- January 21
- US B-52 bomber with nuclear bomb crashes in Greenland. [1]
- January 22
- Apollo 5 launched to Moon; unmanned lunar module tests made. [1] [5]
- January 23
- Spy ship USS Pueblo and 83-man crew seized in Sea of Japan by North Korea. [1]
- January 31
- Viet Cong launch Tet Offensive on US embassy in Saigon, Vietnam. [1] [129]
- US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site. [1]
- February 1
- Former US Vice-President Richard Nixon announces candidacy for President. [1]
- February 6
- Dutch second Chamber condemns US bombing of North Vietnam. [1]
- February 8
- Officers kill three students demonstrating in South Carolina State (Orangeburg). [1]
- February 11
- Jeffrey Kramer survives 76-metre jump off Washington Bridge into Hudson River, New York. [1]
- Madison Square Garden III closes; Madison Square Garden IV opens (New York City, New York). [1]
- February 13
- US sends 10,500 additional soldiers to Vietnam. [1]
- February 14
- Pennsylvania Railroad/New York City Central merge into Pennsylvania Central. [1]
- February 16
- America's first 9-1-1 phone system goes into service in Haleyville, Alabama. [1]
- February 18
- 10,000 demonstrators against US in Vietnam War in West Berlin. [1]
- February 19
- First US teachers strike (Florida). [1]
- February 24
- US troops reconquer Hue, Vietnam. [1]
- February 29
- National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (Kerner Commission) reports against racism and demands aid given to blacks. [1]
- US ends regular flights with nuclear bombs. [1]
- US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site. [1]
- March 2
- US Air Force displays Lockheed C-5A Galaxy, biggest plane in the world. [1]
- March 4
- Martin Luther King Jr announces plans for Poor People's Campaign. [1]
- March 5
- US launches Solar Explorer 2 to study the Sun. [1]
- March 9
- 10th Grammy Awards: "Up Up and Away", Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band win. [1]
- March 12
- US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site. [1]
- March 14
- CBS TV suspends Radio Free Europe free advertising because RFE doesn't make it clear it is sponsored by the US Central Intelligence Agency. [1]
- March 15
- The Bureau of the Mint halts buying and selling gold. [1] [482.38]
- March 16
- Charlie Company of US troops kills over 500 civilians in four hamlets in Son My district, Vietnam, known as the My Lai massacre. [1] [144.54]
- US Senator Robert F. Kennedy announces his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination. [1] [129]
- March 17
- The eight-nation Gold Pool is abolished. A two-tier gold market for central banks and private investors is set up by the US and six European nations. [1] [606.38]
- March 19
- Howard University students seize administration building. [1]
- March 20
- US President Lyndon Johnson signs a bill removing gold backing from US paper money. [1]
- March 23
- Reverend Walter Fauntroy is first non-voting congressional delegate from Washington DC. [1]
- March 25
- US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site. [1]
- March 29
- Students seize building at Bowie State College. [1]
- March 31
- US President Lyndon Johnson announces that he would neither seek nor accept the nomination of his party for re-election. [1] [129]
- April 2
- Senator Eugene McCarthy wins Democratic primary in Wisconsin. [1]
- April 3
- North Vietnam agrees to meet US representatives to set up preliminary peace talks. [1]
- April 4
- Apollo 6 launched atop Saturn V rocket; unmanned. [1]
- Reverend Martin Luther King Jr, civil rights leader, is assassinated by a sniper's bullet in Memphis, Tennessee, USA, at age 39. [1] [5] [129] [399.82]
- April 6
- Bobby Hutton, US Black Panther leader, shot to death. [1]
- Gunpowder stock at a sporting-goods store explodes, killing 43 (Virginia). [1]
- HemisFair 1968 opens in San Antonio, Texas, USA. [1]
- April 9
- Martin Luther King Jr buried in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. [1]
- April 10
- 40th Academy Awards - Heat of the Night, Rod Steiger and Katharine Hepburn win. [1]
- US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site. [1]
- April 11
- US President Lyndon Johnson signs 1968 Civil Rights Act. [1]
- April 12
- In Schenectady, New York, USA a house is hit by a falling meteorite. [521]
- April 18
- 178,000 employees of US Bell Telephone System go on strike. [1]
- London Bridge is sold to US oil company (to be erected in Arizona). [1]
- San Francisco's Old Hall of Justice is demolished. [1]
- US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site. [1]
- April 21
- 22nd Tony Awards: Rosencranz and Guilderstern and Hallelujah Baby! win. [1]
- April 24
- Leftist students take over Columbia University, New York City, New York. [1]
- April 26
- Students seize administration building at Ohio State. [1]
- US performs underground nuclear test of "Boxcar", a one megaton device, at Nevada Test Site. [1]
- April 28
- Hair opens at Biltmore Theater in New York City for 1750 performances. [1]
- May 4
- Robert Wallace, assistant secretary of the US Treasury, announces to the Metropolitan New York Numismatic Convention in New York City "The possibility of ever permitting them [silver coin hoarders and smelters] to reap windfall profits of millions of dollars at the expense of taxpayers will, to say the least, not be very popular". [433.10]
- May 10
- Vietnam peace talks begin in Paris, France, between the US and North Vietnam. [1]
- May 12
- "March of Poor" under Reverend Abernathy reaches Washington DC. [1]
- May 15
- A tornado strikes Jonesboro, Arkansas, USA, at 10 PM, killing 36. [1]
- May 17
- US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site. [1]
- May 19
- In Los Angeles, California, and New York, New York, the 20th Annual Emmy Awards are presented, hosted by Frank Sinatra (Los Angeles) and Dick Van Dyke (New York).
- Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series: Bill Cosby for I Spy
- Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Drama: Melvyn Douglas for episode "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" of CBS Playhouse
- Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series: Don Adams for Get Smart
- Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series: Barbara Bain for Mission: Impossible
- Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Drama: Maureen Stapleton for Among the Paths to Eden
- Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series: Lucille Ball for The Lucy Show
- Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Drama: Milburn Stone for episode "Baker's Dozen" of Gunsmoke
- Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Comedy: Werner Klemperer for Hogan's Heroes
- Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Drama: Barbara Anderson for Ironside
- Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Comedy: Marion Lorne for Bewitched
- Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy: Bruce Bilson for episode "Maxwell Smart, Private Eye" of Get Smart
- Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Drama: Paul Bogart for episode "Dear Friends" of CBS Playhouse
- Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Music or Variety: Jack Haley Jr. for Movin' with Nancy
- Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy: Allan Burns and Chris Hayward for episode "The Coming Out Party" of He & She
- Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama: Loring Mandel for episode "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" of CBS Playhouse
- Outstanding Writing Achievement in Music or Variety: Chris Bearde, Phil Hahn, Jack Hanrahan, Coslough Johnson, Paul Keyes, Marc London, Allan Manings, David Panich, Hugh Wedlock Jr., and Digby Wolfe for Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
- Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography: Ralph Woolsey for episode "A Thief is a Thief is a Thief" of It Takes a Thief
- Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction and Scenic Design: Jan Scott and George Gaines for Kismet
- Outstanding Musical or Variety Series: George Schlatter for Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
- Outstanding Musical or Variety Program: George Schlatter for Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
- Outstanding Achievement in Musical Composition: Earle Hagen for episode "Laya" of I Spy
- Outstanding Dramatic Series: Mission: Impossible
- Special Classification of Individual Achievements: Art Carney for The Jackie Gleason Show
- Outstanding Dramatic Program: "Elizabeth the Queen" of Hallmark Hall of Fame
- Outstanding Achievement in Sports Programming - Programs: ABC's Wide World of Sports
- Outstanding Achievement in Daytime Programming - Programs: Today
- Outstanding Comedy Series: Get Smart
- International Award, Entertainment: episode "Call Me Daddy" of Armchair Theatre.
[1] [205]
- May 25
- Gateway Arch in Saint Louis dedicated. [1]
- May 28
- Senator Eugene McCarthy wins Democratic primary in Oregon. [1]
- May 29
- US Truth in Lending Act signed into law. [1]
- June 5
- US Senator Robert F. Kennedy is shot by assassins in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California. Five others are wounded. One shooter is identified as Sirhan Sirhan. [1] [129] [411.108]
- June 6
- Robert F Kennedy (Senator-Democrat-New York), dies of gunshot wounds at age 42 in Los Angeles, California, USA. [1] [5] [129]
- June 7
- Sirhan Sirhan indicted for Senator Robert F. Kennedy assassination. [1]
- June 8
- James Earl Ray, an escaped American convict, is arrested in London, England, and charged with the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. [1] [129]
- Robert F. Kennedy is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. [129]
- June 18
- US Supreme Court bans racial discrimination in sale and rental of housing. [1]
- June 24
- Last day of redeeming US silver certificates for silver, in any form. [651.88] [732.50] (June 28 [388.190])
- June 26
- Iwo Jima and Bonin Islands returned to Japan by US. [1]
- June 28
- Daniel Ellsberg indicted for leaking Pentagon Papers. [1]
- July 1
- US, Britain, USSR and 58 nations sign Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. [1]
- July 9
- 39.83cm (15.68 inches) of rainfall in Columbus, Mississippi (state 24-hour record). [1]
- July 18
- July 23
- Race riot in Cleveland, Ohio, 11 including three cops killed. [1]
- July 27
- Race Riot in Gary, Indiana. [1]
- August 4
- 100,000 attend Newport Pop Festival, Costa Mesa, California. [1]
- August 8
- Race riot in Miami, Florida. [1]
- August 21
- William Dana reaches 80 km (last high-altitude X-15 flight). [1]
- August 28
- Police and anti-war demonstrators clash at Chicago's Democratic National Convention. [1]
- September 19
- Cornerstone laying ceremony is held for construction of the fourth Philadelphia Mint building. [502.38]
- September 30
- First Boeing 747 jet airliner rolls out. [1]
- October 1
- Horror film Night of the Living Dead premieres in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. [1]
- October 7
- Motion Picture Association of America adopts film rating system. [1]
- October 11
- Apollo 7 (Schirra, Eisele and Cunningham) make 163 orbits of Earth in 260 hours. [1] [452.94]
- October 14
- First live telecast from a manned US spacecraft (Apollo 7). [1]
- October 18
- Circus Circus hotel/casino opens on Las Vegas Boulevard, Nevada. [1] [187.408]
- October 22
- Apollo 7 returns to Earth. [1]
- October 25
- Chicago, Illinois, recognizes Jean Baptiste Pointe de Sable as its first settler. [1]
- October 31
- US President Lyndon Johnson orders a halt to all bombing of North Vietnam. [1]
- November 5
- Richard Nixon (Republican) beats Vice President Hubert Humphrey (Democrat) and George C Wallace for US Presidency. [1]
- December 1
- Burt Bacharach's and Hal David's musical Promises Promises opens at Shubert Theater in New York City for 1281 performances. [1]
- December 2
- US President Richard Nixon names Henry Kissinger security advisor. [1]
- December 7
- Richard Dodd returns a library book his great grandfather borrowed in 1823 to the University of Cincinnati; the US$22,646 fine goes unpaid. [1]
- December 9
- Doug Engelbart demonstrates first computer mouse at Stanford, California. [1]
- December 12
- US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site. [1]
- December 21
- Joseph W. Barr begins term as US Treasury Secretary (lasts one month). [408.134]
- Apollo 8 (Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders) is launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the first manned Moon voyage. [1] [5]
- December 23
- First documented US case of space motion sickness. [1]
- 82 members of US intelligence ship Pueblo released by North Korea. [1]
- The crew of Apollo 8 (Borman, Lovell, and Anders) become first men to orbit Moon. [1] (December 24 [5])
- December 27
- Apollo 8 returns to Earth. [1]
- December 28
- 100,000 attend Miami Pop Festival, Florida. [1]
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