 |
President: Lyndon B Johnson, Vice
President: Hubert H. Humphrey |
|
 |
The population of the United States
is 199,399,000 |
|
National Debt is 368.7 Billion
(+28.3 billion, mostly due to the war) |
|
Unemployment is 3.8%
(unchanged) |
|
Life Expectancy: 70.2 years |
|
Family median income = $7,743 (up
$600. from 1967) |
|
Inflation rate = 4.72% |
|
Academy Award : In the Heat of the Night (click to
buy)  (Best
Picture) |
|
Grammy Award : Up-Up and Away (click to buy)
 (Best Song);
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts
Club Band (click to buy)  (Best
Album) |
|
Pulitzer Prize : The Confessions of Nat Turner
(click to buy) 
(Fiction) |
|
Sen. Robert F. (Bobby) Kennedy is
shot and critically wounded by Sirhan Sirhan in a Los Angeles
hotel after a campaign speech, five other people were
wounded |
|
President Johnson announces he will
not seek or accept the nomination of his party for the
Presidency |
|
Martin Luther King, Jr. is shot
dead by James Earl Ray as he stepped out on the balcony of his
Memphis motel room |
|
Martin Luther King's death
sparks race riots in most major U.S. cities causing 50 million in
damage with over 22,000 arrests and 46 deaths |
|
North Korea seizes the USS Pueblo,
claiming the ship violated its territorial waters while spying
and held the crew captive for 11 months |
|
The Tet Offensive sees N.
Vietnamese troops attacking targets all over S. Vietnam
signalling a worsening of the war for the U.S. |
|
The Democratic National Convention
nominates Hubert Humphrey while outside thousands of anti-war
protesters are met with a violent response from Chicago
police |
|
The musical "Hair" (click for
soundtrack)  officially
opens on Broadway |
|
Saddam Hussein comes into power in
Iraq after a coup d'état |
|
The Republican National Convention
in Miami Beach nominates Richard Nixon, protests are held to a
minimum because of the location |
|
The Consumer Credit Protection Act
is passed which included the "Truth in Lending"
provisions |
|
Several planes are hijacked from
Florida and forced to land in Cuba prompting future baggage and
passenger searches on all flights |
|
Integrated Electronics Corporation
(Intel) is founded by Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore |
|
Mattel produces the first Hot
Wheels toy cars |
|
Boeing introduces it's newest
plane the 747 |
|
Former U.S. First Lady Jacqueline
Kennedy marries Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis |
|
Virginia Slims cigarettes are
marketed to women, the "Slims" to remind them that
smoking is not fattening |
|
Marriott Corp. creates Roy Rogers
Family Restaurants in cooperation with the cowboy singer |
|
The Jacuzzi Whirlpool bath is
introduced at California's Orange County Fair |
|
Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Anne
Klein (no relation) all debut their fashions |
|
The following TV shows debuted:
Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood,
Dad's Army, Adam-12, The Doris Day Show, Mod Squad, 60 Minutes
and Hawaii
Five-O (click show title for more
info) |
|
The 911 emergency telephone number
is instituted in around 600 cities |
|
A first class stamp climbs to
$0.06 |
|
Not nominated for anything nor very popular at the box office, 2001: A Space Odyssey, proved to be out of this world |
|
Other memorable movies were: Bullitt,
Rosemary's Baby,
The Green Berets,
and The Planet of the Apes
|
Pop History
/ 1968
