 | President: Lyndon B Johnson, Vice President: Hubert H. Humphrey |
 | The population of the United States is 199,399,000 |
| National Debt is 368.7 Billion (+28.3 billion, mostly due to the war) |
| Unemployment is 3.8% (unchanged) |
| Life Expectancy: 70.2 years |
| Family median income = $7,743 (up $600. from 1967) |
| Academy Award : In the Heat of the Night (click to buy)  (Best Picture) |
| Grammy Award :Up-Up and Away (click to buy)  (Best Song); Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (click to buy)  (Best Album) |
| Pulitzer Prize : The Confessions of Nat Turner (click to buy)  (Fiction) |
| Inflation rate = 4.72% |
| Sen. Robert F. (Bobby) Kennedy is shot and critically wounded by Sirhan Sirhan in a Los Angeles hotel after a campaign speech, five other people were wounded |
| President Johnson announces he will not seek or accept the nomination of his party for the Presidency |
| Martin Luther King, Jr. is shot dead by James Earl Ray as he stepped out on the balcony of his Memphis motel room |
| Martin Luther King’s death sparks race riots in most major U.S. cities causing 50 million in damage with over 22,000 arrests and 46 deaths |
| North Korea seizes the USS Pueblo, claiming the ship violated its territorial waters while spying and held the crew captive for 11 months |
| The Tet Offensive sees N. Vietnamese troops attacking targets all over S. Vietnam signalling a worsening of the war for the U.S. |
| The Democratic National Convention nominates Hubert Humphrey while outside thousands of anti-war protesters are met with a violent response from Chicago police |
| The musical “Hair” (click for soundtrack)  officially opens on Broadway |
| The Supreme Court rules that the police must inform suspects of their rights before questioning them called Miranda rights (Miranda v. Arizona) |
| Saddam Hussein comes into power in Iraq after a coup d’état |
| The Republican National Convention in Miami Beach nominates Richard Nixon, protests are held to a minimum because of the location |
| The Consumer Credit Protection Act is passed which included the “Truth in Lending” provisions |
| Several planes are hijacked from Florida and forced to land in Cuba prompting future baggage and passenger searches on all flights |
| Integrated Electronics Corporation (Intel) is founded by Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore |
| Mattel produces the first Hot Wheels toy cars |
| Boeing introduces it’s newest plane the 747 |
| Former U.S. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy marries Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis |
| Virginia Slims cigarettes are marketed to women, the “Slims” to remind them that smoking is not fattening |
| Marriott Corp. creates Roy Rogers Family Restaurants in cooperation with the cowboy singer |
| The Jacuzzi Whirlpool bath is introduced at California’s Orange County Fair |
| Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Anne Klein (no relation) all debut their fashions |
| The 911 emergency telephone number is instituted in around 600 cities |
| A first class stamp climbs to $0.06 |
| Not nominated for anything nor very popular at the box office, 2001: A Space Odyssey, proved to be out of this world |
| Other memorable movies were: Bullitt,  Rosemary’s Baby,  The Green Berets,  and The Planet of the Apes |
| The following TV shows debuted: Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Dad’s Army, Adam-12, The Doris Day Show, Mod Squad, 60 Minutes and Hawaii Five-O (click show title for more info) |
See also Celebrity Birthdays 1968
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