The year 1968

The year 1968

As American reached new heights on the moon, all was not well back on earth. Arguably, 1968 was the most turbulent and historical twelve months of the postwar period in the history of the United States. For many, the year was full of fear and anxiety, and some even felt as if the country had lost its way and would never recover. For instance, during this time, the United States was in the middle of an unpopular war in Vietnam, which later escalated to the mass killing of U.S. soldiers, women, children, and old men. It was also at this time that country experienced the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, Tet Offensive, Black power, and generation gap among others. Other events such as the upsurge of women rights movements and the start of the end of the Soviet Union also took place.  Ideally, 1968 was a year of tremendous change for the United States in all areas including political, social unrest, and freedom – yet the country survived leading to what the United States is today. 

The Assassination of Martin Luther Jr

In 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot dead as he stood on a balcony outside his hotel room in Lorrain Motel in Memphis. Up until his death, Martin Luther was a leader of the civil rights movement since the 1950s fighting against segregation of African American people in the United States. His death sparked a major outbreak of racial violence with more than 120 cities breaking with violence and rioting reported in 40 American cities (Kurlansky, 2005). It was at this time when Chicago Mayor Richard Daley gave orders on a shoot to kill in an attempt to counter the violence unleashed by African Americans as properties were burned and rooted. Martin Luther King was known for his opposition to the confrontational approach favored by young African American activists. The young radicals preferred the ideals of Malcolm X, the Black Nationalist assassinated in 1965, and who had continually condemned the non-violence ways of Martin Luther. Due to this resistance, Kurlansky notes that King was slowly losing control over the divided civil rights movements, as more and more people believed that non-violence was useless. King sought to expand his movement beyond the black Americans by widening his appeal to poor Americans to address issues of poverty and unemployment. One day, before his assassination, King was preparing for a march on Washington to try to win the support of the Congress. However, alongside other members, King was summoned to Memphis, Tennessee to support a group of sanitation workers that were on strike. It is said that during this time, King foreshadowed his death as he compared himself to Moses of the Bible and talked about seeing the promised land, but he might not get there. The next day on the 4 April 1968 as King was resting outside his hotel room with his friends, he was shot on the right side of his face and died minutes later. Apart from mass violence, the death of Martin Luther also sent the country into a period of mourning. Congress honored King by passing the civil rights legislation as a fitting legacy to him and his work. Consequently, although both the white and black Americans mourned the death of King, his death widened the rift between the two races. Ideally, a majority of the blacks viewed his assassination as a rejection of his fight on equality through non-violence resistance. Just like the death of his precedents, King’s death fueled the growth of the black power movement.

The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy

Beyond the unbridled ambition of the candidate, every four years signifies new hope to the American citizens. However, as Kurlansky narrates, in 1968, that dream was cut short in the kitchen corridor in California. Just two months after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, an assassin in Los Angeles gunned down Kennedy. With the threat of the incumbent out of the way due to declining support, Kennedy was running against Vice President Hubert Humphrey in the Democratic Party. Both hoped to win the support of their party and proceed to become the party’s candidate for president. On the evening of his assassination, Bobby Kennedy was winning, and his run for the presidency was just beginning, but hours later, the dream came to a violent end as he was assassinated. Growing up, Robert Kennedy was the younger brother of President John F. Kennedy. Slowly, he became more inspired with every interview he attended, more outspoken, and more ambitious. In fact, Bobby held too much hope for the United States that one Tom Hayden who rarely admired candidates once commented that the only intriguing politician at the time of 1968 turmoil was Robert F. Kennedy. Initially, Robert f. Kennedy a junior senator from New York was not interested in the presidency. In fact, he even reiterated his position on 4 January regarding his support for President Johnson, despite their different opinions. Unfortunately, President Johnson started slipping too far into the polls, such that even the perennial loser, Richard Nixon from the Republican Party caught up with him. However, Kennedy was still adamant despite being a preferred candidate for the Democrats to face off Nixon. Perhaps, Robert Kennedy’s change of attitude and ambitions for the presidency started when he supported that the Vietnam War was a costly affair that prevented the country from fulfilling its social responsibility towards its citizens. Eventually, Robert Kennedy announced his candidature as Nelson Rockefeller, the governor of New York only managed ten percent of the vote. On 31 March 1968, Kurlansky notes, President Johnson withdrew his bid for a second term in office. In personality, Bobby struggled to live up to his father and big brother. While he lacked the robust appearance, he was genuinely religious, faithful and a devoted husband. He had a natural charm with children, and they often seemed happy and uninhibited whenever he was around. Kennedy strongly believed in self-improvement and finding oneself, something that can be attributed to his change of attitude on Vietnam War and violence. In a way, although Bobby turned into a revolutionary, he had a better chance of becoming a president. Despite poison by King’s murder, people believed him and related to him. When he died, the United States lost a true leader who advocated for love, wisdom, compassion for others, and who was opposed to violence.

Vietnam War

When the United States joined the Vietnam War, it was at a time when colonies were struggling to recreate their countries. At this time, the anti-colonial struggle idealism was also strong as the U.S. continued dropping bombs to the new, weak, and fragile nation struggling for independence. While the Vietnam War started as unpopular, it reached its heights in 1968 as the American soldiers killed the same number of people or more who died on September 11, 2001, during the world Trade Center attack  (Kurlansky, 2005). Consequently, other several incidents made the Vietnam war famous and left a mark in the history of the United States. As the world watched the Vietnam War destabilize the world economy, the war grew uglier. In the United States, the war affected the overall economy of the nation as more funding was needed. On 14 March 1968, it was reported that the American command lost 509 soldiers and around 2,766 soldiers wounded in the past week (p. 78). By the end of that year, at least 14,589 American soldiers died in the line of duty in Vietnam, bringing the number to double the total casualties. On March 16, the 23^rd Infantry Division was in central Vietnam along the murky village of South China Sea, when the largest atrocity of the Vietnam War happened (p. 78). On this day, American soldiers slaughtered more than 500 unarmed civilians among them women, children, and old men. The men were on a killing spree as one man missed his target on a baby on the ground using his .45-caliber. When he eventually hit his target, his comrades mocked him on a bad shot. Women were raped, sodomized, while some were beaten with rifles. The U.S. soldiers also killed the villager’s livestock and threw them into the water to poison it. They placed bombs in shelters where the people escaped to, those who tried running away were shot, while the houses were burned down. Apparently, the massacre remained hidden before it was aired on American press triggering an international out roar. Major Colin Powell was requested to give a response and the next September, Lieutenant William Calley was charged with multiple murders. Another major event that happened during the Vietnam War was the Tet Offensive, which played a significant role in weakening the U.S. public support for the war. According to the Office of the Historian (n.d), the plan by Ho Chi Minh and other leaders in Hanoi was projected to achieve a decisive victory that would end the war that frustrated both sides. At the very least, the plan involved a successful attack on major cities where U.S. troops were populated in a bid to trigger a negotiation with the U.S. troops leaders. Hanoi selected the Tet holiday as the auspicious time to launch the attack because the Vietnamese traveling for a holiday would provide cover for the South Vietnamese National Liberation Forces (NLF). On 30 and 31 of January, the NLF simultaneously attacked several populated areas where there was heavy U.S. soldiers’ presence. The strikes achieved their objectives, which was to show that they were not as weak as President Johnson administration claimed.  With the success of the first phase of the plan, a second and a third phase was launched concurrently. Similarly, although the U.S. recovered the towns that the South Vietnamese forces had captured, they had a high number of military and civilian casualties. Both claimed victory as well as losses. In the end, the Tet Offensive managed to weaken the domestic support for President Johnson administration and went on to show the American citizens that victory for the U.S. was not imminent and both sides could lose. 

Other Events

Apart from the three events, several other incidents marked 1968 as a historical period of the United States. For instance, it was during this period when the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia, an event that led to the beginning of their end (Kurlansky, 2005). During this time, the country also experienced the uprising of the women’s movement. Ideally, the women liberation movement started in 1968 developed out of the civil rights movements. The U.S. women’s movement held its first conference in August and the second one on November 1968 (Elbaum, 2002). During this time, the radical and socialist feminism took shape as hundreds of locals became conscious of the upsurge and activist groups. Along with these events, the United States also made it to the moon. It was also the year that the television came to age.  

Indeed, the year 1968 was like none other, and it is not likely there will ever be one like it. There were other years of revolutions such as 1848, but 1968 was unique. People rebelled over different issues and had one common goal; to rebel. It was a year when people knew what they wanted and how to do it and tried as much to get alienated from the established order and distaste of authoritarianism. The events of this year were unique because it was not planned or organized. Rather rebellions were hastily arranged and important decisions made in haste. People seldom disagreed, and when they did, it was only on a few issues. 

References

Elbaum, M. (2002). Revolution in the air: Sixties radicals turn to Lenin, Mao and Che. London [u.a.: Verso.

Kurlansky, M. (2005). 1968: The year that rocked the world. New York: Random House Inc.

Office of the Historian. (n.d). U.S. Involvement in the Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive, 1968. Retrieved from: https://history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/tet