1968 – PERHAPS THE MOST TUMULTUOUS SINGLE YEAR IN AMERICAN HISTORY - THE WHOLE WORLD WAS WATCHING
Offering a splendidly detailed and tightly written historical period diary (3 x 5 inches) covering every day of 1968 through the beginning of 1969, and jam packed with news reports of the day and comments by our diarist, Elizabeth Holz, from the West Village of New York City. Elizabeth Holz seemed especially interested and keen to what was happening within the United States and was will to write concerning those events within this diary. Unlike many diaries, this one is prolifically detailed and unapologetically candid and by far the best mid-19th century diary we’ve ever offered.
(National Event) February 18: The U.S. State Department announced the highest U.S. casualty toll of the Vietnam War, with 543 Americans killed in action and 2,547 wounded during the previous week.
(Diary- Feb. 18, 1968) “...The air waves are full of talk about stopping the bombing, picket lines by peace groups, radical ___ Negro threats of ___riots everywhere but reason in any kind of settlement ___ is certainly necessary if this nation is to survive….”
(National Event) March 16: After repeatedly denying he would challenge Johnson for the Democratic nomination, Senator Robert F. Kennedy announced he would enter the presidential race. On the same day (though it would not be revealed until the following year), U.S. ground troops killed more than 500 Vietnamese civilians in the My Lai massacre in South Vietnam.
(Diary – March 16, 1968) “Bankers of 6 European nations arrived in Washington yesterday for a 2 day meeting today and tomorrow to discuss two gold crisis and find a way out of it. The Viet Nam war is part of the discussion since it is draining U.S. finances $2 billion a month….”
(National Event) March 31: In a televised address to the nation, an increasingly embattled Johnson announced: “I shall not seek and I will not accept the nomination of my party as your president.” The following month, Johnson’s vice president, Hubert Humphrey, announced his own candidacy, though he was too late to run in the primaries and would have to count on delegate support at the Democratic convention that summer.
(Diary – March 31, 1968) “The government sent 6 fighter bombers costing $6 million each to Viet Nam last week. First in action was shot down no one knows where….”
April 4: While in Memphis to support striking sanitation workers in that city, the civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a sermon in which he told listeners: “I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.” The following evening, Martin Luther King was assassinated while he was standing on the balcony outside his room at a Memphis motel. As news of King’s murder sparked rioting in dozens of cities across the country, an international manhunt for his shooter, James Earl Ray, ended in his capture in London. Ray was convicted, and died in prison in 1998.
(Diary – April 4, 1968) “The nation is shocked tonight by the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King the foremost champion of non-violence in the civil rights movement in which he has worked for many of his 39 years. He received the Nobel Peace Prize, the youngest to ever win it and never condoned violence as did many of his race. He was shot at Memphis, Tennessee at 7PM and died an hour later. The day has been eventful here in New York….”
(Diary – April 5, 1968) “The nation is in mourning for Dr. King. It is astonished and angry and in a condition of wondering how it could happen in so violent a manner to one who preached and lived non-violence when he led marches under horrid conditions. There were marches today, memorial services, his body was taken by his wife to his home….”
(Diary – April 6, 1968) “There is plenty of news most of it shameful for negroes in Washington, Chicago, Detroit and many other cities burned, looted, and rioted despite curfew and the National Guard. Washington has had nothing of the kind since the British in 1812 burned the city and the photographs of the capital with soldiers with machine guns guarding it on the steps is something terrible to see….”
(Diary – April 7, 1968) “Today one remembering the slain leader of the Civil Rights movement, Dr. King Jr. Flags, half-staff on US buildings throughout the world, church filled with who mourned his passing as well as others who respected his mission. Thousands assembled in parks to hear speakers exult him and televisions had programs of his work for the people. Sports events, theater performances canceled….”
(Diary – April 8, 1968) “Tributes to Dr. King He was to lead a parade in Memphis where garbage men have been on strike for 5 weeks to take the place...hundreds of union members of several organizations joined in the first march through the streets of this city. Mrs. King who is a lovely lady addressed the crowd last night and today despite the presence of troops….”
(Diary – April 9, 1968) “For 7 hours 150,000 or more had followed him from the church which he served to the college where he graduated. Marched to the cemetery...He is a martyr who had death’s wings hovering over him for many years….”
(National Event) May 6: The protests at Columbia exemplified the wave of student activism that swept the globe in 1968, including mass demonstrations in Poland, West Germany, Mexico City, Paris, Italy and elsewhere. On May 6, known as “Bloody Monday,” students and police clashed in Paris’ Latin Quarter, resulting in hundreds of injuries. As the protests continued, millions of French workers began striking in sympathy with the students, eventually leading President Charles de Gaulle to dissolve the National Assembly, call for immediate elections and threaten military intervention.
(Diary – May 6, 1968) “The war in Viet Nam despite true talk of Peace continues in severity. 5 newspaper men have been shot dead by the Viet Kong. 2 Australians, a New Zelander and an Englishman, Yesterday an American today all young in there 20’s. Strikers ___ trouble to students who wished to attend dinner….”
(National Event) June 5: On the night of the California primary (which he won, putting him in reach of securing the Democratic presidential nomination), Robert F. Kennedy was leaving the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after addressing a large crowd of supporters when he was shot by the young Jordanian immigrant Sirhan Sirhan. Born in Jerusalem, Sirhan later said he assassinated Kennedy out of concern for the Palestinian cause, and had felt betrayed by the senator’s support for Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967.
(Diary June 5, 1968) “Sen. Robert Kennedy was celebrating his victory in Los Angeles where he had won two states’ primaries sufficient to be considered for the candidacy for president. At 3:15 a.m. as he left the hotel ballroom, he was shot down...His admirers present heard two shots. His assailant was caught...Sen. Kennedy died without regaining consciousness at 1:44 a.m. Northern California time. I was awake at 3:30, turned on the television and heard the sad news...This afternoon his body was brought here for religious services in St. Patrick’s, where he will lie in state until Saturday...Tens of thousands of New Yorkers...travelers from everywhere from every walk of life came to pass by and touch the life of Sen. Kennedy. The doors of St. Patrick’s opened at 5:30 a.m., hundreds waiting, some all night to get inside the cathedral...Salvation Army and Red Cross distributed water for those in line...Archbishops of New York and Cardinal Cushing of Boston, an old family friend, Sen. Edward Kennedy, his brother, in a tribute...praised his straightforward, useful life.
“During the week, the F.B.I., Scotland Yard and the Canadian R.M.P. succeeded in finding the alleged slayer of Dr. King, James Earl Ray...The British took the suspected killer to court yesterday an at the request of the U.S. issued an extradition warrant...”
(National Event) August 26-29: RFK’s assassination left Vice President Humphrey as the most likely Democratic nominee, even though he supported Johnson’s unpopular Vietnam War policy. When the Democratic National Convention opened in August, thousands of students, antiwar activists and other demonstrators—including groups like the Yippies, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the Black Panthers—poured into Chicago, where they were met with a violent police response called out by Mayor Richard Daley. As TV cameras captured the bloody clashes between police and demonstrators, the chaotic convention ended in Humphrey’s nomination as the head of an embattled Democratic Party.
(Diary August 26, 1968) “ The City of Chicago is an armed camp in preparation for the Democratic Convention which opens tonight. In addition to two gigantic police forces 5 more National Guardsmen have been on duty in ___ and today they are joined by 5000 Federal troops – all to preserve order. There are hundreds of demonstrators have been demonstrating and training for action …….all ready to cause disturbances most of them opposed to all the conditions and U.S.
(Diary August 28, 1968) “Encouraging news of Pres. Eisenhower today. The first time since his illness. The Dem. Convention makes plenty of noise inside and out of the auditorium. The police have about 15 newspaper reporters in two hospitals where they are accused of photographing individuals in the audience. The hippies and peace marchers towards of whom are in Chicago give them plenty of trouble, many arrested. “
(Diary August 29, 1968) “…..Vice Pres. Humphrey was nominated on the 1sst Ballot last night in what was probably the most disorderly convention ever held. Police battled ____ demonstrators in the streets of Chicago and the audience inside battled between themselves and the guards and police….”
(National Event)November 5: As the self-proclaimed champion of what he would later dub the “silent majority”—those Americans who rejected the radical, liberal and rebellious spirit of the time—the Republican Richard Nixon led in the polls for most of the general election season. The race tightened in the last weeks after Johnson halted air attacks on North Vietnam, which benefited Humphrey. But Nixon triumphed on Election Day with a comfortable electoral college lead (despite a razor-thin margin of victory in the popular vote). The third-party candidate George Wallace, a former Alabama governor, captured 13.5 percent of the popular vote and five southern states.
(Diary November 5, 1968) “...a group of Catholics led by a Jesuit priests tried to enter St. Patrick's Cathedral but were not permitted to do so. The police sent ___ ___ to strick when they held the mass. Election day the greatest number of ___ of all time going to the polls. No meeting in Paris tomorrow. South Vietnam reform to start to embarrassment of U.S. No settlement of teachers strike in its 5th week.”
December 24: The tumultuous year ended on a positive note, at least, as three astronauts aboard Apollo 8 – Jim Lovel, Bill Anders and Frank Borman—became the first humans to orbit the moon. After speeding up to a record 24,200 mph in order to break free of Earth’s gravitational pull, Apollo 8 circled the moon 10 times that Christmas Eve, scoring the latest U.S. achievement in its Space Race with the Souviet Union. Upon emerging from the shadowy dark side of the moon, Lovell famously announced: “Houston, please be informed there is a Santa Claus.”
(Diary December 24, 1968) “The astronauts have done it! They have orbited around the moon and will do so 8 times to day before beginning their return journey to earth. Everything is perfect thus far ___ manage, directions for photographing as clear as can be. They are not sending _____along with their information as did the last trio for they are busy every minute with the affairs of the capsule….. The officers and men of the Pueblo which have been held by the North Koreans 11 months will be home for Christmas.”
(Diary 25, 1968) “The astronauts were certainly making history. The description of the moon’s surface is described by one - “like dirty house interior – lots of ____ in it.” Yesterday two commanders sent a prayer to his church from the space ship and this morning 2 of them read from the 1 St book of Genesis the story of the creation….”
Sources : Timeline - The Whole World Was Watching: An Oral History of 1968
"Eight Unforgettable Ways 1968 Made History," CNN, July 21, 2014
Mark Kurlansky, 1968: The Year That Rocked The World (New York: Random House, 2003)
U.S. Involvement In The Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive, Department of State - Office of the Historian
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