Chronology of Events

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JANUARY

5 Alexander Dubcek was elected First Secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party.

6 Dr N.E. Shumway performed the first U.S. adult cardiac transplant operation.

7 Surveyor 7 was launched on a mission to the Moon.

9 Sweden granted asylum to four U.S. Navy men who had deserted in Japan in October 1967 in opposition to the Vietnam War.

10 John Grey Gorton succeeded the late Harold Holt as Prime Minister of Australia.

14 The Green Bay Packers defeated the Oakland Raiders 33-14 in Super Bowl II.

15 Earthquakes struck western Sicily, Italy, leaving some 80,000 homeless and more than 200 dead.

16 U.S. military attachés Colonel John O. Webber, Jr., and Lieutenant Commander Ernest A. Munro were shot to death in Gutaemala.

17 The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe's "Super C" freight train made its first run from Chicago, Illinois, to Los Angeles, California.

21 Four unarmed hydrogen bombs were fragmented and scattered when a U.S. Air Force B-52 crashed near Thule, Greenland.
21 North Korean commandos infiltrated Seoul, South Korea, in a failed attempt to assassinate South Korean President Chung Hee Park.

23 North Korean patrol boats captured the U.S. Navy electronic intelligence ship Pueblo off the North Korean coast.

30 Vietcong raiders and North Vietnamese troops launched attacks on major cities throughout South Vietnam.

31 Nauru became an independent republic.

FEBRUARY

16 North Vietnam released three captured American pilots -- Major Norris M. Overly, Captain Jon D. Black, and Ensign David P.Matheny.

28 George Romney announced his withdrawal from the Republican presidential race.

29 Romania withdrew its delegates from a Soviet-sponsored meeting of 67 Communist parties being held in Budapest, Hungary.

MARCH

12 Mauritius became indepent of the United Kingdom.

27 Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was killed when his jet plane crashed.

31 Lyndon B. Johnson announced that he would not seek another term as President of the United States.

APRIL

4 Civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.

6 Hemisfair '68 opened in San Antonio, Texas.

7 Race car driver Jim Clark was killed when his Lotus-Ford crashed at Hockenheim, West Germany.
7 Luna 14 was launched on a mission to the Moon.

10 The ferry Wahine capsized in Wellington Harbor, New Zealand, killing 46 persons.

11 Rudi Dutschke, leader of the Socialist Students League (in West Germany), was injured in an assassination attempt.

14 Bob Goalby won the Masters Golf Tournament.

15 Cosmos 212 automatically rendezvoused and docked with Cosmos 213.

20 A South African Boeing 707 crashed nearWindhoek, South Africa, killing 122 persons.
20 Pierre Elliott Trudeau succeeded the retiring Lester B.Pearson as Prime Minister of Canada.

23 Students seized five buildings at Columbia University.

MAY

3 A Braniff Airlines airplane crashed south of Dallas, Texas, killing 84 persons.
3 Daniel Cohn-Bendit led a march on the Sorbonne in Paris, France.

6 The John Hancock Center in Chicago, Illinois, was topped out.

13 French labor unions staged a nationwide general strike.
13 The first official peace talks between the United States and North Vietnam were held in Paris, France.

19 Nigerian troops captured Port Harcourt, the major port of Biafra.

20 The Supreme Court of the United States rules that school districts cannot offer "freedom of choice" plans as a way to desegregate their schools.

22 The government of French Premier Georges Popmpidou survived a vote of censure.

27 The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the law making it a crime to burn a draft card was constitutional.

30 Panama's National Electoral Tally Board declared Dr. Arnulfo Arias the winner of the presidential election.

JUNE

5 Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was shot by Sirhan Bishara Sirhan.
5 The U.S. Navy announced that the nuclear submarine Scorpion and its 99-man crew were "presumed lost."

8 James Earl Ray, accused of assassinating Martin Luther King, Jr., was captured in London, England.

12 The United Nations General Assembly endorsed a treaty to halt the spread of nuclear weapons.

13 The United States launched eight military communications satellites with a single Titan-3C booster.

14 Icarus, an asteroid less than a mile in diameter, came within 4,000,000 miles of Earth.

17 The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Civil Rights Act of 1866 outlaws racial discrimination in all real-estate transactions.

19 Ralph Abernathy led more than 50,000 people in the Poor People's March on Washington, D.C.

26 The United States formally returned the island of Iwo Jima to Japan.

30 An American airliner carrying 214 U.S. servicemen to Vietnam was forced down in the Kurile Islands after straying into Soviet airspace.

July-December

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This page was last updated on January 15, 2018.