in the early morning hours, later grouped together as the Tet Offensive.
February
- February 8
Orangeburg, South Carolina
Law enforcement officers in Orangeburg, South Carolina (pictured), fired into a crowd of college students who were protesting segregation, killing three and injuring twenty-seven others.
- February 8
Civil rights movement
American civil rights movement: An attack on Black students from South Carolina State University who are protesting racial segregation leaves three dead and 28 injured in Orangeburg, South Carolina.
- February 12
Death of Echol Cole and Robert Walker
Following the deaths of two employees on the job, black sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, began a strike that lasted more than two months.
- February 12
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: The Phong Nhị and Phong Nhất massacre occurs, allegedly by South Korean troops.
- February 16
Civil Air Transport Flight 10
Civil Air Transport Flight 010 crashes near Shongshan Airport in Taiwan, killing 21 of the 63 people on board and one more on the ground.
- February 16
Haleyville, Alabama
In Haleyville, Alabama, the first 9-1-1 emergency telephone system goes into service.
- February 20
China Academy of Space Technology
The China Academy of Space Technology, China's main arm for the research, development, and creation of space satellites, is established in Beijing.
- February 24
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: Led by Ngô Quang Trưởng, South Vietnamese forces recaptured the citadel of Huế.
March
- March 7
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: The United States and South Vietnam began Operation Truong Cong Dinh to sweep the area surrounding the Mekong Delta town of Mỹ Tho to root out Viet Cong forces in the area.
- March 10
Vietnam War
Vietnam War/Laotian Civil War: North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao forces overwhelmed the American, Laotian, Thai, and Hmong defenders of Lima Site 85.
- March 12
Mauritius
Mauritius gains independence from the United Kingdom.
- March 16
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: American soldiers killed hundreds of unarmed civilians in the Sơn Mỹ village in the Sơn Tịnh District of South Vietnam.
- March 17
Nerve agent
As a result of nerve gas testing by the U.S. Army Chemical Corps in Skull Valley, Utah, over 6,000 sheep are found dead.
- March 17
Dugway Proving Ground
Six thousand sheep were killed on ranches near Dugway Proving Ground in Utah as a result of the U.S. Army spraying a nerve agent.
- March 18
Gold standard
Gold standard: The U.S. Congress repeals the requirement for a gold reserve to back US currency.
- March 21
War of Attrition
War of Attrition: The Battle of Karameh took place between the Israel Defense Forces and allied troops of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Jordanian Armed Forces.
- March 21
Battle of Karameh
Battle of Karameh in Jordan between the Israel Defense Forces and the combined forces of the Jordanian Armed Forces and PLO.
- March 28
Edson Luís de Lima Souto
Brazilian high school student Edson Luís de Lima Souto is killed by military police at a student protest.
- March 28
Colonel Sun
Colonel Sun, written by Kingsley Amis, was published, becoming the first James Bond novel published after the death of Ian Fleming in 1964.
- March 29
Funeral of Yuri Gagarin and Vladimir Seryogin
The funeral of Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, began in Moscow with tens of thousands of people in attendance.
- March 31
President of the United States
American President Lyndon B. Johnson speaks to the nation of "Steps to Limit the War in Vietnam" in a television address. At the conclusion of his speech, he announces: "I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President."
April
- April 2
2001: A Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey, the epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, premiered at the Uptown Theater in Washington, D.C.
- April 4
Civil rights movement
American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (pictured) was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
- April 8
BOAC Flight 712
BOAC Flight 712 experienced an engine fire shortly after take-off from London Heathrow, leading to the deaths of five people on board, including flight attendant Jane Harrison, who was posthumously awarded a George Cross for heroism.
- April 10
TEV Wahine
The TEV Wahine, a New Zealand ferry, sinks in Wellington harbour due to a fierce storm – the strongest winds ever in Wellington. Out of the 734 people on board, fifty-three died.
- April 11
Rudi Dutschke
Rudi Dutschke, the most prominent leader of the German student movement, survived an assassination attempt, which led to the largest protests to that date in Germany.
- April 20
South African Airways Flight 228
South African Airways Flight 228 crashed shortly after take-off from Windhoek in South West Africa, resulting in 123 deaths.
- April 20
Enoch Powell
Enoch Powell, a British Conservative member of Parliament, made a controversial speech in opposition to immigration and anti-discrimination legislation, resulting in his removal from the shadow cabinet.
- April 20
Pierre Trudeau
Pierre Trudeau was sworn in as prime minister of Canada, succeeding Lester B. Pearson.
- April 23
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: Student protesters at Columbia University in New York City take over administration buildings and shut down the university.
- April 29
Broadway theatre
The controversial Broadway musical Hair, a product of the counterculture of the 1960s, opened, with its songs becoming anthems of the anti-Vietnam War movement.
May
- May 3
Braniff International Airways Flight 352
Eighty-five people are killed when Braniff International Airways Flight 352 crashes near Dawson, Texas.
- May 9
Bucks County Community College
About 200 students at Bucks County Community College held a protest after the college canceled a planned speech by gay rights activist Dick Leitsch.
- May 12
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: The 1st Australian Task Force began the defence of Fire Support Base Coral in the largest unit-level action of the war for the Australian Army.
- May 16
Gas explosion
A gas explosion in Ronan Point (collapse pictured) causes a corner of the building to collapse, leading to a loss of public confidence in high-rise residential buildings.
- May 30
Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle reappears publicly after his flight to Baden-Baden, West Germany, and dissolves the French National Assembly by a radio appeal. Immediately after, less than one million of his supporters march on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. This is the turning point of the May
June
- June 3
Radical feminism
American radical feminist Valerie Solanas shot and wounded visual artist Andy Warhol and two others at Warhol's New York City studio, the Factory.
- June 5
Robert F. Kennedy
U.S. senator Robert F. Kennedy was fatally shot by Palestinian immigrant Sirhan Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
- June 6
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 64th United States Attorney General (born 1925)
- June 8
James Earl Ray
James Earl Ray, the man who assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. is arrested at London Heathrow Airport.
- June 9
Lyndon B. Johnson
U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a national day of mourning following the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
- June 10
Royal New Zealand Navy
The Royal New Zealand Navy adopted a unique white ensign, to distinguish its vessels from those of the Royal Navy.
- June 11
Lloyd J. Old
Lloyd J. Old identifies the first cell surface antigens that could differentiate among different cell types.
- June 23
The Tragedy of Gate 12
Seventy-four people were killed and 150 others injured in a stampede at a football match between Boca Juniors and Club Atlético River Plate in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
July
- July 14
Konstantin Paustovsky
Konstantin Paustovsky, Russian author and poet (born 1892)
- July 17
Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr
Led by Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr (pictured), the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party overthrew Iraqi president Abdul Rahman Arif in a bloodless coup.
- July 17
Abdul Rahman Arif
Abdul Rahman Arif is overthrown and the Ba'ath Party is installed as the governing power in Iraq with Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr as the new Iraqi President.
- July 18
Intel
Intel is founded in Mountain View, California.
- July 20
1968 Special Olympics World Summer Games
The first games of the Special Olympics (athletes pictured), for athletes with intellectual disabilities, were held at Soldier Field in Chicago.
- July 23
Glenville shootout
A shootout between police and a Black power group began in Cleveland, Ohio, sparking three days of rioting.
- July 26
Nguyễn Văn Thiệu
After coming second to Nguyễn Văn Thiệu in a rigged presidential election, Trương Đình Dzu was jailed by a South Vietnamese military court for illicit currency transactions.
- July 26
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: South Vietnamese opposition leader Trương Đình Dzu is sentenced to five years hard labor for advocating the formation of a coalition government as a way to move toward an end to the war.
August
- August 1
Hassanal Bolkiah
The coronation of Hassanal Bolkiah, the 29th Sultan of Brunei, is held.
- August 2
1968 Casiguran earthquake
An earthquake hits Casiguran, Aurora, Philippines killing more than 270 people and wounding 261.
- August 13
Alexandros Panagoulis
Alexandros Panagoulis attempts to assassinate the Greek dictator Colonel Georgios Papadopoulos in Varkiza, Athens.
- August 21
Cold War
Cold War: Nicolae Ceaușescu, leader of the Socialist Republic of Romania, publicly condemns the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, encouraging the Romanian population to arm itself against possible Soviet reprisals.
- August 21
James Anderson Jr.
James Anderson Jr. posthumously receives the first Medal of Honor to be awarded to an African American U.S. Marine.
- August 22
Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI arrives in Bogotá, Colombia. It is the first visit of a pope to Latin America.
- August 26
Democratic Party (United States)
The U.S. Democratic Party's National Convention opened in Chicago, sparking four days of clashes (pictured) between anti-Vietnam War protesters and police.
- August 26
The Beatles
The Beatles released "Hey Jude", which became the then-longest single to top the UK charts.
- August 28
1968 Democratic National Convention protests
Police and protesters clash during 1968 Democratic National Convention protests as protesters chant "The whole world is watching".
September
- September 13
Cold War
Cold War: Albania leaves the Warsaw Pact.
- September 15
Soviet Union
The Soviet Zond 5 spaceship is launched, becoming the first spacecraft to fly around the Moon and re-enter the Earth's atmosphere.
- September 21
Zond 5
The Soviet Union's Zond 5 landed in the Indian Ocean, becoming the first spacecraft to safely return to Earth after travelling around the Moon.
- September 26
The Beatles
The Beatles completed the recording of John Lennon's song "Happiness Is a Warm Gun", regarded by all the band members as their favourite on the album The Beatles.
- September 30
Boeing 747
The Boeing 747 is rolled out and shown to the public for the first time.
October
- October 2
Gustavo Díaz Ordaz
Mexican President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz orders soldiers to suppress a demonstration of unarmed students, ten days before the start of the 1968 Summer Olympics.
- October 5
Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association
A Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march in Derry is violently suppressed by police.
- October 11
Apollo 7
Apollo 7, the first manned mission of NASA's Apollo program, and the first three-man American space mission, launched from Complex 34 in Cape Kennedy, Florida.
- October 16
1968 Olympics Black Power salute
Tommie Smith and John Carlos are ejected from the US Olympic team for participating in the Olympics Black Power salute.
- October 16
Rodney riots
Kingston, Jamaica is rocked by the Rodney riots, inspired by the barring of Walter Rodney from the country.
- October 16
Yasunari Kawabata
Yasunari Kawabata becomes the first Japanese person to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
- October 18
1968 Summer Olympics
At the Summer Olympics in Mexico City, American athlete Bob Beamon (pictured) achieved a distance of 8.90 m (29.2 ft) in the long jump event, setting a world record that stood for 23 years.
- October 21
1968–1969 Japanese university protests
At the height of the Japanese university protests, protesters occupied Shinjuku Station in Tokyo and clashed violently with police.
- October 25
Soyuz 2
Soyuz 2 is launched.
- October 25
Fairchild F-27
A Fairchild F-27 crashes into Moose Mountain while on approach to Lebanon Municipal Airport in Lebanon, New Hampshire, killing 32 people.
- October 26
Space Race
Space Race: The Soyuz 3 mission achieves the first Soviet space rendezvous.
- October 30
Korean People's Army
A squad of 120 North Korean Army commandos landed in boats along a 25-mile long section of the eastern coast of South Korea in a failed attempt to overthrow the dictatorship of Park Chung Hee and reunify Korea.
- October 31
Great Drought of 1968
Great Drought of 1968: Amidst a collapse of hydropower President of Chile Eduardo Frei Montalva decrees the establishment of daylight saving time.
- October 31
Vietnam War
Vietnam War October surprise: Citing progress with the Paris peace talks, US 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.
November
- November 5
Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon is elected as 37th President of the United States.
- November 8
Vienna Convention on Road Traffic
The Vienna Convention on Road Traffic is signed to facilitate international road traffic and to increase road safety by standardising the uniform traffic rules among the signatories.
- November 17
BAC One-Eleven
British European Airways introduces the BAC One-Eleven into commercial service.
- November 17
NBC
NBC controversially cut away from an American football game between the Oakland Raiders and New York Jets to broadcast Heidi, causing viewers in the Eastern United States to miss the game's dramatic ending.
- November 22
The Beatles
The Beatles released their eponymous double album, popularly known as the White Album.
- November 22
Japan Air Lines Flight 2
Japan Air Lines Flight 2 accidentally ditches in San Francisco Bay while on approach to San Francisco International Airport. No one is injured.
- November 25
Old Student House, Helsinki
The Old Student House in Helsinki, Finland is occupied by a large group of University of Helsinki students.
December
- December 3
Elvis Presley
American singer Elvis Presley's first television special and first live performance in seven years, Singer Presents ... Elvis, was broadcast by NBC.
- December 9
Douglas Engelbart
Douglas Engelbart gave what became known as "The Mother of All Demos", publicly debuting the computer mouse (pictured), hypertext, and the bit-mapped graphical user interface using the computer system NLS.
- December 13
Artur da Costa e Silva
Brazilian President Artur da Costa e Silva issues AI-5 (Institutional Act No. 5), enabling government by decree and suspending habeas corpus.
- December 16
Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council: Official revocation of the Edict of Expulsion of Jews from Spain.
- December 20
Zodiac Killer
The Zodiac Killer murders his first two officially confirmed victims, David Arthur Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, on Lake Herman Road in Benicia, California, United States.
- December 21
Apollo program
Apollo program: Apollo 8 is launched from the Kennedy Space Center, placing its crew on a lunar trajectory for the first visit to another celestial body by humans.
- December 21
Apollo 8
Apollo 8 launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a trajectory to the Moon; its crew (pictured) became the first humans to visit another celestial body.
- December 23
USS Pueblo (AGER-2)
The 82 sailors from the USS Pueblo are released after eleven months of internment in North Korea.
- December 24
Apollo program
Apollo program: The crew of Apollo 8 enters into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so. They performed ten lunar orbits, took the Earthrise photograph, broadcast live TV pictures, and read the first ten verses of Genesis.
- December 24
Allegheny Airlines Flight 736
Allegheny Airlines Flight 736 crashes on approach to Bradford Regional Airport, killing 20.
- December 24
Jim Lovell
Piloted by Jim Lovell, Apollo 8 became the first human spaceflight to reach and orbit the Moon (Earthrise pictured).
- December 25
Tamil Nadu
In Tamil Nadu, India, families of striking Dalit workers were massacred by a gang, allegedly led by their landlords.
- December 25
Apollo program
Apollo program: Apollo 8 performs the first successful Trans-Earth injection (TEI) maneuver, sending the crew and spacecraft on a trajectory back to Earth from Lunar orbit.
- December 26
Communist Party of the Philippines
The Communist Party of the Philippines is established by Jose Maria Sison, breaking away from the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas-1930.
- December 27
North Central Airlines Flight 458
North Central Airlines Flight 458 crashes at O'Hare International Airport, killing 28.
- December 27
Apollo program
Apollo program: Apollo 8 splashes down in the Pacific Ocean, ending the first orbital crewed mission to the Moon.
Questions about 1968
What happened in 1968?
This site records 117 entries for 1968, including Alexander Dubček on January 5. They are listed below by date.
How long ago was 1968?
58 years ago, counting from 2026. Anyone born in 1968 turns 58 this year.
Which century is 1968 in?
1968 falls in the 20th century, in the 1960s.
Which generation was born in 1968?
Generation X (1965–1980). The latch-key generation; first to grow up with personal computers.
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