-
North Korea Captures USS Pueblo
When North Korea captured the American surveillance ship USS Pueblo, it sparked an 11-month crisis that threatened to worsen already high Cold War tensions in the region.The trouble started with the Pueblo. It had been nearly 15 years since the Korean War between U.S.-led forces and the North. The Navy intelligence ship was monitoring North Korea from the Tsushima Strait, an ocean channel dividing Korea and Japan.The Navy said its ship was operating in international waters,. -
Period: to
Tet Offensive
The coordinated attack by 85,000 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese targeted 36 major cities and towns in South Vietnam. It caught U.S.-led forces by surprise.Named after the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, Tet was a holiday during which the North and South had previously observed an informal truce.U.S. and South Vietnamese forces eventually regained control of the communities they lost during Tet.Nevertheless, it became a wake-up call for Americans back home, who began withdrawing their support. -
Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was standing on the second floor balcony of room 306 at the Lorraine Motel when he was struck by a bullet at 6:01 p.m.The 39-year-old civil rights leader was rushed to nearby St. Joseph's Hospital but never regained consciousness. He was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m.King's fellow civil rights pioneers made public pleas for a nonviolent response to honor his memory. But riots broke out in more than 100 cities across the nation. -
Assassination of RFK Jr
Kennedy was gunned down by an assassin at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.The attack took place shortly after Kennedy had wrapped up a speech in the hotel ballroom. As he cut through a kitchen corridor on his way to another part of the building, a Jordanian born Palestinian named Sirhan Sirhan opened fire, hitting Kennedy in the head and back.Kennedy collapsed and was rushed to the hospital, where he underwent brain surgery. Twenty- six hours after the attack, Kennedy died. He was 42. -
First 747 Jet
When demand for air travel reached sky-high levels in the 1960s, the world's then-largest passenger aircraft -- the Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet -- was a game changer. The ability to carry far more passengers than previous airliners suddenly made globetrotting a feasible option for would-be wanderers who previously thought they would never afford such exotic sojourns. -
U.S. athletes take a stand at the Summer Olympics
During the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, two black athletes staged a silent demonstration against racial discrimination in the United States.
For the simple defiant act of raising their fists during the National Anthem, the International Olympic Committee condemned American medalists Tommie Smith and John Carlos. Their protest shocked many people who felt it damaged the spirit of the Olympics and unnecessarily brought politics into the Games. -
Star Trek Airs First Interracial Kiss on TV
In an episode of TV's original "Star Trek," the crew aboard the Starship Enterprise became enslaved by humanoid Platonians, who possessed a telekinetic ability to force them to do anything. Enterprise Capt. James Kirk, a white man played by William Shatner, was forced to kiss Nichelle Nichols' character, Lt. Nyota Uhura, a black woman.Censors at NBC insisted on filming an alternate version sans smooch -- fearing that local TV affiliates in the Deep South would refuse to air the episode. -
USS Pueblo Released
After months of negotiations, North Korea agreed to free the crewmen after the United States. acknowledged that the Pueblo had been spying and promised not to spy in the future.
On December 23, the crew was allowed to safely return to South Korean territory. Immediately, the U.S. retracted its acknowledgments. -
Apollo 8 Orbits the Moon
Apollo 8On Christmas Eve, three astronauts circled the moon 10 times. Jim Lovell, Bill Anders and Frank Borman became the first human beings to travel to the moon. -The first photos of Earth taken from deep space by humans, including the now iconic "Earthrise" -
Apollo 11 Lands on the Moon
Moon landingApollo 11 was the spaceflight that landed the first humans on the Moon, Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. Broadcast on live TV to a world-wide audience, Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface and described the event as "one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind." Apollo 11 effectively ended the Space Race and fulfilled a national goal proposed in 1961 by the U.S. President Kennedy.before the U.S. Congress: "before this decade is out, of landing a man
