Events from the year 1968 in France were categorized by protests and general unrest across the country as part of the many
protests of 1968
The protests of 1968 comprised a worldwide escalation of social conflicts, predominantly characterized by popular rebellions against state militaries and the bureaucracies.
In the United States, these protests marked a turning point for the ci ...
that occurred across the globe in that year.
Incumbents
*
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
:
Georges Pompidou
Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou ( , ; 5 July 19112 April 1974) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1969 until his death in 1974. He previously was Prime Minister of France of President Charles de Gaulle from 1962 to 196 ...
*27 January – French submarine sinks in the Mediterranean with 52 men on board.
*22 March – Daniel Cohn-Bendit and seven other students occupy Administrative offices of the University of Nanterre, setting in motion a chain of events that will lead France to the brink of revolution in May.
*23 April – surgeons at the Hôpital de la Pitié, Paris, perform Europe's first
heart transplant
A heart transplant, or a cardiac transplant, is a surgical transplant procedure performed on patients with end-stage heart failure or severe coronary artery disease when other medical or surgical treatments have failed. , the most common procedu ...
operation.
*May – student strike in May and June developed into widespread and unprecedented protests over poor working conditions and a rigid educational system, which threatened to bring down the government.
*30 May –
Georges Pompidou
Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou ( , ; 5 July 19112 April 1974) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1969 until his death in 1974. He previously was Prime Minister of France of President Charles de Gaulle from 1962 to 196 ...
is returned as Prime Minister following general election, but – largely due to the widespread protests of May and June, it lasts for a mere 42 days before president Charles de Gaulle dismisses him and calls a new election.
*23 June – Legislative Election held.
*30 June – Legislative Election held.
*10 July – In the second election, Maurice Couve de Murville is elected as Prime Minister.
*24 August – France explodes its first hydrogen bomb, thus becoming the world's fifth nuclear power.
*11 September – Air France Flight 1611 crashed into the Mediterranean off
Nice
Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...
, killing all 95 on board.
*12 September – Launch of the Peugeot 504, successor the 404, available as a four-door five-seater saloon or five-door seven-seater estate, both with rear-wheel drive.
*The island of
Moruroa
Moruroa (Mururoa, Mururura), also historically known as Aopuni, is an atoll which forms part of the Tuamotu Archipelago in French Polynesia in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is located about southeast of Tahiti. Administratively Moruroa Atoll ...
(then known as Mururoa) in French Polynesia was used for French nuclear tests twice during the year (in August and September) leading to widespread protest from other Pacific nations.
*
René Cassin
René Samuel Cassin (5 October 1887 – 20 February 1976) was a French jurist known for co-authoring the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.
Born in Bayonne, Cassin served as a soldier in the First Wo ...
wins the
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
for Peace.
Arts and literature
*Singer
Dalida
Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti (; 17 January 1933 – 3 May 1987), professionally known as Dalida, was an Italian-French singer and actress born in Egypt. She sang in eleven languages and sold millions of records internationally. Her best known son ...
releases the singles "Le Temps des Fleurs", "Je m'endors dans tes bras", and "Si j'avais des millions".
Sport
*6 February – 18 February – The
1968 Winter Olympics
The 1968 Winter Olympics, officially known as the X Olympic Winter Games (french: Les Xes Jeux olympiques d'hiver), were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 18 February 1968 in Grenoble, France. Thirty-seven countries participated. Frenchm ...
takes place in
Grenoble
lat, Gratianopolis
, commune status = Prefecture and commune
, image = Panorama grenoble.png
, image size =
, caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...
. The host nation finishes third on the medal table with four gold, three silver, and two bronze medals.
*27 June –
Tour de France
The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...
begins.
*7 July –
French Grand Prix
The French Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix de France), formerly known as the Grand Prix de l'ACF (Automobile Club de France), is an auto race held as part of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's annual Formula One World Championsh ...
is won by
Jacky Ickx
Jacques Bernard "Jacky" Ickx (; born 1 January 1945) is a Belgian former racing driver who won the 24 Hours of Le Mans six times (second-highest of all time) and achieved eight wins and 25 podium finishes in Formula One. He greatly contributed ...
in a Ferrari.
*21 July – Tour de France ends, won by
Jan Janssen
Johannes Adrianus "Jan" Janssen (; born 19 May 1940) is a Dutch former professional cyclist (1962–1972). He was world champion and winner of the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España, the first Dutch rider to win either. He rode the Tour de ...
of the Netherlands.
*28–29 September – In the
24 hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose ...
Lucien Bianchi
Lucien Bianchi (10 November 1934 – 30 March 1969), born Luciano Bianchi, was an Italian-born Belgian racing driver who raced for the Cooper, ENB, UDT Laystall and Scuderia Centro Sud teams in Formula One. He entered a total of 19 Formula One W ...
Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe
The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris, France, over a distance ...
is won by
Vaguely Noble
Vaguely Noble (1965–1989) was an Irish-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who competed in the United Kingdom and France. The colt is best known as the winner of the 1968 Group One Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe when he defeated the best horses from Engla ...
.
*
Jean-Claude Killy
Jean-Claude Killy (born 30 August 1943) is a French former World Cup alpine ski racer. He dominated the sport in the late 1960s, and was a triple Olympic champion, winning the three alpine events at the 1968 Winter Olympics, becoming the most su ...
Ken Rosewall
Kenneth Robert Rosewall (born 2 November 1934) is an Australian former world top-ranking amateur and professional tennis player. He won a record 23 Majors in singles, including eight Grand Slam singles titles and, before the Open Era, a record ...
(men) and
Nancy Richey
Nancy Richey (born August 23, 1942) is an American former tennis player. Richey won two major singles titles (the 1967 Australian Championships and 1968 French Open) and four major women's doubles titles (the 1965 US Championships, 1966 Austral ...
Coupe de France
The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...
.
Births
January to March
*3 January –
Gérald Mossé
Gérald Mossé (born 3 January 1967 in France) is a jockey in thoroughbred horse racing. He began riding professionally in April 1983 and his success during his apprenticeship under Patrick-Louis Biancone led to an offer to ride for renowned train ...
skeleton racer
Skeleton is a winter sliding sport in which a person rides a small sled, known as a skeleton bobsled (or -sleigh), down a frozen track while lying face down and head-first. The sport and the sled may have been named from the bony appearance of ...
.
*21 January –
Sébastien Lifshitz
Sébastien Lifshitz (born 21 January 1968) is a French screenwriter and director. He teaches at La Fémis, a school that focuses on the subject of image and sound. He studied at the École du Louvre, and has a bachelor's degree from the Universit ...
Éric Le Chanony
Éric Le Chanony (born February 28, 1968) is a French former bobsledder who competed during the 1990s. He won a bronze medal in the four-man event (tied with Great Britain) at Nagano (city), Nagano in 1998 Winter Olympics, 1998.
Le Chanon ...
film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...
cryptographer
Cryptography, or cryptology (from grc, , translit=kryptós "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or ''-logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adver ...
Marie-Claire Restoux
Marie-Claire Restoux (born 9 April 1968 in La Rochefoucauld, Charente) is a French judoka, world champion and Olympic champion. She won a gold medal in the ''half lightweight division'' at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
, judoka and Olympic gold medallist.
*13 April –
Jeanne Balibar
Jeanne Balibar (born 13 April 1968) is a French actress and singer.
Life and career
Balibar was born in Paris, the daughter of Marxist philosopher Étienne Balibar and physicist Françoise Balibar.
She started her career as a student in th ...
Dominique Boeuf
Dominique Boeuf (born 6 June 1968 at Maisons-Laffitte, France) is a jockey in Thoroughbred flat racing. He began his career while still a teen and won his first race on 15 September 1984. Three years later, he got his first Group One win aboard ...
nordic combined
Nordic combined is a winter sport in which athletes compete in cross-country skiing and ski jumping. The Nordic combined at the Winter Olympics has been held since the first ever Winter Olympics in 1924, while the FIS Nordic Combined World Cup ...
skier and Olympic medallist.
*10 July –
Frédéric Kuhn
Frédéric Kuhn (born 10 July 1968 in Gennevilliers, Hauts-de-Seine) is a retired male hammer thrower from France, who competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. He set his personal best (76.80 metres) on 30 May 1992 at a meet in Ang ...
, hammer thrower.
*22 July –
Thierry Brusseau
Thierry Brusseau (born July 22, 1964 in Marvejols, Lozère) was a track and field athlete from France, who mainly competed in the men's 3.000 metres steeplechase during his career. His personal best was 8:22.22, achieved in 1991. He competed in t ...
Franck Lagorce
Franck Lagorce (born 1 September 1968 in L'Haÿ-les-Roses) is a racing driver from France. He participated in two Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 6 November 1994. He scored no championship points.
Career
Lagorce competed in French Formula Fo ...
, motor racing driver.
*3 September – Christophe Mengin, cyclist.
*7 September –
Marcel Desailly
Marcel Desailly (born Odenke Abbey; 7 September 1968) is a French former professional footballer, widely considered to be among the greatest centre-backs and defensive midfielders to ever play football. During a successful career at club level, l ...
, soccer player.
*10 September – Florence Devouard, former Chair of the Board of Trustees of the
Wikimedia Foundation
The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., or Wikimedia for short and abbreviated as WMF, is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California and registered as a charitable foundation under local laws. Best know ...
.
*22 September – Pascal Fugier, soccer player.
*23 September –
Stéphane Mahé
Stéphane Mahé (born 23 September 1968) is a French former professional footballer and former manager of Saint Nazaire FC (now Stade Nazairien).
Playing career
Mahé was born in Puteaux. He started his career in the AJ Auxerre youth academy, g ...
, soccer player, manager.
*26 September – Frédéric Moncassin, cyclist.
*30 September – Hervé Renard, soccer player, manager.
fashion
Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion i ...
Dominique A
Dominique Ané (born 6 October 1968), better known as "Dominique A", is a French songwriter and singer.
Early life
Born on 6 October 1968 in Provins, France, Dominique Ané is the only child of a teacher and a homemaker. He was passionate about ...
, songwriter and singer.
*15 October –
Didier Deschamps
Didier Claude Deschamps (; born 15 October 1968) is a French professional football manager and former player who has been manager of the France national team since 2012. He played as a defensive midfielder for several clubs, in France, Italy, ...
biathlete
The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not time ...
percussionist
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...
.
*27 November –
Michael Vartan
Michael S. Vartan (born November 27, 1968) is a French-American actor, known for his role as Michael Vaughn on the ABC television action drama ''Alias'', his role on the TNT medical drama '' Hawthorne'', and his role on the '' E!'' drama '' The A ...
, actor.
*30 November –
Laurent Jalabert
Laurent Jalabert (born 30 November 1968) is a French former professional road racing cyclist, from 1989 to 2002.
Affectionately known as ''"Jaja"'' (slang for a glass of wine; when he continued drinking wine as a professional, the nickname stuck ...
Denis Langlois
Denis Langlois (born 10 December 1968 in Drancy) is a French race walker
Racewalking, or race walking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear ...
Emmanuelle Charpentier
Emmanuelle Marie Charpentier (; born 11 December 1968) is a French professor and researcher in microbiology, genetics, and biochemistry. As of 2015, she has been a director at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin. In 2018, she ...
, researcher in microbiology, genetics and biochemistry
** Fabien Lévy, composer.
*12 December –
Rodolphe Gilbert
Rodolphe Gilbert (born 12 December 1968) is a former French male professional tennis player.
Gilbert won the doubles title at the ATP Guaruja in 1991 partnering countryman Olivier Delaître
Olivier Delaître (born 1 June 1967) is a former pr ...
nordic combined
Nordic combined is a winter sport in which athletes compete in cross-country skiing and ski jumping. The Nordic combined at the Winter Olympics has been held since the first ever Winter Olympics in 1924, while the FIS Nordic Combined World Cup ...
skier and Olympic gold medallist.
Full date unknown
*
Marc Fleury
Marc Fleury (born 1968) is the creator of JBoss, an open-source Java application server.
Fleury was born in Paris. He holds a degree in mathematics and a doctorate in physics from the École Polytechnique in Paris and a Master in Theoretical ...
, software designer.
*
Christophe Godin
Christophe Godin (born 1968) is a French guitarist and singer, known for his work with the French bands Metal Kartoon, Gnô and Mörglbl. Godin plays a variety of styles, including heavy metal, jazz fusion, blues and more.
Biography
Christo ...
Stéphane Pompougnac
Stéphane Pompougnac (born 1968) is a French house DJ and record producer.
Biography
Pompougnac was born in Paris in 1968 to a psychotherapist and a dental surgeon. He spent his early life in Bordeaux.
His first job was as a waiter at the cour ...
Louis Aubert
Louis François Marie Aubert (19 February 1877 – 9 January 1968) was a French composer.
Biography
Born in Paramé, Ille-et-Vilaine, Louis Aubert was a child prodigy. His parents, recognizing their son's musical talent, sent him to Paris to rec ...
, composer (born 1877).
*18 January –
Gribouille
Marie-France Gaîté (born 17 July 1941 in Lyon, France – died 18 January 1968), better known as Gribouille was a singer, musician, and songwriter.
__NOTOC__
As a teenager, she suffered from a mental disorder, and for a time was confined aga ...
, singer (born 1941).
*4 February – Jean Gachet, boxer and Olympic medallist (born 1894).
*5 February – Paul Marie André Richaud, Cardinal (born 1887).
*8 February
** Maurice Maillot, actor (born 1906)
**
René Navarre
René Navarre (8 July 1877 – 8 February 1968) was a French actor of the silent era. He appeared in 109 films between 1910 and 1946, and was often credited simply as Navarre. His most famous role was probably the master criminal Fantômas.
...
, actor (born 1877).
*14 February –
Pierre Veuillot
Pierre Marie Joseph Veuillot (5 January 1913 – 14 February 1968) was a Roman Catholic Cardinal and Archbishop of Paris.
Life
After having frequented the first year of the graduate course of Medicine, he joined the Carmes Seminary in Rue d'A ...
Alice Guy-Blaché
Alice Ida Antoinette Guy-Blaché (née Guy; ; 1 July 1873 – 24 March 1968) was a French pioneer filmmaker. She was one of the first filmmakers to make a narrative fiction film, as well as the first woman to direct a film. From 1896 to 1906, s ...
, pioneer filmmaker, first female film director (born 1873).
April to June
*15 May – Gilbert Gérintès, rugby union player (born 1902).
*31 May
**
Abel Bonnard
Abel Bonnard (19 December 1883 31 May 1968) was a French poet, novelist and politician.
Biography
Born in Poitiers, Vienne, his early education was in Marseilles with secondary studies at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris. A student of literatu ...
, poet, novelist and politician (born 1883).
** Paul Marchandeau, politician and Minister (born 1882).
*11 June – Jean-Julien Lemordant, artist and soldier (born 1882).
*17 June –
typeface
A typeface (or font family) is the design of lettering that can include variations in size, weight (e.g. bold), slope (e.g. italic), width (e.g. condensed), and so on. Each of these variations of the typeface is a font.
There are thousands o ...
water polo
Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...
player and Olympic medallist (born 1882).
*21 July – Robert Péguy, film director (born 1883).
*10 August – Gabriel Hanot, soccer player and journalist (born 1889).
*14 August –
Marcel Thil
Marcel Thil (29 May 1904 – 14 August 1968) was a French boxer and middleweight world champion. Statistical boxing website BoxRec rates Thil as the second best European boxer ever across all weight divisions, after Joe Calzaghe.André Girard, painter, poster-maker and Resistance member (born 1901).
*11 September – René Cogny, General (born 1904).
*17 September – Armand Blanchonnet, cyclist and Olympic gold medallist (born 1903).
*September – Pierre Grany, athlete (born 1899).
October to December
*2 October –
Marcel Duchamp
Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...
, artist (born 1887).
*9 October – Jean Paulhan, writer, literary critic and publisher (born 1884).
*25 October – Jean Schlumberger, writer and
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...
(born 1877).
*6 November –
Charles Münch
Charles Munch (; born Charles Münch, 26 September 1891 – 6 November 1968) was an Alsatian French symphonic conductor and violinist. Noted for his mastery of the French orchestral repertoire, he was best known as music director of the Boston ...
pianist
A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...
, composer and teacher (born 1921).
*25 November – Marcel Labey, conductor and composer (born 1875).
*28 November –
Jean Delsarte
Jean Frédéric Auguste Delsarte (19 October 1903, Fourmies – 28 November 1968, Nancy) was a French mathematician known for his work in mathematical analysis, in particular, for introducing mean-periodic functions and generalised shift o ...
, mathematician (born 1903).
*3 December –
Lucien Callamand
Lucien Callamand born Lucien Marie Pascal Eugène Callamand (April 1, 1888, in Marseille – December 3, 1968, in Nice, Alpes-Maritimes) was one of the earliest French film actors whose career spanned six decades of French cinema. Between 1909 ...
, actor (born 1888).
*7 December –
Pierre Jaminet
Pierre Jaminet (Paris, 12 February 1912 — Le Havre, 7 December 1968) was a French professional road bicycle racer.
Major results
;1938
:Critérium International
;1939
:Tour de France
The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple- ...
, cyclist (born 1912).
Full date unknown
*
Jean Hyppolite
Jean Hyppolite (; 8 January 1907 – 26 October 1968) was a French philosopher known for championing the work of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and other German philosophers, and educating some of France's most prominent post-war thinkers. His ...
, philosopher (born 1907).
*
André Prudhommeaux
André Prudhommeaux (15 October 1902 – 13 November 1968) was a French anarchist bookstore owner whose shop in Paris specialized in social history and was a place for many debates and discussions. He was an agronomist, libertarian, editor o ...
, anarchist bookstore owner (born 1902).
See also
*
List of French films of 1968
This is a list of films produced in France in 1968.
See also
*1968 in France
Notes
References
*
External links
French films of 1968at the Internet Movie DatabaseFrench films of 1968at Cinema-francais.fr
{{DEFAULTSORT:French Films ...