General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: 1968 (Your Help, Please!) [View all]trackfan
(3,650 posts)It's interesting which things I remember. I have no direct memory of the Tet offensive, but do remember daily war news, body counts, etc. The weekly death tolls, in my memory,were always something like this: 47 American soldiers killed; 112 South Vietnamese troops killed; 402 Viet Cong killed; and 2,335 NVA soldiers killed. It sounded like we were really kicking ass in the war.
I don't recall anything about President Johnson's withdrawl from the race, but I do remember that as the California primary drew near, my family were big McCarthy supporters.
I well remember both the King and Kennedy assassinations. Shortly after the King assassination, my sister, a high school senior, had gone to Disneyland, and was very upset by something that happened there: on the brand new Pirates of the Caribbean ride a kid in the boat said, "Hi. We're from Memphis. That's where King got shot, and we're glaaaaad about it."
Regarding the RFK assassination - based on the following memory, I have to agree with those who say he probably would have got the nomination and been elected had he lived. My school was very Republican. Whenever we had a mock election the result would always be somthing like 28-2 for the Republican. Yet - in this same school, Robert Kennedy was almost universally beloved. He really did have some crossover appeal.
I remember Czechoslovakia being a cold war trouble spot. We watched the Democratic convention intently. The Olympics had a lot of political overtones that year, and seemed to be a pretty big deal. Bob Beamon's athletic feat was one for the ages. I remember Denny McLain winning 30 games.
I remember the bombing halt and Nixon's election.
I remember Apollo 8 and the Christmas message.