General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: 1968 (Your Help, Please!) [View all]SteveG
(3,109 posts)I remember that year all too well. 4 things stick out in my mind.
1. King was assassinated. I remember this was in the second semester of my senior year in High School in Northern DE. The next day, the schools were all closed and the temps were in the mid 60's, so a buddy of mine and I decided to go up to the Brandywine river and find out if his brand new surfboard would actually float. It did. Then about 3:30 we went to the Swanky Frank on 202 across from the Charcoal Pit. Sitting at the counter and kibbitzing with the counter guy (another friend) we noticed columns of smoke rising in the distance. Riots had broken out in Wilmington and the city was burning. We headed home and withing a couple of hours martial law had been declared in Wilmington, and the National Guard sent in. They would remain on duty in Wilmington, with the city under martial law from that day in April until the new governor (Russel Peterson) was sworn in the following January.
2. I graduated from High School that year and entered the University of Delaware in the fall as a Freshman. During that summer 2 events stick out in my memory, the police riot at the Democratic Convention in Chicago, and the crushing of the Prague Spring by Russian troops. During the first few weeks at College, I met a number of people who had been at the Democratic Convention as protesters.
3. Nixon was elected, with all of the fallout that would bring over the next 40+ years.
4. Vietnam, it was the year that the american public began to seriously question what the hell we were doing there.