1968

Today in History 04/23/18

Mark Rudd, a leader of the student protest at Columbia University in New York, being interviewed in April 1968 outside Low Memorial Library, which was occupied by students (© AP )(1968) Students take over Columbia University in Vietnam protest
Angered at the school’s affiliation with institutions connected to the Vietnam War, students at New York’s prestigious Columbia University stage a mass protest and take control of buildings on campus. Police will later move in to clear the protesters.
The Columbia University protests of 1968 were one among the various student demonstrations that occurred around the globe in that year. The Columbia protests erupted over the spring of that year after students discovered links between the university and the institutional apparatus supporting the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War, as well as their concern over an allegedly segregated gymnasium to be constructed in the nearby Morningside Park. The protests resulted in the student occupation of many university buildings and the eventual violent removal of protesters by the New York City Police Department.
Start date: Mar 27, 1967
End date: Apr 30, 1968

wiki/Columbia_University_protests_of_1968
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(1968) Students take over Columbia University in Vietnam protest.
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Today in History 04/04/18

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (center) stands with other civil rights leaders on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 3, 1968, a day before he was assassinated at approximately the same place (© AP)(1968) Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated
Visiting Memphis, Tennessee, to support striking workers, civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is shot and killed as he stands on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. Months later, James Earl Ray will be charged with the murder.
Martin Luther King Jr., an American clergyman and civil rights leader, was shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. He was rushed to St. Joseph’s Hospital, and was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m. CST. He was a prominent leader of the Civil Rights Movement and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who was known for his use of nonviolence and civil disobedience.
Date: Apr 04, 1968

Martin Luther King Jr
King in 1964
wiki/Assassination_of_Martin_Luther_King_Jr.
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(1968) Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated.
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Today in History 03/16/18

Women and children in My Lai, Vietnam, shortly before US soldiers shot and killed them, March 16, 1968 (© Universal History Archive/Getty Images)(1968) My Lai village massacre in Vietnam
US Army soldiers use machine guns and grenade launchers to kill between 347 and 504 unarmed South Vietnamese civilians, perpetrating what many will deem the worst atrocity by American forces in the war.
The Mỹ Lai Massacre was the Vietnam War mass murder of between 347 and 504 unarmed Vietnamese civilians in South Vietnam on 16 March 1968. It was committed by U.S. Army soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade, 23rd Infantry Division. Victims included men, women, children, and infants. Some of the women were gang-raped and their bodies mutilated. Twenty-six soldiers were charged with criminal offenses, but only Lieutenant William Calley Jr., a platoon leader in C Company, was convicted. Found guilty of killing 22 villagers, he was originally given a life sentence, but served only three and a half years under house arrest.
Date: Mar 16, 1968

My Lai massacre
Photo taken by United States Army photographer Ronald L. Haeberle on March 16, 1968 in the aftermath of the My Lai massacre showing mostly women and children dead on a road.
wiki/My_Lai_Massacre
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Today in History 01/23/18

File photo of the U.S.S. Pueblo Navy ship (© USN/AP(1968) US Navy ship seized by North Korea
The intelligence vessel USS Pueblo comes under fire and is captured by North Korean patrol boats off their coast. The 83 crewmembers will be held by the communist nation for 11 months.
USS Pueblo (AGER-2) is a Banner-class environmental research ship, attached to Navy intelligence as a spy ship, which was attacked and captured by North Korean forces on 23 January 1968, in what is known today as the “Pueblo incident” or alternatively, as the “Pueblo crisis”.
Keel laid: 1944
Launched: Apr 16, 1944
Beam: 32′ 0″ (9.75 m)
Length: 177 feet (53.95 m)

USS Pueblo positions
Reported positions of USS Pueblo by radio
wiki/USS_Pueblo_(AGER-2)
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Today in History 01/05/18

Slovak politician Alexander Dubcek delivers a nationally televised address during his government's liberal reform period known as the Prague Spring, Czechoslovakia, July 18, 1968 (© Pictorial Parade/Getty Images)(1968) Czechs defy Soviets and begin Prague Spring
Alexander Dubček is elected in Czechoslovakia and begins reforms to Communist Party restrictions in place since the 1940s. Seven months later, Soviet tanks will arrive to halt the revolution.
The Prague Spring was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia during the era of its domination by the Soviet Union after World War II. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, and continued until 21 August 1968 when the Soviet Union and other members of the Warsaw Pact invaded the country to halt the reforms.
Start date: Jan 05, 1968
End date: Aug 21, 1968

Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia
During the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovaks carry their national flag past a burning tank in Prague. Photo from “CIA Analysis of the Warsaw Pact Forces: The Importance of Clandestine Reporting”
wiki/Prague_Spring
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