1968 was a volatile time on stages local and national. Here's a short timeline of notable events in the first half of 1968, to provide context for the events at Northwestern.
January 31 |
North Vietnamese launch Tet offensive at Nha Trang |
February 1 |
South Vietnamese security official General Nguyen Ngoc Loan is photographed executing a Viet Cong prisoner. The photo will win the Pulitzer prize and serve as an anti-war rallying point. |
February 2 |
Richard Nixon declares his candidacy for the Presidency |
February 18 |
US State Department announces highest US casualty toll of the Vietnam War. The previous week had seen 543 Americans killed in action and 2547 wounded. |
March 16 |
More than 500 Vietnamese civilians killed by US Charlie Company at My Lai |
March 27 |
Czech president Antonin Novotny resigns, triggering a crisis meeting of the Warsaw Pact leaders |
March 31 |
President Johnson announces his decision not to run for re-election |
April 4 |
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is shot and killed in Memphis. Riots break out in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Kansas City, Newark, and Washington, D.C., resulting in 46 deaths. |
April 22 |
African-American students present their demands to University administrators. |
April 23 |
A planned rally and occupation of the Low Building at Columbia University, protesting the university’s involvement in the Institute for Defense Analysis, is blocked by conservative students and university security. Eventually, five buildings are occupied. Seven days later police will storm buildings and violently remove students and their supporters. |
April 26 |
Deadline for administration reply to demands |
May 3 |
Approximately 100 black students enter the business office
at 619 Clark Street at 7:45 a.m. and occupy the building |
May 4 |
An agreement is reached and the building is emptied by 9:30 p.m. after 38 hours of occupation |
May 6 |
“Bloody Monday” as 5000 students march in Paris’ Latin Quarter. Riots break out as police and students violently clash. |
May 11 |
Permission granted to Ralph Abernathy, successor to Martin Luther King, Jr., for encampment on the Mall in Washington, D.C. Over 2500 people will fill Resurrection City for six weeks. On June 24th, the site is raided by police, 124 are arrested and the encampment ends. |
June 4 |
Robert Kennedy shot in San Francisco on the night of the California primary by Sirhan Sirhan, a Jordanian ex-patriot angered at pro-Israel speeches Kennedy had delivered during the campaign. |
