1968 ( MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. In the west, the year is associated with the protests of 1968. Events of 1968January- January 27 – A French submarine sinks in the Mediterranean Sea with 52 men.
February- February 19 – The Florida Education Association (FEA) initiates a mass resignation of teachers to protest state funding of education. This is, in effect, the first statewide teachers' strike in the United States.
March- March 1 – The "Valle Giulia" student protest in Rome leads to a long period of violent disputes.
- March 13 – The first Rotaract club is chartered in North Charlotte, North Carolina.
- March 16 – Vietnam War – My Lai massacre: American troops kill scores of civilians. The story will first become public in November 1969 and will help undermine public support for the U.S. efforts in Vietnam.
- March 19–23 – Afrocentrism, Black power, Vietnam War: Students at Howard University in Washington, D.C., signal a new era of militant student activism on college campuses in the U.S. Students stage rallies, protests and a 5-day sit-in, laying siege to the administration building, shutting down the university in protest over its ROTC program and the Vietnam War, and demanding a more Afrocentric curriculum.
April- April 10 – The ferry Wahine strikes a reef at the entrance to Wellington Harbour, New Zealand, with the loss of 53 lives, during Cyclone Giselle, which provides the windiest conditions ever recorded in New Zealand.
- April 11 – Josef Bachmann tries to assassinate Rudi Dutschke, leader of the left-wing movement (APO) in Germany, and tries to commit suicide afterwards, failing in both, although Dutschke dies of his brain injuries 11 years later.
- April 23 – Surgeons at the Hôpital de la Pitié, Paris, perform Europe's first heart transplant, on Clovis Roblain.
May- May – May of '68 is a symbol of the resistance of that generation. Agitations and strikes in Paris lead many youth to believe that a revolution is starting. Student and worker strikes, sometimes referred to as the French May, nearly bring down the French government.
- May 3 – Patrick Wall's MP speech to the Conservative Association at Leeds University is stopped by a large crowd, and his wife Sheila Wall is knocked to the ground and kicked in ensuing scuffles. Leeds Students President Jack Straw says "this manhandling is deplorable."
- May 19 – Nigerian forces capture Port Harcourt and form a ring around the Biafrans. This contributes to a humanitarian disaster as the surrounded population already suffers from hunger and starvation.
JuneJulyAugust- August 18 – Two charter buses push into the Hida River on National Highway Route 41 in Japan, in an accident caused by heavy rain; 104 are killed.
September- September 13 – Albania officially retreats from the Warsaw Pact upon the Soviet Union- led Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. Indeed, Albania had already ceased to participate actively in any Warsaw Pact activity since 1962. Army Maj. Gen. Keith L. Ware, WWII Medal of Honor recipient, is killed when his helicopter is shot down in Viet Nam. He is posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.
October- October 11 – In Panama, a military coup d'état, led by Col. Boris Martinez and Col. Omar Torrijos, overthrows the democratically elected (but highly controversial) government of President Arnulfo Arias. Within a year, Torrijos ousts Martinez and takes charge as de facto Head of Government in Panama.
November- November 17 – The Heidi game: NBC cuts off the final 1:05 of an Oakland Raiders–New York Jets football game to broadcast the pre-scheduled Heidi. Fans are unable to see Oakland (which had been trailing 32–29) score 2 late touchdowns to win 43–32; as a result, thousands of outraged football fans flood the NBC switchboards to protest.
December- December 22 – Mao Zedong advocates that educated youth in urban China be re-educated in the country. It marks the start of the "Up to the mountains and down to the villages" movement.
UndatedOngoingBirthsJanuary–FebruaryMarch–AprilMay–JuneJuly–AugustSeptember–OctoberNovember–DecemberUnknown datesDeathsJanuary–MarchApril–June July–September October–December Nobel PrizesAcademy Awards
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