1968:

• March - Lyndon Johnson announces he will not run for reelection because of sentiment against the Vietnam War.
• April 4 - Martin Luther King Jr. assinated. Black revolts erupt in 130 cities.
• June 4 - Robert F. Kennedy assinated
• April - Student protest spearheaded by SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) at Columbia U. over plans to build a gym and displace residents in Harlem is eventually broken up by violent intervention from the New York Police.
• National Gard clashes with students at Berkeley over protest against the war activities of the university and that against the prohibition of the seminars of the Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver.
• Student demonstrations in Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Mexico.
• Aug - Protests at the Democratic Natl. Convention in Chicago (Chicago 7)
• Sept. - Escalation of the women's rights movement. A group of feminists went to Atlantic City to protest the Miss America pageant. They originally intended to burn symbols of oppression but were unable to secure a fire permit. The objects were simply deposited in the trashcan instead.
• American Indian Movement (AIM) founded and starts foot patrol in Minneapolis in response to growing police violence. (See Birth of The American Indian Movement)
• Russia invades Prague Czechoslovakia.
• Tlatelolco Massacre - A student demonstration against the Diaz Ordaz regime in Tlatelolco, Mexico City. (500 killed)
• Black Power salutes by John Carlos and Tommy Smith at the Mexico City Olympics.
• My Lai Massacre, Vietnam - 20-100 civilians killed in village of My Lai
• Tet Offensive - Major North Vietnamese surprise offensive against American and South Vietnamese forces on the eve of the lunar New Year celebrations.
• Oct. 31 - President Lyndon Johnson suspends the US bombing of North Vietnam on October 31st, 1968, which was a vital pre-condition of the Vietcong's willingness to enter negotiations.
• Richard Nixon elected president and bombing of North Vietnam begins again.