1968

A Volatile Year

 

In 1968 Edward Abbey’s most famous book, Desert Solitaire, was published.

 

“A civilization which destroys what little remains of the wild, the spare, the original, is cutting itself off from its origins and betraying the principle of civilization itself. If industrial man continues to multiply its numbers and expand his operations he will succeed in his apparent intention, to seal himself off from the natural and isolate himself within a synthetic prison of his own making. He will make himself an exile from the earth.”

 

The average cost of a new house was $15K

 

The average cost of a new car was $2,800

 

A gallon of gas cost 00.34 cents

 

Top Grossing film was 2001: A Space Odessey

 

Hottest single was The Beatles’ “Hey Jude”

 

The Vietnam War

 

            Battle of Khe Sanh Marine Base

 

            The Tet Offensive

 

            The Massacre at Hué (Viet Cong massacre 4K to 6K civilians with clubs)

 

            Walter Cronkite on the evening news calls for negotiations

 

            Anti-war sentiment becomes widespread across the US, especially college campuses

 

MyLai Massacre, US forces massacre 300 to 500 civilians in the MyLai village

 

Martin Luther King, Jr assassinated (Race Riots and demonstrations across the US)

 

Robert F. Kennedy assassinated (JFK’s brother, would have been elected president)

 

The 1968 Civil Rights Act (prohibited discrimination based on race)

 

Multiple Ethnic and Racial movements across the US

 

Mexico City Summer Olympics (two African American athletes raise their fists on podium)

 

1968 Presidential Election, Nixon elected

 

Chicago Riots (Chicago site of National Democratic Convention)