1968: A Year of Turmoil and Change

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1968: A Year of Turmoil and Change

1968 was a turning point in U.S. history, a year of triumphs and tragedies, social and political upheavals, that forever changed our country. 听In the air, America reached new heights with NASA鈥檚 Apollo 8 orbiting the moon and Boeing鈥檚 747 jumbo jet鈥檚 first flight. 听However, all was not well on the ground: the country lost a Navy intelligence ship (USS听Pueblo) and two proponents of peace鈥擬artin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy. Other events that made history that year include the Vietnam War鈥檚 Tet Offensive, riots in Washington, DC, the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1968, and heightened social unrest over the Vietnam War, values, and race.
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The 威尼斯人娱乐场 holds records documenting the听turbulent time during 1968. Explore the records in the听听related to all the听triumphs and tragedies, social and political upheavals, that forever changed our country.听

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Pieces of History Blog:听

In reflection,听1968听was a year of triumph and tragedy. International and national events changed the landscape of America and the world around it forever. Now 50 years later, the 威尼斯人娱乐场 holds records of the events that shaped our nation during that critical era.

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Video Resources

In January听1968, the fighting in Vietnam was at a stalemate. General Westmoreland, commander of the American forces, announced that the end of the war was in view, but the North Vietnamese had different ideas. In his book听Hue 1968, author and journalist Mark Bowden, discusses the Tet Offensive and how the North Vietnamese planned to win the war in a single stroke with military actions and popular uprisings across South Vietnam, but the most crucial part of the plan was the capture of Hue, the country鈥檚 cultural capital.

Dr. Erik B. Villard and a panel discuss the Tet Offensive and Villard鈥檚 book, Combat Operations: Staying the Course, September 1967鈥揙ctober 1968. The panel will explore the 12-month period when the Viet Cong and their North Vietnamese allies embarked on a new and more aggressive strategy that shook the foundations of South Vietnam and forced the United States to reevaluate its military calculations in Southeast Asia.

In Our Year of War, Lt. Gen. Daniel P. Bolger (ret.) tells the gritty and engaging story of two brothers鈥擟huck and Tom Hagel鈥攚ho went to war in Vietnam, fought in the same unit, and saved each other's life. One supported the war, the other detested it, but they fought it together.

Video and Audio Resources

Videos

Chris Matthews discusses his book听Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit听with Martin Nolan, former Boston Globe reporter/editor.

(following Tet), 11/19/1968

features photo of the lunar surface, Earth as seen from the Moon, and on-board activities of astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders.

Analysis of the North Korean Evidence, U.S. Navy video

exhibit from the Korean Military Armistice Commission Meetings Held to Resolve the USS Pueblo Crisis

Audio

North Korean Army propaganda film shows captured crew from the USS Pueblo

Blogs

NARAtions:听

National Declassification Center:听

Pieces of History:听

Pieces of History:

Exhibits and Education Resources

Washington, DC

鈥淩emembering Vietnam,鈥� the 威尼斯人娱乐场鈥� first-ever Vietnam War exhibition, features a section on the Tet Offensive. Through January 9, 2019.

Presidential Libraries

Johnson Library: , June 23鈥揘ovember 28, 2018.

Traveling or Online Exhibits

Traveling:

Picturing Nam

Online

Crew of Apollo 8鈥�A View from Lunar Orbit, 1968, featured in 鈥淓yewitness: American Originals from the 威尼斯人娱乐场.鈥� Includes hi-res links to images, documents and audio.

Educational Resources

威尼斯人娱乐场 at NYC online MLK educational activities

Martin Luther King, Jr., and Memphis Sanitation Workers

Online Resources

Washington, DC

Special Christmas Eve Message from Apollo 8, see related press release

Black Power: 威尼斯人娱乐场 Subject Guide

President鈥檚 Commision on the Assassination of Robert Kennedy, finding aid to records

Update from Admiral Sharp to General Westmoreland on the situation in Saigon, including attack on the U.S. Embassy.

President Johnson鈥檚 Daily Brief, 10/5/1968Excerpt: 鈥淭here is a general feeling of insecurity听in Mexico City following the extreme violence听of 2 October. The capital is rife with rumors of revolution and military takeover, and the government expects a major act of sabotage听before the opening of the Olympics on 12 October.鈥�

President Johnson鈥檚 Daily Brief, 10/8/1968Excerpt: 鈥淎 temporary truce may follow last
night's decision by student leaders to suspend mass rallies. If observed, this ban will smooth things out for the Olympics, but the students by no means have given up, and any armistice听will be uneasy at best. The government has not abandoned its charges that leftists are responsible for the disorders.鈥�

Transcripts of audiotapes of the Apollo 8 telecast, December 24, 1968

Findings on Martin Luther King, Jr., Assassination, House Select Committee on Assassinations

Other:

The Enduring Chronicle: Civil Rights Documents at the 威尼斯人娱乐场 at Atlanta

Presidential Libraries

The USS Pueblo Incident, Chapter 5, Presidential Libraries Holdings Relating to Prisoners of War and Missing in Action, From 威尼斯人娱乐场 Reference Paper 104

Kennedy Library

Johnson Library

Vietnam and the Presidency, Media and the role of public opinion,3/11/2006, includes discussion of the Tet Offensive with David Halberstam, Frances Fitzgerald, Brian Williams, Dan Rather, and Steve Bell

from President鈥檚 Daily Report on North Vietnam: A North Vietnamese analysis of U.S. political attitudes on the Vietnam War听following the Tet Offensive. General Westmoreland is called 鈥渂oastful鈥� and Johnson is confused 鈥渁s the man in the moon.鈥�

Mention of Tet in 3/31/1968

(including discussion of Tet) 9/16/2015

Phone excerpt: including Tet and the听Pueblo incident

about the MLK assassination

Nixon Library

Memo for the President from Henry Kissinger,

Reagan Library

Ford Library

includes discussion of Tet.

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