1968: The Year That Rocked the World C-SPAN

[seemslikeadream]

Mark Kurlansky

author examines many of the major events that occured around the world in 1968, and assesses their lasting effects on our society today. Among the events Mr. Kurlansky discussed where the Tet offensive in Vietnam, the Soviet Union's invasion of Czechoslakia, the Democratic convention in Chicago, and the John Wayne movie The Green Berets. Mr. Kurlansky also talked about the impact of television on events and public perception.

[peacetalksforall]

1. 1968

Robert Kennedy - taken out
Martin Luther King - taken out

[seemslikeadream]

3. 15,000 were killed in Vietnam

87,388 were wounded

[BeatleBoot]

2. 1969

Its 1969, okay?
All across the USA
Another year for me and you
Another year with nothin' to do

Last year I was twenty-one,
Didn't have alot of fun
Now I'm gonna be twenty-two
Oh my, and - a - boo-hoo

Now I'm gonna be twenty-two
Oh my, and - a - boo-hoo

It's 1969, baby...

It's 1969, baby...

(Thank you James Osterberg)

Detroit Rock City!

[Cocoa]

4. that year rocked my world

being born was one of the most life-changing things that's ever happened to me.

[seemslikeadream]

5. 9,414 were killed in Vietnam in 1969

55,390 were wounded

[Fovea]

6. That was the year I lost officer friendly as an archetype

But there is nothing like watching a bit of the Chicago
pig-fest roll by your convertible to redefine the roll of the police in the mind of a 12 year old.

From that moment on, I seemed to have a problem with authority.

[JanMichael]

7. It was a HUGE year historically.

On a minor note it was also the year that I was born...

[kentuck]

8. It is mostly a year to which I cannot relate on the same level....

I was in Viet Nam in '68. I recall the anger amongst many of our black brethren when MLK was assassinated. Many white kids could not understand the significance of it. Then Robert was killed that year also but it seemed so distant to a young guy in Viet Nam because it was not part of his daily reality. Also, there was some guy running for President name Eugene McCarthy?? Don't remember anything about the guy...only what I have read...riots in Chicago...I have no memory.

[seemslikeadream]

9. The South-Central Illinois Earthquake November 9,1968

First and last earthquake I've ever experienced, SIU, Carbondale Illinois.

[LandOLincoln]

10. Do you remember that earthquake too?

I was in Champaign, and asleep--it was a Saturday morning, wasn't it?--and as I gradually woke up I remember thinking my downstairs neighbors were getting it on, it was such a gentle, rhythmic motion. Nothing like the sharp thunderous jolts I would later experience in over 20 years living in L.A.

But damn--everyone seems to be thinking the same thing I've been thinking for months now: 2004=1968.

Oh, god...

[Cleita]

11. Don't forget that's the first time the mini-skirt went

mainstream. It was a political event because women had to fight to wear them. I was working at a bank and the management insisted that we wear our skirts below our knees. We had to come together in solidarity and we all showed up on the same day, every day with miniskirts. They couldn't fire everyone of the women, so they had to give in. Five years later we won the fight to wear pants to work. Young women don't know how restricted the work place was for women compared to today, but 1968 was when we started rebelling against institutionalized sexism.

[Piperay]

14. I remember being sent

home from school because my skirt was to short. :argh:

[SoCalDem]

15. My friend and I got sent home for wearing granny dresses

They would not allow mini's and so we decided to "go the other way".. We ended up with our pics on the front page of the paper too :)

[LoZoccolo]

12. In my diary a while after midnight on new year's I wrote...

2004 = 1968.

[SoCalDem]

13. I was a college freshman that year

a very crazy time indeed.. It was almost inevitable though.. When that many people are coming of age all at once, and 1/2 of them are or may be called on to go and die a half a world away, it's kind of a no brainer that there would be "trouble"..

WWII was different..People were more maleable then, and they only had newspapers and radio to tell them what was going on.. We had TV, and "the war" was the downbeat of our lives.. Everyone knew someone who had a guy over there, or they were going themselves..

The 50's and early 60's were pretty ho-hum (once we got past the missile crisis), but from about '66 on, it was a very tense time.. Everyone was aware that things were going to happen, and soon, but no one could quite put their finger on it..

MLK's assassination and then Bobby's, so soon after, brought it all to a head.. When the heroes of a generation start getting bumped off, people get a little pissed off..

Things just "got out of hand" from then on..