World Events
Population: 3.556 billion
Nobel Peace Prize: René Cassin (France)
North Korea seizes US Navy ship Pueblo; holds 83 on board as spies (Jan. 23).
North Vietnamese launched the Tet Offensive, a turning point in the Vietnam War (Jan.-Feb.).
American soldiers massacre 347 civilians at My Lai (March 16). Background: Vietnam War.
Czechoslovakia is invaded by Russians and Warsaw Pact forces to crush liberal regime (Aug. 20).
U.S. Events
President: Lyndon B. Johnson
Vice President: Hubert H. Humphrey
Population: 200,706,052
Life expectancy: 70.2 years
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000): 33.7
Property Crime Rate (per 1,000): 30.7
Homicide Rate (per 100,000): 7.3
Economics
US GDP (1998 dollars): $910.6 billion
Federal spending: $178.13 billion
Federal debt: $368.7 billion
Median Household Income
(current dollars): $7,743
Consumer Price Index: 34.8
Unemployment: 3.8%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.05 ($0.06 as of 1/7/68)
President Johnson announces he will not seek or accept presidential renomination (March 31).
Martin Luther King, Jr., civil rights leader, is slain in Memphis (April 4).
James Earl Ray, indicted in King murder, is sentenced to 99 years.
Sen. Robert F. Kennedy is shot and critically wounded in Los Angeles hotel after winning California primary (June 5)—dies June 6. Background: Timeline of Kennedy tragedies.
Sports
Super Bowl
Green Bay d. Oakland (33-14)
World Series
Detroit d. St. Louis Cardinals (4-3)
NBA Championship
Boston d. LA Lakers (4-2)
Stanley Cup
Montreal d. St. Louis (4-0)
Wimbledon
Women: Billie Jean King d. J. Tegart (9-7 7-5)
Men: Rod Laver d. T. Roche (6-3 6-4 6-2)
Kentucky Derby Champion
Forward Pass
NCAA Basketball Championship
UCLA d. North Carolina (78-55)
NCAA Football Champions
Ohio St. (10-0-0)
Entertainment
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction: The Confessions of Nat Turner, William Styron
Music: Echoes of Time and the River, George Crumb
Oscars awarded in 1968
Academy Award, Best Picture: In the Heat of the Night, Walter Mirisch, producer (United Artists)
Nobel Prize for Literature: Yasunari Kawabata (Japan)
Grammy Awards
Record of the Year: Up, Up and Away - 5th Dimension
Album of the Year: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles (Capitol)
Song of the Year: "Up, Up and Away" - Jimmy L. Webb, songwriter
Miss America: Debra Dene Barnes (KS)
60 Minutes airs on CBS, beginning its reign as the longest-running prime-time news-magazine.
The motion picture rating system debuts with G, PG, R and X.
The rock musical Hair opens on Broadway.
Movies
2001: A Space Odyssey, Romeo and Juliet, Funny Girl, The Lion in Winter, Oliver!
Books
William H. Gass, In the Heart of the Heart of the Country
Gore Vidal, Myra Breckenridge
Science
Nobel Prizes in Science
Chemistry: Lars Onsager (US), for development of system of equations in thermodynamics
Physics: Luis Walter Alvarez (US), for study of subatomic particles
Physiology or Medicine: Robert W. Holley, Har Gobind Khorana, and Marshall W. Nirenberg (all US), for studies of genetic code
Prototype of world's first supersonic airliner. The Soviet-designed Tupolev Tu-144 made its first flight, Dec. 31. It first achieved supersonic speed on June 5, 1969. Background: Famous Firsts in Aviation.
The largest reservoir of American petroleum north of Mexico is discovered in Alaska.
Amniocentesis is developed. Background: reproduction.
The successful flight of Apollo 8 makes Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders the first people to orbit the moon.
Deaths
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Marcel Duchamp
Helen Keller
Upton Sinclair
John Steinbeck