The Year That Was....

I'm a big fan of the history channel. You can learn a lot about the world by watching that channel. So I was sitting around watching the tube the other day and cut the tv on the history channel. They were talking about one year that pretty much defined the U.S. for the next 50 years. The year was 1968.

A lot of stuff went down that year. Some things I did know about, some I didn't. But in any case I summed it up for you below.


Vietnam War - Everything that happened in 1968 sprung up out of this war. The draft was still in affect so people were doing whatever and taking things to another level. In the war, 1968 had the most loss of lives in the war. If I remember correctly about 15K people died in the war that year.

MLK - The assassination of the greatest American who ever lived months before he was getting ready to kick off the Poor People's Campaign. He was already announcing to the people that he was against the war. They showed a clip of Robert Kennedy right as he was getting ready to do a presidential rally, when he told the crowd that MLK died. The screams and cries in the audience were very sad. His death left a permanent scar on America, but it also began the process of America trying to fulfill the dream.

Robert Kennedy - Some say that Kennedy would have won the presidency if he wouldn't have gotten assassinated in Cali that June. After his death people in the US were beginning to think the U.S. was losing control.

The College Takeover - And when the people started to feel they were losing control over their lives by being drafted and watching their leaders get killed, college kids began to take matters into their own hands. On several college campuses across the US, various kids pretty much just took over certain school school halls and told the media the bldg is under a hostile takeover. Some lasted for days, but they all ended when the police raided the school bldgs and took everyone to jail.

The anti-war protestors vs the Chicago police at the DNC - the protestors were fed up with the Vietnam war. So they decided to go directly to the Democratic National Convention and protest. It was a peaceful mob scene until the police rolled up right in front of the convention center and attacked the protestors with gas, fists, clubs, and anything else the cops could get their hands on. It was dubbed the 14 minutes of hell. It was all caught on tape so the world was watching.

The Riots - After the death of MLK, riots across the US happened in inner cities....DC, Detroit, Chicago, and I think LA. Some of the riots got so bad, the National Guard had to come in and restore order. Even today, those areas that were rioted have not been fixed. These inner cities are now today's ghetto's and slums.

Birth of the Womens movement at the Miss America Paegent - Women had enough! They were tired of just being housewives, eye candy, and "yes sirs". They decided to roll out to one event that summed up what they were against, the Miss America Paegent. They went to the front of the bldg and started burning their bras and panties, and began marching around cussing menfolk out. Look at how far women have progressed in todays society. They are the majority in all levels of school and they are in a lot of powerful seats in politial, social, academic, and professional fields.

Silent majoritry turns to the Republican party - These people were democrats who sat back quietly while all of the foolishness of 1968 unfolded. The mess at the DNC was the last straw. At the 1968 Presidential election, they voted republican, and Richard Nixon became president. This was essentially the birth of today's republican party.