June 1968
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The following events occurred in June 1968:


June 1, 1968 (Saturday)

* Austria became the first Western nation to agree to purchase natural gas from the Soviet Union, signing a long-term lease for an extension of a pipeline from
Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...
in Czechoslovakia. *Italy's government fell on the 22nd anniversary of the founding of the republic, as the Socialist Party decided not to form another coalition with the Christian Democrats. *The
Sunday Times Golden Globe Race The ''Sunday Times'' Golden Globe Race was a non-stop, single-handed sailing, single-handed, circumnavigation, round-the-world yacht racing, yacht race, held in 1968–1969, and was the first round-the-world yacht race. The race was controversi ...
, promoted by London's ''Sunday Times'' as a round-the-world yacht race for a £5,000 prize, began with the departure from the Ireland island of Kilronan by John Ridgway on his
sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...
, ''English Rose IV''. *The Six Flags AstroWorld theme park opened in Houston, 8 months after its development was announced by Roy Hofheinz. The park would last for 37 years, closing permanently on October 30, 2005, at the end of the season. *The flag of Alberta was officially adopted by the government of the Canadian province. *Born:
Jason Donovan Jason Sean Donovan (born 1 June 1968) is an Australian actor and singer. He initially achieved fame in the Australian soap ''Neighbours'', playing Scott Robinson, before beginning a career in music in 1988. In the UK he has sold over 3 mi ...
, Australian actor and singer, in Melbourne *Died: Helen Keller, 87, American author, political activist, and lecturer, and the first deaf-blind person to earn a bachelor of arts degree, died at her estate near Easton, Connecticut.


June 2, 1968 (Sunday)

*A lack of seating at a theatrical performance in Yugoslavia triggered violent student protests in Belgrade. A blackout struck the "Student City" (''Studentski grad'') dormitories on the day before final examinations were to start at the University of Belgrade, and students went across the street to the adult education center of Novi Beograd to watch a dress rehearsal of a variety show, "Caravan of Friendship". Security guards at the center tried to turn the students away, a scuffle broke out and a 40-man unit of riot police was called to use a water cannon to send the demonstrators back to their dormitories. By midnight, 3,000 students would begin a march toward government buildings in Belgrade and a riot began. A student strike followed with 10,000 students occupying classroom and administration buildings and closing down the university. One week later, Yugoslavia's President
Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until his deat ...
would make a surprise response to the demonstrations. *Leaders of the Basque separatist organization
ETA Eta (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἦτα ''ē̂ta'' or ell, ήτα ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative in most dialects, ...
decided to carry out their first assassinations of officials of the government of Spain, targeting
Melitón Manzanas Melitón Manzanas González (born 1906 in Donostia-San Sebastián – 2 August 1968) was a high-ranking police officer in Francoist Spain, known as a torturerIglesias, María Antonioa"Hablan las víctimas de Melitón Manzanas" ''(The victims of ...
, the head of the
Brigada Político-Social The Political-Social Brigade ( es, Brigada Político-Social, BPS), officially the Social Investigation Brigade ( es, Brigada de Investigación Social, BSI), was a secret police in Francoist Spain in charge of persecuting and repressing oppositio ...
secret police organization in
San Sebastián San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: ''Donostia'' () and ''San Sebastián'' ()) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the Basque Country (autonomous community), B ...
, and another BPS chief in Bilbao. The attempt on the life of Manzanas would be foiled on June 7."The origins of ETA: between Francoism and democracy, 1958—1981", by Gaizka Fernandez, in ''ETA's Terrorist Campaign: From Violence to Politics, 1968–2015'' (Routledge, 2016) p25 *The first peace talks to end violence in Cyprus began as Greek Cypriot leader Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktaş met at a neutral site ( Beirut in Lebanon) as guests of the United Nations. * José María Velasco Ibarra was re-elected for a fifth term as President of Ecuador. Velasco Ibarra would assume dictatorial powers in 1970 and would be overthrown in a coup on February 15, 1972. *In the Turkish senate elections, the Justice Party (AP) won 49.9% of the vote. In this election 53 members of the senate were elected.(50 members for 1/3 of the senate and 3 empty seats)


June 3, 1968 (Monday)

* Valerie Solanas shot and almost killed pop artist Andy Warhol after following him into his studio, "The Factory", in New York City. With a .32 caliber automatic pistol, she shot Warhol several times while he was talking on the telephone. Warhol underwent hours of surgery after the bullets tore through his chest, abdomen, spleen and both lungs. Art critic Mario Amaya was slightly wounded; Warhol survived the attack and would recover. Solanas, a self-described radical feminist who had founded the "Society for Cutting Up Men" (SCUM), and told police that she shot Warhol because "he had too much control of my life." Warhol would spend two months recovering in a hospital, and Solanas would serve a three-year sentence at the New York State Prison for Women. *"The Atheist Point of View", the first regularly scheduled broadcast in the United States to promote
atheism Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...
went on the air on KTBC, a radio station in Austin, Texas, owned by the family of U.S. President Lyndon Johnson.
Madalyn Murray O'Hair Madalyn Murray O'Hair (née Mays; April 13, 1919 – September 29, 1995) was an American activist supporting atheism and separation of church and state. In 1963 she founded American Atheists and served as its president until 1986, after which her ...
, the president of the Society of Separationists, purchased time for a 15-minute program that would run from 10:00 to 10:15 p.m. every Monday. In accordance with the Federal Communications Commission's Fairness Doctrine, KTBC allowed a 15-minute program at 10:15, hosted by Pastor John Barclay of Austin's Central Christian Church. *Police in Italy recaptured the University of Rome administration building, three days after it had been taken over by students.


June 4, 1968 (Tuesday)

* NASA released a new Apollo Applications Program (AAP) launch readiness and delivery schedule. The schedule decreased the number of
Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...
flights to 11
Saturn IB The Saturn IB (also known as the uprated Saturn I) was an American launch vehicle commissioned by the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the Apollo program. It uprated the Saturn I by replacing the S-IV second stage (, ...
flights and one Saturn V flight. It called for three Workshops. One of the Workshops would be launched by a Saturn IB, and another would serve as a backup. The third Workshop would be launched by a Saturn V. The schedule also included one Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM). Launch of the first Workshop would be in
November 1970 The following events occurred in November 1970: November 1, 1970 (Sunday) *Club Cinq-Sept fire, A fire killed 146 people at a dance hall outside of Saint-Laurent-du-Pont in France. Firefighters discovered upon arrival that the management o ...
. Lunar missions were no longer planned in the AAP. *The S&P 500 stock market index, considered by many a bellwether for the U.S. economy, closed above 100 for the first time, at 100.38. *U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York narrowly defeated Senator
Eugene McCarthy Eugene Joseph McCarthy (March 29, 1916December 10, 2005) was an American politician, writer, and academic from Minnesota. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the United States Senate from 1959 to 1971. ...
of Minnesota to win all 172 delegates in California's Democratic presidential primary. The results would not be confirmed until after midnight. As
CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...
projected that he would be the winner, the result was described as "a major boost in his nomination race against the man he sees as the real opponent: Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey".
U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
Lyndon B. Johnson joked about the primary in remarks during a state dinner at the White House and said, "We might pick up some tremors later tonight from a disturbance out in California." *Died: Walter Nash, 86, the 27th Prime Minister of New Zealand


June 5 Events Pre-1600 *1257 – Kraków, in Poland, receives city rights. *1283 – Battle of the Gulf of Naples: Roger of Lauria, admiral to King Peter III of Aragon, destroys the Neapolitan fleet and captures Charles II of Naples, Charles ...
, 1968 (Wednesday)

*Moments after thanking supporters for his win in the California primary, Senator Robert F. Kennedy was shot and fatally wounded while walking through a corridor at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. After the 12:20 a.m. shooting, police arrested Sirhan Sirhan, a citizen of Jordan who had been a U.S. resident for 12 years. Kennedy was rushed to Central Receiving Hospital, where doctors worked on trying to save his life. and then transferred to the Hospital of the Good Samaritan for surgery. A team of six surgeons began operating at 3:12 a.m. after x-rays showed that bullet fragments had penetrated his brain stem, and finished at 6:52 a.m.; Kennedy never regained consciousness.Jerry Oppenheimer, ''The Other Mrs. Kennedy: An Intimate and Revealing Look at the Hidden Life of Ethel Skakel Kennedy'' (Macmillan, 1995) p446, 453 Although Kennedy had been facing Sirhan when the shots were fired, the three bullets that had hit him "traveled back to front", wounding him in the neck, the shoulder and his head. *Five other people were wounded in addition to Kennedy, and required hospitalization: ABC News reporter William Weisel, union official Paul Schrade, radio reporter Ira Goldstein, and two campaign volunteers, Elizabeth Evans and teenager volunteer Irwin Stroll. Fifty years later, as Sirhan began his 51st year in prison, Schrade and the Senator's son,
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. (born January 17, 1954) is an American environmental lawyer and author known for promoting anti-vaccine propaganda and conspiracy theories. Kennedy is a son of U.S. senator Robert F. Kennedy and a nephew of President ...
, would both express their belief that Sirhan had not been the gunman. *CIA test pilot Jack Weeks disappeared while conducting the last test of the Lockheed A-12 supersonic reconnaissance jet during the CIA's "Oxcart" program. The A-12s were already scheduled for retirement when Weeks departed from USAF Kadena Air Base in
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
and, 41 minutes later, the onboard telemetry system signaled that an engine was overheating, followed by a drop of fuel flow and a rapid decrease in altitude. Weeks's last known position had been over the
Philippine Sea The Philippine Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean east of the Philippine archipelago (hence the name), the largest in the world, occupying an estimated surface area of . The Philippine Sea Plate forms the floor of the sea. Its ...
, east of Manila. No trace of the wreckage would be located.


June 6 Events Pre-1600 * 913 – Constantine VII, the eight-year-old illegitimate son of Leo VI the Wise, becomes nominal ruler of the Byzantine Empire under the regency of a seven-man council headed by Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos, appointed b ...
, 1968 (Thursday)

* Pakistan announced that it would be the first of the five member signatories to the 1955
Baghdad Pact The Middle East Treaty Organization (METO), also known as the Baghdad Pact and subsequently known as the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO), was a military alliance of the Cold War. It was formed in 24 February 1955 by Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Turk ...
to withdraw from CENTO, the Central Treaty Organisation. The mutual security pact had been signed by Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Pakistan and the United Kingdom. After the
Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...
of 1979, the other Middle Eastern nations would withdraw as well. *Secret Service protection was extended to all major US presidential and vice presidential candidates under Public Law 90—331 after President Johnson signed a bill into law hours after it had been passed by both houses of the U.S. Congress. *Died: ** Robert F. Kennedy, 42, U.S. Senator for
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
since 1965, after being shot the day before by
Sirhan Bishara Sirhan Sirhan Bishara Sirhan (; ar, سرحان بشارة سرحان ''Sirḥān Bišāra Sirḥān'', born March 19, 1944) is a Palestinian Jordanian man who was convicted for the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. Kennedy, a United States Senat ...
. Kennedy was pronounced dead at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, more than 25 hours after he had been shot in the head, and almost seven hours after surgeons had completed emergency surgery to remove bullet fragments from his brain stem. Kennedy never regained consciousness, and was removed from mechanical life support by consent of his family after his doctors had informed them that brain activity had ceased and Reverend Thomas Pecha had administered the last rites. Fifteen minutes after Kennedy's death, his press secretary, Frank Mankiewicz, told reporters, "I have a short announcement to read... Senator Robert Francis Kennedy died at 1:44 A.M. today, June 6, 1968. With Senator Kennedy at the time of his death was his wife Ethel, his sisters, Mrs. Patricia Lawford, and Mrs. Stephen Smith, his brother-in-law, Stephen Smith, and his sister-in-law, Mrs. John F. Kennedy. He was 42 years old." ** Randolph Churchill, 57, English journalist and politician, son of Sir
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
, of a heart attack.


June 7, 1968 (Friday)

*In the United Kingdom, sewing machinists went on strike at the Ford Dagenham assembly plant, as 187 female workers walked out on strike to demand pay equal to that of men for jobs rated at the same technical grade. "The Women Workers at Fords of
Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Forest ...
" made seat covers for car seats in Ford vehicles. The walkout would last three weeks, during which more than 2,000 cars could not be completed, and would end only after the government dispatched Barbara Castle, the
Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity The Secretary of State for Employment was a position in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. In 1995 it was merged with Secretary of State for Education to make the Secretary of State for Education and Employment. In 2001 the employment functions ...
. In the long run, the strike would be a catalyst for the passing of the UK's Equal Pay Act 1970. *
Txabi Etxebarrieta Txabi Etxebarrieta (14 October 1944 – 7 June 1968), also known as Xabier Etxebarrieta Ortiz, was a Basque nationalist and one of the founders of the armed pro-independence organization Euskadi ta Askatasuna (ETA). He was the perpetrator o ...
, selected by the '' Euskadi ta Askatasuna'' (ETA) Basque separatist organization, was killed while on his way to carry out ETA's first attempt at a political assassination, the killing of police superintendent Melitón Manzanas. Etxebarrieta and his assistant, Iñaki Sarasketa, were driving in a stolen automobile when their car was pulled over for a random traffic check by a civil guardsmen. The guardsman, Jose Antonio Pardines, became the first of 820 people to be killed by ETA terrorists. Etxebarrieta fled the scene and was stopped at Tolosa, where he was killed in an exchange of gunfire with other guardsmen. Pardines would be imprisoned until 1977; Manzanas would be killed at his home on August 2. *The first of 14,000 patients to be diagnosed with Yushō disease entered a hospital in Japan with symptoms of acneiform eruptions caused by chemical poisoning from polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs). All of them had ingested food that had been cooked in rice bran oil that had been produced by the Kanemi Company and shipped to distributors in February. Eventually, 500 people would die from Yushō disease. *The first
Legoland Legoland (, trademark in uppercase as LEGOLAND) is a chain of family theme parks focusing on the construction toy system Lego. They are not fully owned by The Lego Group itself; rather, they are owned and operated by the British theme park com ...
amusement park was opened in Billund, Denmark, where the
Lego Group Lego A/S (trade name: The Lego Group) is a Danish toy production company based in Billund, Denmark. It manufactures Lego-brand toys, consisting mostly of interlocking plastic bricks. The Lego Group has also built several amusement parks aro ...
company headquarters was located. As of 2017, there are eight Legoland parks, in seven nations. *The
European Convention on Information on Foreign Law The European Convention on Information on Foreign Law is a 1968 Council of Europe treaty whereby states agree to procedures for the mandatory provision of information when a state requests information on the legal system of another state. Content ...
was signed in London and would come into effect on December 17, 1969. *At the village of Jostoma, located eight miles from Kohima (capital of the Indian state of Nagaland), Chinese-trained Naga rebels fought a battle with members of India's Border Security Force. The government forces suffered 90 casualties but routed the rebels, who had 200 members who were killed or wounded, and captured Chinese-made weapons and documents implicating the People's Republic of China. *Mrs. Esther Matthews, a 41-year old African-American housewife in Dallas, became the first woman to receive a heart transplant, and the 21st overall. She died on the operating table 90 minutes after the heart had been implanted by a surgical team from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. *Died: Dan Duryea, 61, American actor, of cancer


June 8, 1968 (Saturday)

*At 11:15 in the morning local time, James Earl Ray was arrested at
Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...
in London for the
assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr., an African-American clergyman and civil rights leader, was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, at 6:01 p.m. CST. He was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he died at 7 ...
Ray was spotted while preparing to board an airplane to fly to Brussels. Scotland Yard officials said that he had been carrying a loaded pistol and two false
Canadian passport A Canadian passport (french: passeport canadien) is the passport issued to citizens of Canada. It enables the bearer to enter or re-enter Canada freely; travel to and from other countries in accordance with visa requirements; facilitates the p ...
s bearing the name of Ramon Sneyd, after receiving a tip from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police watchlist. During his 65 days on the run, Ray drove from Memphis, Tennessee, to Birmingham, Alabama, and then to Atlanta. He abandoned his car, rode a bus from Atlanta to Detroit, rode in a taxicab to Windsor, Ontario, and got a train to Toronto on April 6. After a month in Toronto, where he got a passport in the name of Sneyd, he flew to London on May 6, then flew to
Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
where he tried to get a visa to take a ship to Africa. Deciding that he would have a better chance in Belgium, he planned to go to Brussels after changing planes at London. * Italy and Yugoslavia played to a 1–1 draw in the final of the 1968 European Championship soccer football tournament. To resolve the tie, 30 minutes of extra time were played without either team scoring, leading to a second complete game to be played two days later. *The funeral of Robert F. Kennedy took place in Washington, D.C., two days after his death, after which he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery adjacent to the grave of his brother, John F. Kennedy. The last surviving brother,
Edward M. Kennedy Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Massachusetts for almost 47 years, from 1962 until his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic ...
, gave the eulogy. *NASA launched two Aerobee 150
sounding rocket A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are used to ...
s from White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. The first rocket carried a
Naval Research Laboratory The United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is the corporate research laboratory for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. It was founded in 1923 and conducts basic scientific research, applied research, technological ...
and University of Maryland payload to a altitude to flight test a design verification unit of the high-resolution
spectroheliograph The spectroheliograph is an instrument used in astronomy which captures a photographic image of the Sun at a single wavelength of light, a monochromatic image. The wavelength is usually chosen to coincide with a spectral wavelength of one of the ch ...
planned for use on the Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM). The second rocket carried an American Science and Engineering, Inc., payload to a altitude to obtain high-resolution x-ray pictures of active regions of the Sun during solar flare and general x-ray emission of solar corona. The rocket and instrumentation performed satisfactorily, but the payload of the first rocket failed to separate, thus preventing functioning of the parachute recovery system.


June 9, 1968 (Sunday)

* Yugoslavia's President,
Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until his deat ...
, appeared on state television and radio to address the student revolt in the University of Belgrade and on other campuses. The Communist leader conceded that the student demonstrations were a response to the nation's flaws and a legitimate protest against unjust policies of local governments. His recognition that the student demands were legitimate, and that the Yugoslav federal government needed to investigate them, brought an end to the revolt. "I think the events which occurred at New Belgrade struck at the heads of many of us," he told the audience, and acknowledged that he and the Communist Party bore some of the blame for the unrest. He added that "I can say that 90% of students are honest youth of whom we did not take sufficient care", and urged students to return to their studies; "This time," he said, "I will wholeheartedly endeavor for solutions, and students must help me in this. If I am not able to settle these issues, then I should not remain in my post." *U.S. Marine Corps 1st Lt. Walter R. Schmidt, Jr., was shot down over the
A Shau Valley A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...
of North Vietnam while leading a flight in an aerial attack of supply trucks. He ejected safely and, for more than five years, was listed as an American prisoner-of-war. Then, after he was neither repatriated nor mentioned on the list of POWs who died in captivity at war's end, his parents were told that his status had been changed to "deceased, body not recovered". Declassified documents of the U.S. Department of Defense would indicate their belief that Schmidt was still alive after the war as an abandoned "missing in action" (MIA) prisoner. *U.S. Coast Guard Lieutenant Jack C. Rittchier became the first member of the Coast Guard to die in enemy action in the Vietnam War. Rittchier's helicopter was shot down while he was trying to rescue a downed Marine Corps pilot. In all, seven Guardsmen (out of 8,000) were killed in the war, and 60 wounded. *The
Belgian Grand Prix The Belgian Grand Prix (French language, French: ''Grand Prix de Belgique''; Dutch language, Dutch: ''Grote Prijs van België''; German language, German: ''Großer Preis von Belgien'') is a motor racing event which forms part of the Formula O ...
took place at the
Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (), frequently referred to as ''Spa'', is a motor-racing circuit located in Stavelot, Belgium. It is the current venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, hosting its first Grand Prix in 1925, and has held ...
and was won by Bruce McLaren. *The final of the DFB-Pokal football tournament, was played at
Südweststadion Südweststadion is a multi-purpose stadium in Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Germany and was built in 1950, at which time it could hold 41,383 people. After a renovation in 2007, the maximum capacity was limited to 6,100 people. It is currently used mostl ...
in
Ludwigshafen Ludwigshafen, officially Ludwigshafen am Rhein (; meaning " Ludwig's Port upon Rhine"), is a city in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, on the river Rhine, opposite Mannheim. With Mannheim, Heidelberg, and the surrounding region, it form ...
, Germany, and was won by
FC Köln FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Paki ...
, who defeated
VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as simply VfL Bochum (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has spent 35 seas ...
4–1. *The 1968 Surfers Paradise 4-Hour endurance race for touring cars was held at
Surfers Paradise International Raceway Surfers Paradise International Raceway was a motor racing complex at Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The long circuit was designed and built by Keith Williams, a motor racing enthusiast who also designed and built the Adelaide Internationa ...
in Queensland,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, and was won by John French, in an Alfa Romeo GTV. *Born: Aleksandr Konovalov, Russian prosecutor and Minister of Justice 2008 to 2020; in Leningrad, RSFSR, Soviet Union.


June 10, 1968 (Monday)

*U.S. Army General Creighton Abrams assumed the command of military operations in the Vietnam War, succeeding General William Westmoreland. During his four years as commander, a biographer would later note, General Abrams "stressed pacification rather than Westmoreland's policy of search and destroy" In carrying out the American policy of " Vietnamization", to gradually withdraw American forces while increasing the strength of South Vietnam's forces, Abrams would oversee a decrease in the number of U.S. troops from 543,000 to 49,000. * Italy beat Yugoslavia 2–0 in a replay of the final of the 1968 European Championship. Two days earlier, the teams had played to a 1–1 draw that was unresolved after 30 minutes of extra time. Noting that and the 90 minute rematch, ''The Guardian'' noted that "It took the Italians 210 minutes of grueling football to overcome the tenacious Yugoslavs" and "won their first major honour since they captured the World Cup in 1938". *Born: Bill Burr, American stand-up comedian, in
Canton, Massachusetts Canton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 24,370 at the 2020 census. Canton is part of Greater Boston, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of downtown Boston. Hist ...
*Died:
Marshall Hodgson Marshall Goodwin Simms Hodgson (April 11, 1922 – June 10, 1968), was an Islamic studies academic and a world historian at the University of Chicago. He was chairman of the interdisciplinary Committee on Social Thought in Chicago. Works Though he ...
, 46, American historian and authority on Islamic studies, died while completing the revisions on his six-volume work ''The Venture of Islam: Conscience and History in a World Civilization''.


June 11, 1968 (Tuesday)

*Four inmates of the federal penitentiary in Atlanta (a murderer and three bank robbers) seized control of the administration building and took 25 employees hostage (18 men and 7 women) after failing in an escape attempt. Two of the women and a man were released later. After prison officials agreed to the publication of the inmates' list of nine grievances in the ''Atlanta Journal'', the hostages were released unharmed. Three hours after the inmates surrendered, the FBI announced the arrest of a girlfriend of one of the prisoners and charged her with having smuggled in "two pistols, 50 rounds of ammunition for each gun and four hacksaw blades". *The
1968 Giro d'Italia The 1968 Giro d'Italia was the 51st running of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tour races. The Giro started in Campione d'Italia, on 20 May, with a stage and concluded in Naples, on 11 June, with a mass-start stage. A total of 13 ...
cycle race concluded in Naples, with Belgian Eddy Merckx the overall winner. *The progress of the
Gun Control Act of 1968 The Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA or GCA68) is a U.S. federal law that regulates the firearms industry and firearms ownership. Due to constitutional limitations, the Act is primarily based on regulating interstate commerce in firearms by generally ...
was delayed by a tied vote in the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.


June 12 Events Pre-1600 * 910 – Battle of Augsburg: The Hungarians defeat the East Frankish army under King Louis the Child, using the famous feigned retreat tactic of the nomadic warriors. * 1240 – At the instigation of Louis IX of Fr ...
, 1968 (Wednesday)

*The United Nations General Assembly voted to approve the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons by a margin of 95 to 4, with 21 members nations abstaining. *The General Assembly also approved UNGA Resolution 2372, changing the name of the UN Territory of
South-West Africa South West Africa ( af, Suidwes-Afrika; german: Südwestafrika; nl, Zuidwest-Afrika) was a territory under South African administration from 1915 to 1990, after which it became modern-day Namibia. It bordered Angola (Portuguese colony before 1 ...
which was administered by the white minority government of South Africa over the UN's continued protest. Though not recognized by South Africa, the new name for South-West Africa was drawn from the Namib Desert that runs across the area's coast; Namibia would become independent in 1990. * Paul Vanden Boeynants resigned as
Prime Minister of Belgium german: Premierminister von Belgien , insignia = State Coat of Arms of Belgium.svg , insigniasize = 100px , insigniacaption = Coat of arms , insigniaalt = , flag = Government ...
. Gaston Eyskens formed a new coalition of ministers. *The French government banned all street demonstrations and ordered the dissolution of seven "extremist student groups" (including the "March 22 Movement" founded by Daniel Cohn-Bendit and the "Revolutionary Communist Youth Organization". The restrictions were to remain in place until the end of the June 30 elections for the French National Assembly, and campaign rallies were limited to indoor events. *The controversial film '' Rosemary's Baby'', directed by Roman Polanski and starring Mia Farrow, premiered in the United States. The film was an inductee of the 2014 National Film Registry list. *After the withdrawal of
Soo Line Railroad The Soo Line Railroad is the primary United States railroad subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway , one of seven U.S. Class I railroads, controlled through the Soo Line Corporation. Although it is named for the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sa ...
's objections, the
Interstate Commerce Commission The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later trucking) to ensure fair rates, to eliminat ...
approved the proposed merger of Chicago and North Western Railway with
Chicago Great Western Railroad The Chicago Great Western Railway was a Class I railroad that linked Chicago, Minneapolis, Omaha, and Kansas City. It was founded by Alpheus Beede Stickney in 1885 as a regional line between St. Paul and the Iowa state line called the Minnesota a ...
. *Six of the 63 people on board Pan American World Airways Flight 1 were killed when the Boeing 707 crashed short of the runway at the airport in Kolkata (then Calcutta) at the end of its flight from Bangkok. Most of the passengers were Americans, including four of the dead.


June 13, 1968 (Thursday)

*
Earl Warren Earl Warren (March 19, 1891 – July 9, 1974) was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served as the 14th Chief Justice of the United States from 1953 to 1969. The Warren Court presided over a major shift in American constitution ...
, the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, met with U.S. President
Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
, and announced his intention to retire so that Johnson could appoint a successor. Warren was 77 and, after the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, believed that it was likely that the Republican Party nominee would win the presidential election. Warren's strategy would fail after Johnson's nomination of Associate Justice Abe Fortas as the next Chief Justice, and Fortas would do poorly in the confirmation hearings before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. By the time of Johnson's withdrawal of the nomination, there would be only one month left until the election;
Richard M. Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was t ...
would choose Warren Burger as Earl Warren's successor. * Uruguay's President,
Jorge Pacheco Areco Jorge Pacheco Areco (April 9, 1920 – July 29, 1998) was a Uruguayan politician and member of the Colorado Party. He served as President of Uruguay from December 6, 1967 to March 1, 1972.
, declared a
state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...
in the South American nation in response to increasing unrest by opposition political parties and anti-government revolutionary groups. The emergency would briefly be lifted on March 15, 1969, but would be reinstated on June 24. * Czechoslovakia abolished the Central Publication Office that had conducted censorship of all publications since the 1948 coup that had left the nation's Communist Party in control of the government. Two weeks later, on June 26, the Party would confirm the abolition of censorship. *The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 by a 368 to 17 margin, after the U.S. Senate's earlier 72 to 4 approval, but U.S. President
Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
was dissatisfied with the compromises on gun control within the legislation and declined to sign it until June 19. House Minority Leader (and future President) Gerald R. Ford said that, rather than hesitate, the President should reject the bill "so we can re-enact it over his veto". * A tornado killed 13 people and injured 125 others in and around the small town of
Tracy, Minnesota Tracy is a city in Lyon County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 2,163 at the 2010 census. U.S. Route 14 serves as a main arterial route in the community. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a tota ...
. The town elementary school and 110 houses were destroyed when the F5 tornado, with speed of up to hit the town of about 2,800 people at about 7:00 in the evening. *The first attempt to transplant the heart of a sheep into a human being failed, as Dr.
Denton A. Cooley Denton Arthur Cooley (August 22, 1920 – November 18, 2016) was an American heart and cardiothoracic surgeon famous for performing the first implantation of a total artificial heart. Cooley was also the founder and surgeon in-chief of The T ...
and a team of surgeons at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston worked unsuccessfully to keep a patient alive until a human donor could be found. Sam Willoughby, a life insurance agency manager from Waterloo, Iowa, agreed for the implantation of the heart of a 125-pound ram as "a last resort" after being resuscitated from cardiac arrest in the hospital, but died before the operation could be completed. On January 24, 1964, Dr. James Hardy had implanted the heart of a chimpanzee into a patient who had survived for one hour after the operation. *Died: U.S. Army Lt. Col.
Frank A. Barker Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Curre ...
, 40, was killed in a helicopter crash in
South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
. Three months earlier, Barker had ordered a U.S. Army task force to clear the area around My Lai, where the My Lai Massacre of 347 civilians at Song My village had taken place on March 16. "Whether or not Barker directly ordered the deliberate killing of noncombatants," a historian would write later, a U.S. Army Captain under his command would testify before a board of inquiry "that Barker had instructed him to destroy the hamlet known as My Lai". The board would conclude that Barker "was culpable of at least 11 violations of army regulations, some of which were considered war crimes".


June 14, 1968 (Friday)

*At 2148 UTC, the asteroid
Icarus In Greek mythology, Icarus (; grc, Ἴκαρος, Íkaros, ) was the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the architect of the labyrinth of Crete. After Theseus, king of Athens and enemy of Minos, escaped from the labyrinth, King Minos suspe ...
made its closest approach to Earth since 1949, but astronomers had already debunked rumors (that had abounded for the past three years) that the half-mile wide object would collide with the planet. Earlier, Dr.
Brian G. Marsden Brian Geoffrey Marsden (5 August 1937 – 18 November 2010) was a British astronomer and the longtime director of the Minor Planet Center (MPC) at the Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian (director emeritus from 2006 to 2010). ...
of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory told reporters that the "miss distance" was estimated to be roughly 3,951,000 miles (6,359,000 km), give or take "a few hundred miles", a distance that made Icarus 16 times further away than the Moon, and that Icarus would still be "600 times fainter than the naked eye can see". The approach of Icarus had inspired the first group study of what is now called " asteroid impact avoidance", in an undergraduate class at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, "Advanced Space Systems Engineering", in the spring 1967 semester. Students were asked to assume that Icarus would actually strike the Earth within 70 weeks and assigned to study whether it could be deflected. Their conclusion was that the only solution was for 100-megaton thermonuclear weapons to be detonated on the surface at various times, with the first 73 days before impact (April 16, 1968) and the last chance only five days before impact, with the goal of either fragmenting or deflecting Icarus. An author would write in 2016, "most of what they concluded would still be valid today". *Dr. Benjamin Spock, a pediatrician famous to two generations for the child-raising guide ''
The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care ''The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care'' is a book by American pediatrician Benjamin Spock and one of the best-selling books of the twentieth century, selling 500,000 copies in the six months after its initial publication in 1946 and 50&n ...
'', was convicted by a 12-man federal jury in Boston for conspiracy to disrupt the selective service process, along with three of his four co-defendants. Dr. Spock, Yale chaplain William Sloane Coffin, Jr., teacher
Mitchell Goodman Mitchell Goodman (December 23, 1923 – February 1, 1997) was an American writer, teacher, and activist. He is best known for his role in the Vietnam draft resistance movement, which drew the high-profile 1968 federal prosecution of the "Boston ...
and graduate student Michael Ferber were sentenced to two years in prison for aiding young American men in avoiding being drafted into military service during the Vietnam War, but the sentences were suspended pending an appeal. The convictions would later be set aside on appeal. The other member of the "Boston Five", Marcus Raskin, was acquitted. *Josef Windeck and Bernard Bonitz, both former prisoners of the
Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
, were sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in Frankfurt, West Germany, after being convicted of murdering their fellow inmates. Neither was Jewish, but both had been professional criminals who had been deported as "undesirables" to Auschwitz from prison and then given free rein to terrorize the camp population in the capacity of a "Kapo", a "Kameradschaftpolizei" ("comrade policeman") accorded special treatment in return for assisting the guards. Windeck had been charged with 117 murders and convicted of five. Boenitz had been charged with 72 and convicted of one. Windeck would be released after a year for health reasons and survive until 1977. *The student occupation of the Odeon Theatre in Paris ended after a month, as police expelled 208 young men and women who had taken over the national theater on May 14. The expulsion came peaceably as 132 people voluntarily left on the promise that they would not be arrested. The other 76 were brought out forcibly but then released as soon as they got outside. *Died: Salvatore Quasimodo, 66, Italian poet and 1964
Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...
laureate, of a cerebral hemorrhage


June 15, 1968 (Saturday)

*Former French Army General Raoul Salan and 10 other officers of the Organisation armée secrète (OAS) were released from prison after being pardoned by the man whose overthrow and assassination they had plotted, President
Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...
. Formerly a national hero and France's most-decorated military officer, Salan had led a revolt against his government in 1961 in an attempt to keep
French Algeria French Algeria (french: Alger to 1839, then afterwards; unofficially , ar, الجزائر المستعمرة), also known as Colonial Algeria, was the period of French colonisation of Algeria. French rule in the region began in 1830 with the ...
from being granted independence. He had been convicted of treason and sentenced to life imprisonment at Tulle Prison. The surprise forgiveness was viewed as an attempt by DeGaulle to win the support in the upcoming national elections from right-wing voters and the 750,000 "''
Pieds-Noirs The ''Pieds-Noirs'' (; ; ''Pied-Noir''), are the people of French and other European descent who were born in Algeria during the period of French rule from 1830 to 1962; the vast majority of whom departed for mainland France as soon as Alger ...
''", Europeans who had fled from Algeria after the Arab Algerian majority government had been elected. *The defending women's downhill skiing champion, who had won in 1966 as Erika Schinegger, appeared at a press conference in Vienna to announce that he had completed the last of four
gender reassignment surgeries Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a transgender or transsexual person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their identified gender, and alle ...
and would resume his skiing and racing career as a man under his new name, Erik Schinegger. *Died:
Kim Soo-young Kim Suyeong was a Korean poet. Life Kim Soo-young (1921–1968) was a Korean poet and translator whose poetry explored love and freedom as poetic and political ideals. Kim was born in Gwancheol-dong, Seoul on November 27, 1921. After gradua ...
, 46, South Korean poet and translator, after being struck by bus while walking in Seoul


June 16, 1968 (Sunday)

*Following up on the retaking of the Odeon Theatre, French police evicted student rebels who had occupied the Sorbonne at the University of Paris. Hundreds of students in the '' Quarterier Latin'' assembled outside the historic Sorbonne building, and were driven away by riot police with tear gas and concussion grenades. Although "student leaders had claimed there were 500 occupiers inside" the building, the police reported that only 136 remained to be evacuated. The rebels peaceably filed out after Interior Ministry officials "told them they would be searched for arms but not arrested". No firearms were discovered in the search, but the police collected "several hundred clubs, pick handles and iron bars with chains, gas masks, helmets, gasoline for Molotov cocktails, garbage-can-cover shields and hundreds of leftist pamphlets and posters". Once the building was retaken, police hauled down the rebel banner and raised the
French Tricolor The national flag of France (french: link=no, drapeau français) is a tricolour featuring three vertical bands coloured blue ( hoist side), white, and red. It is known to English speakers as the ''Tricolour'' (), although the flag of Ireland ...
on the flagpole. *Five crewmembers of the U.S. Navy Swift boat ''PCF19'' were killed by friendly fire when an American F-4 Phantom fired on the boat and sank it. Two other crewmembers were able to escape from the boat, which had been near the mouth of the Cua Viet River in South Vietnam. *The U.S. Open golf tournament was won by
Lee Trevino Lee Buck Trevino (born December 1, 1939) is an American retired professional golfer who is regarded as one of the greatest players in golf history. He was inducted to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1981. Trevino won six major championships and ...
after he became the first golfer to shoot under par in all four of the 18-hole rounds of the event (69-68-68-69). He also tied the Open under par and tied the Open's record of 275 strokes on 72 holes. Going into the final round,
Bert Yancey Albert Winsborough Yancey (August 6, 1938 – August 26, 1994) was an American professional golfer who won seven times on the PGA Tour and later played on the Senior PGA Tour. Biography Born in Chipley, Florida, Yancey lived much of his adult ...
appeared on the verge of winning his first major championship, leading Trevino 205 to 206 after 54 holes, and the two were even during the first 8 holes, but Yancey did poorly on the 9th and 10th hole and finished with 76 strokes and third place. After the win, Trevino (who was born in Dallas) told reporters, "I'm about the happiest Mexican in the world right now." *After the end of the Giro d’Italia, won by Eddy Merckx, 10 cyclists, including Italian champion
Felice Gimondi Felice Gimondi (; 29 September 1942 – 16 August 2019) was an Italian professional racing cyclist. With his 1968 victory at the Vuelta a España, only three years after becoming a professional cyclist, Gimondi, nicknamed "The Phoenix", was the ...
, were disqualified for use of doping to enhance performance. It was the first major scandal in professional cycling. Giro d'Italia officials struck the records of all 10 finishers, which also changed the order of finish for 10 other cyclists. Later, the decision in Gimondi's would be reversed. *Born: James Patrick Stuart, American television actor known for ''Galactica 1980'' and ''General Hospital''


June 17 Events Pre-1600 * 653 – Pope Martin I is arrested and taken to Constantinople, due to his opposition to monothelitism. * 1242 – Following the Disputation of Paris, twenty-four carriage loads of Jewish religious manuscripts were bur ...
, 1968 (Monday)

*Two Royal Australian Navy sailors on the guided-missile destroyer HMS ''Hobart'' were killed, and 7 others wounded, when the ship was struck by a trio of American
AIM-7 Sparrow The AIM-7 Sparrow (Air Intercept Missile) is an American, medium-range semi-active radar homing air-to-air missile operated by the United States Air Force, United States Navy, and United States Marine Corps, as well as other various air forces ...
air-to-air missiles that had been fired by two American planes. The ''Hobart'' had been off the coast of North Vietnam when it was hit. Chief Electrician Henry Hunt and Quartermaster Raymond Butterworth became the first RAN members to die at sea in the Vietnam War. *The Actors' Equity Association, the labor union for stage actors, went on strike, canceling 19 of the 21 Broadway productions in New York City and road shows in other American cities. The strike was settled two days later. *The Malayan Communist Party launched a second insurgency on the 20th anniversary of the June 17, 1948
Malayan Emergency The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War was a guerrilla war fought in British Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) and the military forces o ...
. MCP guerrillas ambushed and killed 17 Malaysian soldiers in the northern state of
Perak Perak () is a state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kelantan and Pahang to the east, and Selangor to the south. Thailand's ...
. The
Second Malayan Emergency The second (symbol: s) is the unit of Time in physics, time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally t ...
, which would last for 21 years, was imposed. *In a provocative poem, called ''The
PCI PCI may refer to: Business and economics * Payment card industry, businesses associated with debit, credit, and other payment cards ** Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, a set of security requirements for credit card processors * Pro ...
and the young ones'' and published on the Italian magazine ''
L’espresso ''L'Espresso'' () is an Italian weekly news magazine. It is one of the two most prominent Italian weeklies; the other is ''Panorama''. Since 2022 it has been published by BFC Media. History and profile One of Italy's foremost newsmagazines, ''l ...
'', Pier Paolo Pasolini condemned the students’ movement. The writer called the young protesters “petty bourgeois” and “dad's sons” and declared, “When yesterday you came to blows with the policemen, I sympathized with the policemen, because the policemen are the sons of the poor people.” Pasolini's stance alluded to the fierce controversy, within the Communist PCI, between the secretary Luigi Longo and Giorgio Amendola, the supporter and the opponent, respectively, of the protest movements. *
Tom Stoppard Sir Tom Stoppard (born , 3 July 1937) is a Czech born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and politi ...
's play, '' The Real Inspector Hound'', starring Richard Briers and Ronnie Barker, opened at the Criterion Theatre in London's West End. *Died: Cassandre (Adolphe Jean-Marie Mouron), 67, French commercial artist, committed suicide


June 18, 1968 (Tuesday)

*Operation Šumava, a series of military exercises by the Joint Armed Forces of the member nations of the Warsaw Pact, began as scheduled, with most of the exercises taking place in Czechoslovakia, where the events of the
Prague Spring The Prague Spring ( cs, Pražské jaro, sk, Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Sec ...
were taking place. Several divisions of the Army of the Soviet Union remained behind after what proved to be part of a rehearsal for the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in August.Jaromír Navrátil, ''The Prague Spring 1968: A National Security Archive Documents Reader'' (Central European University Press, 1998) pp192-199 *The Foreign Ministers of Argentina and Uruguay met at the Uruguayan capital,
Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...
, to begin the first discussions to end the boundary dispute between their nations. *The
37th Air Division The 37th Air Division (37th AD) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command at Goose Air Force Base, Labrador, Canada It was inactivated on 30 June 1970. History Strategic Air Command Es ...
(37th AD) of the United States Air Force was inactivated, and
Hopedale Air Station Hopedale Air Station (ADC ID: N-28) is a General Surveillance Radar station that the USAF closed in 1968. It is located north of the community of Hopedale, Newfoundland and Labrador west-northwest of CFB Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labra ...
in Canada. was abandoned. *Died: ** Nikolaus von Falkenhorst, 83, former German Wehrmacht General during World War II and convicted Nazi war criminal. Originally sentenced to death, von Falkenhorst had his punishment commuted to 20 years imprisonment and was released seven years after his conviction. **
Sally O'Neil Sally O'Neil (born Virginia Louise Concepta Noonan; October 23, 1908 – June 18, 1968) was an American film actress of the 1920s. She appeared in more than 40 films, often with her name above the title. Early years O'Neil was one of eleven child ...
, 59, silent film leading lady of the 1920s


June 19, 1968 (Wednesday)

*After two postponements, the
Poor People's March on Washington The Poor People's Campaign, or Poor People's March on Washington, was a 1968 effort to gain economic justice for poor people in the United States. It was organized by Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCL ...
took place in the nation's capital as a multiracial crowd of impoverished Americans gathered in front of the
Lincoln Memorial The Lincoln Memorial is a U.S. national memorial built to honor the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is on the western end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., across from the Washington Monument, and is in the ...
. Coretta Scott King, the widow of Martin Luther King Jr., was the keynote speaker at the rally. The National Park Service had granted a seven-day extension of the original permit because of the postponements of the event, but the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was advised that it would have until 8:00 of the evening of June 23 to tear down the temporary housing called "
Resurrection City The Poor People's Campaign, or Poor People's March on Washington, was a 1968 effort to gain economic justice for poor people in the United States. It was organized by Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SC ...
" and to vacate the 15-acre area in West Potomac Park. *President Johnson signed the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 into law.


June 20 Events Pre-1600 * 451 – Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius' battles Attila the Hun. After the battle, which was inconclusive, Attila retreats, causing the Romans to interpret it as a victory. * 1180 – First Battle of Uji, starting ...
, 1968 (Thursday)

*In the United Kingdom, Austin Currie, an elected member of Northern Ireland's parliament, the Stormont, called national attention to discrimination against the Roman Catholic minority in predominantly Protestant Northern Ireland by becoming a
squatter Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...
. Currie and two other people learned of a house in
Caledon, County Tyrone Caledon () is a small village and townland (of 232 acres) in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is in the Clogher Valley on the banks of the River Blackwater, 10 km from Armagh. It lies in the southeast of Tyrone and near the borders of C ...
, that had been allocated to a single, 19-year old Protestant woman even though there were 269 families ahead of her on a waiting list for housing. When police from the Royal Ulster Constabulary moved in to remove Currie and his group, he had a television crew present to film the action. The BBC Evening News telecast the incident and "for many people in Britain, it was the first they heard of religious discrimination in Northern Ireland", an author would later note. *The Air Defense Artillery Branch was created as a separate combat branch of the United States Army to specialize in anti-aircraft weapons. *A federal law, that had prohibited the printing of color images of United States postage stamps, was repealed as President Johnson signed legislation. "Since stamp counterfeiting is today virtually nonexistent," a White House statement said, "this restriction is no longer necessary. There is no reason now why the full meaning and beauty of our postage stamps cannot be communicated to all the world in color reproduction." Previously, stamp catalogs and encyclopedias could only display black-and-white images. The law had become obsolete after U.S. stamps were "impregnated with an invisible phosphor which causes canceling machines to reject counterfeits". * David Ruffin was fired from The Temptations for missing a performance, after he developed a cocaine addition and began questioning Berry Gordy's handling of the group's financial affairs. *Born: ** Mateusz Morawiecki, Prime Minister of Poland since 2017 ** Robert Rodriguez, American filmmaker, screenwriter, and musician, in San Antonio, Texas *Died:
Rong Guotuan Rong Guotuan (; August 10, 1937 – June 20, 1968) was a Chinese table tennis player. He won the men's singles title at the 1959 World Table Tennis Championships in Dortmund, the first world championship winner representing the People's Republic ...
, 30, Chinese table tennis player who won the 1959 world championship while representing the People's Republic of China, hanged himself after being accused of spying during China's Cultural Revolution.


June 21 Events Pre-1600 * 533 – A Byzantine expeditionary fleet under Belisarius sails from Constantinople to attack the Vandals in Africa, via Greece and Sicily (approximate date). * 1307 – Külüg Khan is enthroned as Khagan of the Mo ...
, 1968 (Friday)

*Five months after U.S. President Johnson had sent him a letter proposing a start on negotiations over limiting strategic missiles, Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin sent an official response that did not commit to anything. Kosygin wrote in his letter to Johnson that the Soviet Union leaders "attach great importance to these questions, having in mind that they should be considered together... All aspects of this complex problem are now being carefully examined by us, and we hope that before long it will be possible more concretely to exchange views with regard to further ways of discussing this problem, if, of course, the general world situation does not hinder this." The first agreement, the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty would not be signed until 1972. *
Earl Warren Earl Warren (March 19, 1891 – July 9, 1974) was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served as the 14th Chief Justice of the United States from 1953 to 1969. The Warren Court presided over a major shift in American constitution ...
formally announced his resignation as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. *The last flight of the CIA's supersonic reconnaissance aircraft, the Lockheed A-12 Cygnus, was made by pilot Frank Murray. He flew the jet, designated "Article 131", from the runway at the Nevada Test and Training Range near the Groom dry lake, to the Lockheed airfield at
Palmdale, California Palmdale is a city in northern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. The city lies in the Antelope Valley region of Southern California. The San Gabriel Mountains separate Palmdale from the Los Angeles Basin to the south. On Aug ...
. *The
18th Berlin International Film Festival The 18th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 21 June to 2 July 1968. The Golden Bear was awarded to the Swedish film ''Ole dole doff'' directed by Jan Troell. Jury The following people were announced as being on the jury for ...
opened in West Berlin. *In a press conference, U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk stated that nearly three months after the U.S. had limited its bombing to below the 17th parallel north in North Vietnam, infiltration by NVA combat troops into South Vietnam had increased to record levels, and North Vietnam had started a campaign of indiscrimate rocket attacks into residential areas of
Saigon , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...
, the South Vietnamese capital. *Born: **
Chris Gueffroy Chris Gueffroy (21 June 1968 – 6 February 1989) was the last person to be shot and the second-last to die in an escape attempt while trying to escape from East Berlin to West Berlin across the Berlin Wall. Biography Chris Gueffroy was bo ...
, East German restaurant waiter and the last person to be killed by border guards while trying to flee over the
Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...
; in
Pasewalk Pasewalk () is a town in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district, in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Germany. Located on the Uecker river, it is the capital of the former Uecker-Randow district, and the seat of the Uecker-Randow-Tal ''Amt'', of ...
(killed February 5, 1989) ** Sonique (Sonia Marina Clarke), British singer and musician; in Crouch End, London


June 22, 1968 (Saturday)

* Pope Paul VI, the Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, hosted Six metropolitans of Egypt's
Coptic Christian Church The Coptic Orthodox Church ( cop, Ϯⲉⲕ̀ⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲛ̀ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ⲛ̀ⲟⲣⲑⲟⲇⲟⲝⲟⲥ, translit=Ti.eklyseya en.remenkimi en.orthodoxos, lit=the Egyptian Orthodox Church; ar, الكنيسة القبطي ...
and three archbishops of Ethiopia's Orthodox Tewahedo Church, along with 10 priests and 70 other adherents of Coptic Christianity, in a meeting of the churches that traced their founding to Saint Peter and Saint Mark, respectively. The Pope presented the delegation one of the
relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...
s of
Saint Mark's Basilica The Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark ( it, Basilica Cattedrale Patriarcale di San Marco), commonly known as St Mark's Basilica ( it, Basilica di San Marco; vec, Baxéłega de San Marco), is the cathedral church of the Catholic Pat ...
, located in
Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400  ...
, described as a small particle of bone from Saint Mark's body. *The ARA ''Santa Cruz'', an
Argentine Navy The Argentine Navy (ARA; es, Armada de la República Argentina). This forms the basis for the navy's ship prefix "ARA". is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the ...
destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...
, fired five rounds of artillery at two fishing vessels from the Soviet Union, after the Soviet crews ignored warnings to leave what Argentina had designated as its territorial waters. The fishing ships were then escorted to the harbor of
Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" is a s ...
and detained for 20 days until the Soviet Ministry of Fish Industry paid fines for fishing without a license. *An infantry battalion of
Army of the Republic of Vietnam The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN; ; french: Armée de la république du Viêt Nam) composed the ground forces of the Republic of Vietnam Military Forces, South Vietnamese military from its inception in 1955 to the Fall of Saigon in April ...
(ARVN) troops was ambushed by Viet Cong guerrillas in "one of the worst setbacks in months for the South Vietnamese army"; 44 men were killed and 71 wounded during the day. *Seven North Korean infiltrators were killed in a series of clashes along the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas. South Korea had been tightening security suspecting the North Koreans had been planning an incident to coincide with the 28th anniversary of the start of the Korean war.The President's Daily Brief
22 June 1968. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
*The CIA reported that the Soviet Union had spent two billion dollars (USD) in the previous 12 months for foreign aid, with a majority of the expenditures going in military aid to North Vietnam and to Arab nations to replace their losses during the Six Day War. *In a complete reversal from previous statements, North Vietnam (through their representative in Budapest) admitted that it had troops stationed and fighting in South Vietnam. *At the White House, President Johnson met with his main foreign policy advisers to discuss the U.S.-initiated Vietnam peace talks then underway in Paris. The talks were further discussed in a private meeting later that evening between Averell Harriman (the chief U.S. negotiator in Paris) and Soviet Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Dobrynin. * Presidential hopefuls Hubert Humphrey and Richard Nixon won significant delegate victories in eight different states at the expense of rivals
Eugene McCarthy Eugene Joseph McCarthy (March 29, 1916December 10, 2005) was an American politician, writer, and academic from Minnesota. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the United States Senate from 1959 to 1971. ...
and
Nelson Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. A member of t ...
. Nixon notched nearly 75 more delegates spanning five states while Humphrey comprehensively won the home-state showdown with McCarthy in Minnesota.


June 23 Events Pre-1600 * 229 – Sun Quan proclaims himself emperor of Eastern Wu. * 1266 – War of Saint Sabas: In the Battle of Trapani, the Venetians defeat a larger Genoese fleet, capturing all its ships. * 1280 – The Spanish Re ...
, 1968 (Sunday)

* Seventy-four people were killed and 150 other injured in a stampede at a football match between
Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in the A ...
and Club Atlético River Plate in Buenos Aires, Argentina. River Plate was hosting the Boca Juniors and 90,000 spectators at its stadium,
El Monumental Estadio Monumental (), officially Estadio Mâs Monumental for sponsorship reasons,French National Assembly elections that had been scheduled following the public unrest of
May May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the third of seven months to have a length of 31 days. May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, May ...
. With a larger turnout than usual, President de Gaulle's party won 142 seats in the French National Assembly, a record number for the first round when most candidates don't receive a majority. *Newspaper columnist
Joseph Kraft Joseph Kraft (September 4, 1924 – January 10, 1986) was an American journalist. Career Kraft began his career in journalism at the age of 14 where he worked as a stringer covering high school sports for the New York World-Telegram. Kraft wo ...
coined the term " Middle America" to describe American voters who are economically " middle class" rather than " working class" or " upper class". Kraft would say later that his focus was on "Americans who were not young or poor or black" and the largest group of voters. The context was Kraft's column about the Democratic Party primary election in the state of New York, noting that the great majority of middle class voters didn't vote in the primary and that Democratic leaders could not ignore them in the general election. Previously the phrase was used as a geographic term, usually as a synonym for the Spanish-speaking nations in Central America.


June 24, 1968 (Monday)

*At 11:00 in the morning, Washington D.C. police enforced the U.S. Department of the Interior order to evict the 300 remaining members of the
Poor People's Campaign The Poor People's Campaign, or Poor People's March on Washington, was a 1968 effort to gain economic justice for poor people in the United States. It was organized by Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCL ...
from West Potomac Park. Despite concerns that the removal of the squatters (whose permit had expired the evening before) would become violent, the process was quietly completed in 90 minutes. A police official told campaign leader Ralph Abernathy and the demonstrators, "Those of you who desire to be arrested, we will be systematic and we hope that you will co-operate with us as ladies and gentleman." Abernathy agreed to co-operate, and he and other leaders then lined up to be taken to a patrol wagon. The buildings that constituted "
Resurrection City The Poor People's Campaign, or Poor People's March on Washington, was a 1968 effort to gain economic justice for poor people in the United States. It was organized by Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SC ...
" were torn down in the afternoon by a city work crew. A historian would note later that while the Campaign "secured a few concessions from federal agencies, it cannot be considered successful. President Johnson ignored it and Congress closed its governmental coffers to the poor people's economic demands as the Vietnam War sapped the federal tax base.". *Giorgio Rosa declared the independence of the
Republic of Rose Island The Republic of Rose Island ( eo, Respubliko de la Insulo de la Rozoj; it, Repubblica dell'Isola delle Rose) was a short-lived micronation on a man-made platform in the Adriatic Sea, off the coast of the province of Rimini, Italy. It was ...
, an artificial micronation that he had designed and constructed. Located off of the coast of Rimini, Italy, the structure consisted of a platform supported by nine pylons, and was designed to hold a restaurant, bar, nightclub, shop and post office. Italian police quickly took possession of the platform. *The St-Jean-Baptiste Day Riots, blamed on Quebecois separatists, broke out in Montreal during Prime Minister
Pierre Trudeau Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau ( , ; October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000), also referred to by his initials PET, was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada The prime mini ...
’s visit. Trudeau refused to leave despite threats to his safety. Estimates of attendance ranged as high as 400,000 (one-quarter of Montreal's population) for the evening parade. As the parade began at 8:00 p.m., 1,000 demonstrators led by Pierre Bourgault approached the reviewing stand, Montreal police charged the crowd, and the demonstrators began throwing glass bottles (including Molotov cocktails) and overturned cars before the riot was suppressed. * In a ceremony at the White House George Ball was sworn in as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. * In the wake of the recent assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Robert Kennedy, U.S. President
Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
asked Congress for a bill requiring the registration of every gun in the United States and the licensing of every individual entrusted to use one. Johnson's request was backed up by Atty General Ramsey Clark and Senator Edward Kennedy who testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee of the need for the bill a few days later.


June 25, 1968 (Tuesday)

* Canada's Liberal Party, led by Prime Minister
Pierre Trudeau Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau ( , ; October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000), also referred to by his initials PET, was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada The prime mini ...
, won 58% control of the House of Commons, getting 154 of the 264 available seats. Prior to the vote, the Liberals had 128, five short of a majority. The 102-member
Senate of Canada The Senate of Canada (french: region=CA, Sénat du Canada) is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the House of Commons, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The Senate is modelled after the B ...
, whose members are appointed by the Governor-General, was split among 62 Liberals, 28 Conservatives and 3 independents, with 9 vacancies. *As the
Prague Spring The Prague Spring ( cs, Pražské jaro, sk, Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Sec ...
continued, Czechoslovakia's National Assembly passed the Law on Judicial Rehabilitation, called "a humane step, rare in history, and unique in the communist world, to restore justice to the victims of illegalities of an entire historical period" "to re-examine the cases of up to 100,000 individuals unjustly sentenced" under the Communist government, to compensate victims and to punish unjust prosecution. The CIA noted that additional Soviet troops had entered Czechoslovakian territory to join the Warsaw Pact military exercises that were underway at that time.The President's Daily Brief
25 June 1968. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
*
Giovanni Leone Giovanni Leone (; 3 November 1908 – 9 November 2001) was an Italian politician, jurist, and university professor. A founding member of the Christian Democracy (DC), Leone served as the President of Italy from December 1971 until June 1978. H ...
was sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Italy after he and 22 other members of the Christian Democrats party formed Italy's 28th government since the end of World War II; it's a so-called “bathing cabinet”, aimed to manage the current affair in the summer, waiting for a clarification of the confused situation got out of the May election. AS President
Giuseppe Saragat Giuseppe Saragat (; 19 September 1898 – 11 June 1988) was an Italian politician who served as the president of Italy from 1964 to 1971. Early life Born to Sardinian parents, he was a member of the Unitary Socialist Party (Italy, 1922), Unita ...
administered the oath as the Christian Democrats, who had a plurality of seats in Parliament, sought to form a coalition government with the Socialist Party. *
Bobby Bonds Bobby Lee Bonds (March 15, 1946 – August 23, 2003) was an American right fielder in Major League Baseball from to , primarily with the San Francisco Giants. Noted for his outstanding combination of power hitting and speed, he was the first pl ...
made his Major League Baseball debut and hit a grand slam in his first game, becoming only the second major league player (after
Bill Duggleby William James Duggleby (March 16, 1874 – August 30, 1944), nicknamed "Frosty Bill", was a pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies. He played from 1898 to 1907. He also played two games for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1902 and nine games for th ...
in 1898) to do so. In the 21st century, five other players would hit a grand slam in their first game. Bonds's hit came in a 9–0 win for the San Francisco Giants over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Coincidentally, Duggleby's grand slam on April 21, 1898, had been against the Giants as well (in a 13–4 win). *U.S. negotiator
Cyrus Vance Cyrus Roberts Vance Sr. (March 27, 1917January 12, 2002) was an American lawyer and United States Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1980. Prior to serving in that position, he was the United States Deputy Secretary of ...
spoke privately with the North Vietnamese delegation in Paris to discuss the possibility of a two phased approach to de-escalation by both sides in the Vietnam War. The formulation of the proposal had been discussed previously by U.S. Ambassador to France Sargent Shriver and his Soviet counterpart Valerian Zorin, and at a White House lunch meeting between President
Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
. After two days, however, Vance reported that he was met by "more of the standard party line" from the North Vietnamese, but that the two sides agreed to meet again. *Died: Tony Hancock, 44, English comedian, died in his flat at Bellevue Hill, New South Wales of an overdose of amylobarbitone tablets washed down with vodka.''Hancock'' by Freddie Hancock and David Nathan (William Kimber & Co., 1969)


June 26, 1968 (Wednesday)

*Confirmation of the discovery of the remains of Saint Peter was announced by Pope Paul VI, who reported the authenticity of bones found in a tomb discovered in December 1950 beneath St. Peter's Basilica. "We are right in believing that the few but sacred mortal remains of the Prince of Apostles have been traced," the Pope told an audience, based on unspecified evidence from expert studies that he described as "convincing". The announcement made three days before the official observance of the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul during the 1900th anniversary of their martyrdom in 68 AD. *The “
March of the One Hundred Thousand The March of the One Hundred Thousand ( pt, Passeata dos Cem Mil) was a manifestation of popular protest against the Military dictatorship in Brazil, which occurred on June 26, 1968 in Rio de Janeiro, organized by the student movement and with the p ...
” took place in Rio de Janeiro as crowds demonstrated against the
Brazilian military government The military dictatorship in Brazil ( pt, ditadura militar) was established on 1 April 1964, after a coup d'état by the Brazilian Armed Forces, with support from the United States government, against President João Goulart. The Brazilian dicta ...
. Contemporary reports estimated the crowd to have been 15,000 marchers at its highest. Despite tying up downtown traffic, the march remained peaceful, however, and ended when student leader Valdimir Palmeira announced that "a commission of students, teachers and priests" would negotiate with the military government about student demands. *U.S. President
Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
nominated Associate Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas to become the next Chief Justice of the United States, to replace the retiring Earl Warren, and federal appellate judge Homer Thornberry to fill Fortas's associate justice seat. Opposition to Fortas began immediately and his name would be withdrawn on October 3; President Johnson would not make another nomination, and Warren Burger would become the new Chief Justice on June 9, 1969, after being nominated by Johnson's successor,
Richard M. Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was t ...
. Johnson's nomination of Fortas was not universally unpopular and was supported by influential senators Everett Dirksen (Republican), Richard Russell Jr (Democrat), Mike Mansfield (Democrat) and Ralph Yarborough (Democrat) as well as Attorney General Ramsey Clark. *The island of
Iwo Jima Iwo Jima (, also ), known in Japan as , is one of the Japanese Volcano Islands and lies south of the Bonin Islands. Together with other islands, they form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The highest point of Iwo Jima is Mount Suribachi at high. ...
and the Bonin Islands, also known as the Ogasawara Islands, were returned to
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
after 23 years of occupation by the United States Navy, and Japanese citizens were allowed to return. At 12:15 p.m. local time, the American flag was lowered on Iwo Jima, where one of the bloodiest campaigns in World War II had been fought by the U.S. Marines against the Japanese Imperial Army, and the flag of Japan was raised in its place. By agreement, however, the American flag remained at
Mount Suribachi is a -high mountain on the southwest end of Iwo Jima in the northwest Pacific Ocean under the administration of Ogasawara Subprefecture, Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. The mountain's name derives from its shape, resembling a ''suribachi'' or grindin ...
, where the first U.S. flag had been raised during the island's capture on February 23, 1945. *The U.S. Federal Communications Commission issued the landmark " Carterfone decision", allowing devices manufactured by companies other than the AT&T Corporation to connect directly to the AT&T telephone network without charge, as long as the devices did not cause harm to the network. The Carterfone itself was a device that allowed users of a two-way radio system to talk directly to telephone users. AT&T would respond in September by changing its network programming to allow connections only with recognized electronic signals that could only be produced by a "protective coupling arrangement" that would need to be leased from AT&T. *The Wesleyan Methodist Church and the Pilgrim Holiness Church were formally merged to create a new denomination,
The Wesleyan Church The Wesleyan Church, also known as the Wesleyan Methodist Church and Wesleyan Holiness Church depending on the region, is a Methodist Christian denomination in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Namibia, Sierra Leone, ...
. *Born: ** Shannon Sharpe, American NFL football tight end, TV personality, and inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame; in Chicago ** Paolo Maldini, Italian soccer football left-back for A.C. Milan for 25 seasons and 647 matches, and for the Italian national team for 126 matches; in Milan


June 27, 1968 (Thursday)

*U.S. and North Korean officials met at Panmunjom to discuss the terms for the release of the crew of the captured U.S. Navy vessel . *Citing "an increase in the enemy's threat due to both a greater flow of replacements and a change in tactics," the U.S. Command in
South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
announced that it would pull its troops out of that nation's northernmost province, Quang Trị, and close the Khe Sanh Combat Base. The United States Marines had sustained over 2,500 casualties during a 77-day siege of Khe Sanh by Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army attackers. The South Vietnamese Army, with the financial support of the United States, would take over the responsibility of defending Quang Tri, which would become the first province to be conquered during the invasion of 1975. North Vietnam would cite the date of the announcement as a milestone in its history, noting that "On July 15, 1968, our soldiers were in complete control of Khe Sanh." *
Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. Maccabi Tel Aviv Football Club ( he, מועדון כדורגל מכבי תל אביב; ''Moadon Kaduregel Maccabi Tel Aviv'') is an Israeli football club from Tel Aviv and part of the Maccabi Tel Aviv Sport Club. Founded in 1906 in Jaffa as ...
defeated
Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv F.C. Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv F.C. ( he, מועדון כדורגל בני יהודה תל אביב, ''Moadon Kaduregel Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv''), commonly referred to as Bnei Yehuda (), is an Israeli football club from the Hatikva Quarter of the city of Te ...
, 2–1, to win the
Israel Super Cup The Israel Super Cup, also known as the Champion of Champions ( he, אלוף האלופים, Aluf HaAlufim), is an Israeli association football club competition played as a single match between the winner of the latest Israeli top league champion ...
and the unofficial championship of Israeli soccer football. Maccabi had finished first place in the Liga Leumit season, and Bnei Yehuda had won the Israel State Cup playoffs on June 12. *An essay that one historian would describe later as "the last straw for Prague's neighbors", "The Two Thousand Words Manifesto", was published in the new Czechoslovakian literary journal '' Literární listy'', 54 days before the invasion by the other nations of the Warsaw Pact.
Ludvík Vaculík Ludvík Vaculík (23 July 1926 – 6 June 2015) was a Czech writer and journalist. He was born in Brumov, Moravian Wallachia. A prominent samizdat writer, he was best known as the author of the " Two Thousand Words" manifesto of June 1968. Pre- ...
had written "Two Thousand Words that Belong to Workers, Farmer, Officials, Scientists, Artists and Everybody", and more than 60 other Czechoslovakian authors had signed the declaration. The Politburo of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia would decide against arresting Vaculik or the other signatories for their defiance, and the Soviet Union and the other Communist nations of Eastern Europe would conclude that "The Two Thousand Words" was the sign that the reforms of the "
Prague Spring The Prague Spring ( cs, Pražské jaro, sk, Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Sec ...
" had gotten out of control. *In London, American murder suspect James Earl Ray appeared for an extradition hearing at the Bow Street Magistrates' Court before Magistrate Frank Milton. British barrister
David Calcutt Sir David Charles Calcutt, QC (2 November 1930 – 11 August 2004) was an eminent barrister and public servant, knighted in 1991. He was the Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge from 1985 to 1994. He was also responsible for the creation ...
appeared upon behalf of the United States to request extradition so that Ray could be put on trial for the
assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr., an African-American clergyman and civil rights leader, was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, at 6:01 p.m. CST. He was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he died at 7 ...
Roger Frisby, appointed to appear on Ray's behalf, argued that Dr. King had been "a political figure" and that the extradition agreement between the UK and the U.S. did not apply to political crimes. On questioning by Frisby, Ray said that he did not kill Dr. King. *In
January January is the first month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is also the first of seven months to have a length of 31 days. The first day of the month is known as New Year's Day. It is, on average, the coldest month of the ...
, an experiment review had been held at Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) to determine what progress had been made in the development of experiment hardware for the AAP. Some key problems identified at the review were the following: There was no organized development on AAP medical and habitability experiments. There was no existing program authority at MSC to initiate development of medical and engineering experiments. Work statements had not been prepared for the experiment groups; many of the experiments were not yet defined. On June 27-28, another experiments review was held at MSC. Overall results of the review indicated very slow progress on all experiment activity at MSC. The status was critical from the standpoint of overall motivation. *Died: Colonel Renzo Rocca, 58, Italian official formerly with the Italian military intelligence agency SIFAR, by a gunshot wound to the head. The death was ruled a suicide, despite speculation that Rocca was murdered.


June 28 Events Pre-1600 * 1098 – Fighters of the First Crusade defeat Kerbogha of Mosul at the battle of Antioch. * 1360 – Muhammed VI becomes the tenth Nasrid king of Granada after killing his brother-in-law Ismail II. * 1461 – ...
, 1968 (Friday)

*The Uniform Monday Holiday Act was signed into the law by U.S. President Johnson, creating the pattern for most American national holidays to fall on Mondays and providing "3-day weekends" throughout the year. Washington's Birthday had always been on February 22, Memorial Day on May 30, Columbus Day on October 12 (in 34 of the 50 states) and Veterans Day on November 11. Starting in 1971, Washington's Birthday would be on the third Monday in February; Memorial Day on the last Monday in May; Columbus Day on the second Monday in October in all states; and Veterans Day on the fourth Monday in October (although it would be restored permanently to November 11 in 1978. The legislation had passed the U.S. House of Representatives on May 10 by a 218 to 83 vote, but sailed through the U.S. Senate on June 24 "by voice vote on a routine call of the calendar with only about eight senators present." *The Revenue and Expenditure Control Act of 1968 was signed into law, temporarily raising individual and corporate federal income taxes in the United States and cutting spending by $14 billion. Bill Moyers, an aide to President Johnson, would later say that the two and a half year delay in seeking a tax increase from Congress had been "the single most devastating decision in the Johnson administration" and the marking of "the beginning of the end, a time when he lost control of the administration and lost control of events.". *Johnson also sent proposed legislation for Congress to introduce a resolution that would amend the U.S. Constitution, allowing qualified U.S. citizens the right to vote at the age of 18. "Reason does not permit us to ignore any longer the reality that 18-year-old young Americans are prepared," the President wrote in a message to Congress, "by education, by experience, by exposure to public affairs of their own land and all the world — to exercise the privilege to vote." Although the bill failed, new legislation would be introduced in 1971 and the Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution would be ratified within four months. *A passenger on board a chartered
Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...
airliner fell 8,000 feet to his death when the rear door opened and he was pulled out. Jerrold Potter of Pontiac, Illinois, was one of 23 passengers who were en route to the annual Lions Clubs International convention in Dallas after boarding at
Kankakee, Illinois Kankakee is a city in and the county seat of Kankakee County, Illinois, United States. As of 2020, the city's population was 24,052. Kankakee is a principal city of the Kankakee-Bourbonnais-Bradley Metropolitan Statistical Area. It serves as an ...
on the DC-3, operated by the now defunct Purdue Airlines. Potter had told friends that he was going to the lavatory at the back of the plane. The pilot told reporters that Potter might have mistaken the airplane's rear exit for the door to the bathroom. At the time, the plane's position was over Phelps County, Missouri, about 10 miles northwest of Rolla. Potter's body, which fell somewhere in the Ozark Mountains, would still be missing 50 years later. *Born: ** Adam Woodyatt, British actor who has portrayed Ian Beale in the BBC soap opera ''
EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...
'' for more than 30 years since the program debut in 1985; in
Walthamstow Walthamstow ( or ) is a large town in East London, east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London and the Historic counties of England, ancient county of Essex. Situated northeast of Chari ...
, London ** Chayanne (Elmer Figueroa Arce), American pop music singer and composer; in
Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...


June 29, 1968 (Saturday)

*Southeast Airlines Flight 101, a
Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...
flight from
Marathon, Florida Marathon is a city spread over Knight's Key, Boot Key, Key Vaca, Fat Deer Key, Long Point Key, Crawl Key and Grassy Key islands in the middle of the Florida Keys, in Monroe County, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a to ...
to
Key West Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it cons ...
, was
hijacked Hijacking may refer to: Common usage Computing and technology * Bluejacking, the unsolicited transmission of data via Bluetooth * Brandjacking, the unauthorized use of a company's brand * Browser hijacking * Clickjacking (including ''like ...
to Cuba shortly after takeoff, by one of its 15 passengers, an individual who had bought a ticket under the name "E. H. Carter". Although there had been previous instances of airplane flights being forced to land in Havana, the Southeast hijacking would attract copycat crimes throughout the month of July and the rest of 1968 and 1969. The pilot, a stewardess and the 14 remaining passengers were returned to the United States, but co-pilot George Prellezo, who had become a naturalized American citizen after fleeing the Castro government in 1960, was arrested and charged with desertion and for stealing a Cuban cargo plane to make his escape. Prellezo would be released three weeks later. *The Indian state of Bihar was put under
President's rule In India, President's rule is the suspension of state government and imposition of direct Union government rule in a state. Under Article 356 of the Constitution of India, if a state government is unable to function according to Constitutional ...
after none of the political parties were able to form a government. *The Viet Cong carried out the massacre of 88 civilians in Son Tra, a coastal fishing village outside where the houses had been built with money from the United States because of the residents' opposition to Communism. Two months earlier, Viet Cong soldiers had come to Son Tra and made the threat that the village would be destroyed if the leaders continued to cooperate with the Americans. Another 103 people were wounded, and 50 houses were burned. Troops who were assigned to protect Son Tra would say later that they were unaware of the raid until after it had ended. *The " Midsummer High Weekend" rock concert was held in Hyde Park, London;
Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...
, T-Rex, Jethro Tull and Roy Harper were among those appearing. It was the first large free concert ever held in the UK and attracted 650,000 people. *Born: Brian d'Arcy James, American stage actor, in Saginaw, Michigan *Died: Paddy Driscoll, 73, American professional football and baseball player, and inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame


June 30, 1968 (Sunday)

*The
Lockheed C-5 Galaxy The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy is a large military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed, and now maintained and upgraded by its successor, Lockheed Martin. It provides the United States Air Force (USAF) with a heavy intercontinental-rang ...
heavy (248 tons when empty) military transport aircraft, described as "the biggest airplane in the world", made its very first flight. Lockheed test pilot Leo J. Sullivan guided the plane's liftoff from Marietta, Georgia, where the GELAC (Lockheed-Georgia) aeronautical systems factory had constructed the aircraft. *In the second round of voting in France's parliamentary elections, for those seats where neither candidate had won a majority in the first round, Charles de Gaulle's party won a majority of the 487 seats in the ''
Assemblée Nationale The National Assembly (french: link=no, italics=set, Assemblée nationale; ) is the lower house of the bicameral French Parliament under the Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known a ...
'' The UDR (led by Prime Minister Georges Pompidou) and the de Gaulle supporting ''Républicains indépendants'', which had already had 243 seats, picked up another 111 for almost 73% control. The UDR alone had 293 of the 487 seats and had run on a campaign of "law and order"; the loss of seats by leftist Socialist and Communist parties was seen as a response by the voting public to the paralyzing strikes of the previous month. *A force of 18,500 Red Army troops and 650 tanks from the Soviet Union remained in Czechoslovakia, even though the Operation Šumava military exercise had been scheduled to end on June 30. Soviet Army Marshal
Ivan Yakubovsky Ivan Ignatyevich Yakubovsky (russian: Ива́н Игна́тьевич Якубо́вский; 7 January 1912 – 30 November 1976) was a Marshal of the Soviet Union, twice made a Hero of the Soviet Union and serving as commander-in-chief o ...
declined to give an explanation to Czechoslovakian Defense Minister Martin Dzúr for prolonging the exercises, and when Prime Minister Alexander Dubček asked Marshal Yakubovsky about his intentions, the Soviet general said that he would "try" to finish the maneuvers by July 3, a deadline that would subsequently be ignored. It would not be until July 11 that Marshal Yakubovsky would pledge to withdraw the remaining forces over a three-day period to end no later than July 16. A withdrawal was finally completed by July 22, after several halts. *The
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, also known as the Hart–Celler Act and more recently as the 1965 Immigration Act, is a federal law passed by the 89th United States Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The l ...
went into effect as the quotas that had severely limited immigration to the United States from African and Asian nations were ended."Immigration and Nationality Act (1965)", in ''American Immigration: An Encyclopedia of Political, Social, and Cultural Change'', ed. by James Ciment and John Radzilowski (Routledge, 2015) p950 *Born:
Phil Anselmo Philip Hansen Anselmo (born June 30, 1968) is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal vocalist best known as the lead singer for Pantera, Down (band), Down, and Superjoint, amongst other musical projects. He is the owner of Housecore Records ...
, American heavy metal musician and lead vocalist for
Pantera Pantera () is an American heavy metal music, heavy metal band from Arlington, Texas formed in 1981, and currently comprised of vocalist Phil Anselmo, bassist Rex Brown, and touring musicians Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante. The group's best-kn ...
; in New Orleans


References

{{Events by month links
1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...
*1968-06 *1968-06