October 1968
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The following events occurred in October 1968:


October 1, 1968 (Tuesday)

*'' Night of the Living Dead'' premiered in the United States. Originally titled ''Night of the Flesh Eaters'', and filmed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the movie's first showing was in that city at the Fulton Theatre, at 8:00, with admission by invitation only. An advertisement for the first week of showings said that "If 'Night of the Living Dead' frightens you to death.... You are covered for $50,000", with the disclaimer that the guarantee was valid only for death from a "heart attack only during performances October 2 thru 8, 1968" and that the insurance company reserved the right to require a medical examination before the viewing." One author later noted that the film "was nothing short of a permanent shift in modern horror cinema. Zombies were no longer dullards wandering through mist and fog.. They were people you knew, friends and family... and they had no mercy." *An attempt failed in the U.S. Senate to end a Republican party
filibuster A filibuster is a political procedure in which one or more members of a legislative body prolong debate on proposed legislation so as to delay or entirely prevent decision. It is sometimes referred to as "talking a bill to death" or "talking out ...
that was delaying action on the nomination of Abe Fortas as Chief Justice of the United States. While the vote was 45 in favor of cloture, and 43 against, the votes of a two-thirds majority of the 88 senators present (59 out of 88) was required. Fortas, who was already on the court as an associate justice, withdrew his name from consideration the next day, providing time for U.S. President Lyndon Johnson to submit the name of another nominee before the November presidential election. Johnson, however, declined to nominate a successor to Chief Justice Earl Warren. *Dr. Arnulfo Arias was sworn in as
President of Panama This article lists the heads of state of Panama since the short-lived first independence from the Republic of New Granada in 1840 and the final separation from Colombia in 1903. Free State of the Isthmus (1840–1841) Republic of Panama (19 ...
for the third time in his career after winning the May 12 election over David Samudio, the candidate sponsored by outgoing president
Marco Aurelio Robles Marco Aurelio Robles Méndez (8 November 1905, in Aguadulce – 14 April 1990, in Miami) was President of Panama from October 1, 1964 to September 30, 1968. He studied at the University of Panama and at the Sorbonne. Before his presidency, he ...
, a victory that came only after General Bolívar Vallarino, commander of the Panamanian National Guard, had worked to guarantee a fair count of the election.Giancarlo Soler Torrijos, ''In the Shadow of the United States: Democracy and Regional Order in the Latin Caribbean'' (Universal-Publishers, 2008), p. 130. Arias, however, "chose not to respect the deals he had made with the National Guard", a historian later wrote, and was removed after just 10 days in office. *Born: Kevin Griffin, American singer and lead vocalist of the rock band Better Than Ezra; in Atlanta *Died: Romano Guardini, 83, German Roman Catholic theologian


October 2 Events Pre-1600 * 829 – Theophilos succeeds his father Michael II as Byzantine Emperor. * 939 – Battle of Andernach: Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, crushes a rebellion against his rule, by a coalition of Eberhard of Franconia and ot ...
, 1968 (Wednesday)

*The " Tlatelolco massacre" took place 10 days before the
1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...
were scheduled to begin in Mexico City, as Mexican police began firing into a crowd of thousands of protesters at the Plaza de las Tres Culturas at the Mexico City neighborhood of Tlatelolco. The Mexican government listed the death toll at only 32 and claimed that most of the victims were killed by students who were firing machine guns from surrounding buildings. Foreign journalists who were present at the scene, and survivors, estimated that between 150 and 500 protesters were killed. *The National Trails System Act was signed into law in the United States. The federal law has placed more than 50,000 of miles of scenic, historic and recreational hiking trails under the protection of the U.S. Department of the Interior, the longest of which are the historic
California Trail The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California. After it was established, the first half of the California Trail f ...
and the scenic North Country Trail. *Miguel Mujica Gallo was sworn into office at noon as the new
Prime Minister of Peru The president of the Council of Ministers of Peru ( es, link=no, presidente del Consejo de Ministros del Perú), informally called Premier (form of address) or Prime Minister, is the head of the cabinet as the most senior member of the Council ...
, replacing Oswaldo Hercelles García. Mujica served less than 24 hours; shortly after midnight, he and other Peruvian government officials were arrested during a military coup d'état. *The Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE) reactor in
Oak Ridge, Tennessee Oak Ridge is a city in Anderson and Roane counties in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Tennessee, about west of downtown Knoxville. Oak Ridge's population was 31,402 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Knoxville Metropolitan Area. Oak ...
, first achieved criticality, with a less expensive nuclear fuel, a uranium tetrafluoride (" green salt") processed with the uranium-233 isotope rather than uranium-235. *Born: ** Jana Novotná, Czech professional tennis player, winner of 12 women's doubles titles and four mixed doubles titles in Grand Slam events, and the 1998 Wimbledon women's finals (d. 2017); in
Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...
** Victoria Derbyshire, English journalist and broadcaster; in Ramsbottom, Lancashire *Died: Marcel Duchamp, 81, French painter and sculptor


October 3, 1968 (Thursday)

*Peruvian Army General
Juan Velasco Alvarado Juan Francisco Velasco Alvarado (June 16, 1910 – December 24, 1977) was a Peruvian general who served as the President of Peru after a successful coup d'état against Fernando Belaúnde's presidency in 1968. Under his presidency, nationalism ...
led a coup d'état and overthrew the South American nation's President, Fernando Belaúnde Terry. The predawn change of power was accomplished without bloodshed, and Belaúnde was flown by a Peruvian Air Force plane to exile in Buenos Aires in neighboring Argentina. Velasco's presidency was described later as "one of the most unusual experiences of military rule in Latin American history", with the "Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces" forcing redistribution of farmlands and increasing the standard of living for Peru's impoverished citizens. *U.S. presidential candidate
George C. Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Alabama for four terms. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best remembered for his staunch segregationist and ...
, who was running as the American Independent Party selection against Republican
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 ...
and Democrat Hubert H. Humphrey, introduced his running mate, retired U.S. Army General Curtis E. LeMay. The new AIP vice-presidential candidate told a press conference that although he did not believe that nuclear weapons would be necessary in the Vietnam War, he would not be opposed to their use. "It doesn't make any difference to the soldier whether he is killed by a rusty knife or a nuclear explosion," LeMay commented, adding, "In fact, I'd lean toward the nuclear weapon."


October 4, 1968 (Friday)

*The prototype of the Tupolev Tu-154, a jet airliner with a capacity of 164 passengers and the most common method of air travel in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe during the 1970s and 1980s, made its first flight. *The Tau Gamma Phi fraternity was founded by four students at the University of the Philippines in Quezon City. *Died: **
Baba Harbhajan Singh Sepoy/Honorary Captain Baba Harbhajan Singh (1946-1968) was an Indian Army soldier who served from 30 June 1965 to 4 October 1968. He is said to serve the Indian Army even after his death by coming in dreams of soldiers and telling them the p ...
, 22, Indian Army soldier whose death has become the subject of supernatural legend ** Francis Biddle, 82, former U.S. Attorney General and former judge at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials ** Hitoshi Imamura, 82, Japanese general and convicted war criminal


October 5, 1968 (Saturday)

*" The Troubles", almost 30 years of violence between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland, began when policemen of the
Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC)Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the Royal ...
at
Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...
attacked a group of demonstrators marching for the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association and
Derry Housing Action Committee The Derry Housing Action Committee (DHAC), was an organisation formed in 1968 in Derry, Northern Ireland to protest about housing conditions and provision. The DHAC was formed in February 1968 by two socialists and four tenants in response to the ...
to protest against discrimination against the Roman Catholic minority by Protestants in the portion of Ireland still part of the United Kingdom. Gay O'Brien, a cameraman for the
RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...
television network in neighboring Ireland, and sound technician Eamon Hays filmed the scenes of constables attacking unarmed protesters with clubs, and the footage was shown on the BBC programme ''Twenty-Four Hours'' and then worldwide.


October 6, 1968 (Sunday)

*At
Huntington Park, California Huntington Park is a city in the Gateway Cities district of southeastern Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 58,114, of whom 97% are Hispanic/Latino and about half were born outside the ...
, the initial worship services were held for the
Metropolitan Community Church The Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), also known as the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC), is an international LGBT-affirming mainline Protestant Christian denomination. There are 222 member congregations in 37 ...
, which described itself later as "the world's first church group with a primary, positive ministry to gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender services". Reverend
Troy Perry Troy Deroy Perry Jr (born July 27, 1940) is the founder of the Metropolitan Community Church, with a ministry with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities, in Los Angeles on October 6, 1968. Early life Troy Perry is the eldest o ...
, who had been a
Pentecostal Christian Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement
minister who had resigned after revealing that he was gay, held a service for 12 people in his living room. Within 40 years, the church had "44,000 members and adherents in 300 congregations in 22 countries." *Died: Stephen Leslie Bradley, 42, Australian child murderer who kidnapped and murdered 8-year-old Graeme Thorne in 1960; at the minimum security
Goulburn Correctional Centre The Goulburn Correctional Centre, (also known as The Circle) is an Australian supermaximum security prison for males. It is located in Goulburn, New South Wales, three kilometres north-east of the central business district. The facility is operat ...
"after a strenuous game" of table tennis.


October 7, 1968 (Monday)

*
Jack Valenti Jack Joseph Valenti (September 5, 1921 – April 26, 2007) was an American political advisor and lobbyist who served as a Special Assistant to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. He was also the longtime president of the Motion Picture Association ...
, the President of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), announced a new rating system for films distributed within the United States, effective November 1. Declaring, on behalf of the film industry, that "The movie industry would no longer 'approve or disapprove' the content of a film" under the old Hays Production Code of 1934, and that "we would now see our primary task as giving advance cautionary warnings to parents so that parents could make the decision about the movie going of young children" the MPAA announced four ratings. "G" was for general audiences of all ages, "M" was a warning that the content was for mature audiences, "R" was restricted to require a parent to accompany a viewer under the age of 16, and "X" prohibited theaters from admitting persons under 16 "because of treatment of sex, violence, crime, or profanity. "American movies after the fall of 1968 look and sound different from those produced before then," a historian later noted, because it was a method "in the name of self-regulation, to enable the production of mature-themed movies" without making the production code more permissive. *Prior to the opening of Game 5 of the World Series in Detroit, Hispanic-American singer José Feliciano performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" with a slower, Latin jazz performance, a controversial decision that opened the door for later interpretations of the American national anthem. *The University of Central Florida (UCF), which now has more than 68,000 students, held its first classes. In its initial year at its campus in Orlando, UCF was called Florida Technological University, and had 1,948 students. *Born: ** Thom Yorke, English singer and songwriter for
Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...
; in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire ** Luminița Anghel, Romanian singer and songwriter; in Bucharest


October 8, 1968 (Tuesday)

*A small group of Republican Congressmen began a 27-hour delay of voting on a bill to amend an existing law that had been blocking the possibility of a televised presidential debate between candidates Nixon, Humphrey and Wallace. The measure was overwhelmingly supported by both parties, and passed by a margin of 280 to 35, but future Chief of Staff and U.S. Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld Donald Henry Rumsfeld (July 9, 1932 – June 29, 2021) was an American politician, government official and businessman who served as Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under president Gerald Ford, and again from 2001 to 2006 under Presi ...
, at the time a congressman from Illinois, combined with Ohio's Robert A. Taft, Jr. to delay the vote by spending almost 19 hours of calling the roll. At the time, a present or absent call of the names of 435 representatives averaged 25 minutes, and Rumsfeld and Taft asked for attendance to be taken a record 45 times. In 1973, almost all roll calls were eliminated with the introduction of an electronic voting system for members of Congress to register their choices simultaneously. *The latest version of William Shakespeare's 1597 play ''
Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...
'', directed by Franco Zeffirelli, was released in the United States, seven months after its March 4 premiere in London. Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey, both teenagers at the time of filming, played the title roles, marking the first time that the actors were close to the age of the characters portrayed. *American and South Vietnamese forces launched
Operation Sealords Operation Sealords was a military operation that took place during the Vietnam War. SEALORDS acronym SEALORDS is an acronym for Southeast Asia Lake, Ocean, River, and Delta Strategy. It was a joint operation between United States and South Vi ...
, a two-year long joint project to disrupt North Vietnam's supply lines in the
Mekong Delta The Mekong Delta ( vi, Đồng bằng Sông Cửu Long, lit=Nine Dragon River Delta or simply vi, Đồng Bằng Sông Mê Kông, lit=Mekong River Delta, label=none), also known as the Western Region ( vi, Miền Tây, links=no) or South-weste ...
. "SEALORDS" itself was an acronym for Southeast Asia Lake, Ocean, River, and Delta Strategy. * The Locarno Agreement Establishing an International Classification for Industrial Designs was signed in Locarno,
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
. *Died:
Rogers Caldwell Rogers Caldwell (January 25, 1890 – October 8, 1968) was an American businessman and banker from Tennessee. He was known as the " J. P. Morgan of the South." He was the founder and president of Caldwell and Company and its subsidiary, the Bank o ...
, 78, American businessman and banker nicknamed "The J.P. Morgan of the South"; Caldwell lost most of his wealth in the Wall Street Crash of 1929


October 9, 1968 (Wednesday)

*Four days after the suppression of the Irish civil rights march at
Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...
, two thousand students from
Queen's University Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...
(QUB) marched toward Belfast City Hall at Donegall Square, after being denied access to
Shaftesbury Square Shaftesbury Square is in Belfast, Northern Ireland at the southern end of Great Victoria Street and Dublin road, with the adjoining streets of Lisburn Road and the Donegall Road converging at this junction. It is in the area commonly known as ...
, where a pro-government march by
Protestant Unionist Party The Protestant Unionist Party (PUP)Not to be confused with the Progressive Unionist Party. was a unionist political party operating in Northern Ireland from 1966 to 1971. It was the forerunner of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and emerged ...
had been organized by
Ian Paisley Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, (6 April 1926 – 12 September 2014) was a Northern Irish loyalist politician and Protestant religious leader who served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 1971 to 2008 and First ...
. When the QUB marchers changed their route, Paisley then reassembled his group and moved to Donegall Square, where Belfast police blocked the students' route. When the QUB students reached police lines, as cameras were filming, the 2,000 protesters then sat down in the streets in a show of
civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". Hen ...
. From the QUB march, the organization People's Democracy was founded. *A 13-year-old girl became the first Jew since the 13th century to enter the tombs of the Biblical patriarchs beneath the Cave of the Patriarchs at Machpelah in Hebron, which had been captured by Israel in the Six-Day War. Michal Arbel, the 13-year-old daughter of Yehuda Arbel, chief of Shin Bet operations in the West Bank, volunteered because she was slender enough to be lowered into the narrow, wide hole to gain access to the tomb site, after which she took photographs. Shortly after the taking of Hebron, Major General Shlomo Goren, the Chief Rabbi of the
Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...
, had been the first Jew to descend past the seventh step of the Mosque built over the site. *The nuclear generators of the failed '' Nimbus-B'' weather satellite were recovered beneath the Pacific Ocean after a search of more than four months. The rocket boosters carrying ''Nimbus-B'' had been destroyed by a command from ground control two minutes after the spacecraft had been launched on May 18, but had failed to reach orbit. *French Jewish legal scholar Rene Cassin was named as the 1968 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, for his drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights nearly 20 years earlier. When informed of the honor, the 81-year-old jurist reportedly laughed and asked, "Already?" *Born: ** Troy Davis, American convicted murderer whose case gained international fame in the campaign against capital punishment; in Savannah, Georgia (executed, 2011) **
Pete Docter Peter Hans Docter (born October 9, 1968) is an American animator, film director, screenwriter, producer, voice actor, and chief creative officer of Pixar. He is best known for directing the Pixar animated feature films ''Monsters, Inc.'' (2001) ...
, American film director known for ''
Monsters, Inc. ''Monsters, Inc.'' (also known as ''Monsters, Incorporated'') is a 2001 American computer-animated Monster movie, monster comedy film produced by Pixar, Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. Featuring the voices of John Goodman, B ...
'' and '' Up''; in
Bloomington, Minnesota Bloomington is a suburban city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, on the north bank of the Minnesota River, above its confluence with the Mississippi River, south of downtown Minneapolis. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 89,987, ma ...


October 10, 1968 (Thursday)

*Following its approval by the U.S. Senate, 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 ...
– "the first major firearms control act passed by Congress in 30 years" – was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, 160–149. The new law prohibited all sales of guns and ammunition by mail order (a method used by Lee Harvey Oswald to obtain a rifle) and limited over-the-counter gun sales to "qualified purchasers". *The
Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...
won the World Series by a 4 to 1 score over the heavily favored St. Louis Cardinals, completing an unlikely comeback after having lost 3 of the first 4 games before winning the last three. *Born:
Bart Brentjens Bart Jan-Baptist Marie Brentjens (born 10 October 1968 in Haelen) is a Dutch racing cyclist in mountain biking. Brentjens won a gold medal for mountain biking in the 1996 Summer Olympics, the first to recognize cross-country mountain biking as an ...
, Dutch mountain biker, gold medalist in the 1996 Olympics and in the 1995 world mountain biking championships; in
Haelen Haelen (; li, Hale) is a town in the south-eastern Netherlands. History The village was first mentioned in 1224 as "Gregorio (de) Haele", and means "bend of the highland". Haelen developed along the Haelense Beek. It used to belong to the Coun ...


October 11, 1968 (Friday)

*
Apollo 7 Apollo 7 (October 1122, 1968) was the first crewed flight in NASA's Apollo program, and saw the resumption of human spaceflight by the agency after the fire that killed the three Apollo 1 astronauts during a launch rehearsal test on Ja ...
, the first American crewed space mission with three astronauts, was launched from Cape Kennedy at 11:02:45 a.m. local time,Richard W. Orloff and David M. Harland, ''Apollo: The Definitive Sourcebook'' (Springer, 2006), pp. 172-174. and glided into Earth orbit within 10 minutes. The purpose of the 11-day mission, the first with three astronauts ( Wally Schirra,
Donn Eisele Donn Fulton Eisele (June 23, 1930 – December 1, 1987) (Colonel (United States), Colonel United States Air Force, USAF) was a United States Air Force, United States Air Force officer, test pilot, and later a List of astronauts by selection ...
, and Walter Cunningham) was to test the docking maneuvers between the lunar module and the lunar orbiter to take men safely to the Moon and back. The flight was the first to feature a live television broadcast from inside an orbiting spaceship (Gordon Cooper's video images from
Mercury 9 Mercury-Atlas 9 was the final crewed space mission of the U.S. Mercury program, launched on May 15, 1963, from Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The spacecraft, named ''Faith 7'', completed 22 Earth orbits before splashing down in t ...
had been on a delayed basis). Schirra became the only astronaut to fly in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs. * Panamanian National Guard Majors Omar Torrijos and Boris Martinez led a ''coup d'état'' to overthrow the democratically elected (but highly controversial) government of President Arnulfo Arias. The move came after Arias had declined to honor an agreement with National Guard commander Vallarino. Arias, who had been in office for only 11 days, fled to the U.S. controlled
Panama Canal Zone The Panama Canal Zone ( es, Zona del Canal de Panamá), also simply known as the Canal Zone, was an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the Isthmus of Panama, that existed from 1903 to 1979. It was located within the terr ...
, and Colonel Jose M. Pinilla was sworn in as the new
President of Panama This article lists the heads of state of Panama since the short-lived first independence from the Republic of New Granada in 1840 and the final separation from Colombia in 1903. Free State of the Isthmus (1840–1841) Republic of Panama (19 ...
. The coup was described later as "the first outright military overthrow of the government in the country's history". Within a year, Torrijos ousted Martinez and took charge as Panama's ''de facto'' leader. Although never officially the President, Torrijos controlled the Central American republic and, in 1972, was granted constitutional powers with the title of the "Maximum Leader of the Panamanian Revolution" (''Líder Máximo de la Revolución panameña''), serving until his death in a plane crash in 1981. *Born: Jane Krakowski, American television and film actress; in Parsippany, New Jersey


October 12, 1968 (Saturday)

*The opening ceremony of the
Games of the XIX Olympiad The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...
took place in Mexico City. Although still referred to as the 1968 Summer Olympics, the games were the second in a row to be held in the autumn. *
Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea ( es, Guinea Ecuatorial; french: Guinée équatoriale; pt, Guiné Equatorial), officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea ( es, link=no, República de Guinea Ecuatorial, french: link=no, République de Guinée équatoria ...
was granted independence from Spain, becoming Africa's 38th country to become an independent nation since World War II and bringing an end to 182 years of colonial rule. President-elect Francisco Macías Nguema and Spanish Minister of Information and Tourism Manuel Fraga Iribarne signed a document of transfer in the new nation's capital, Santa Isabel (now called
Malabo Malabo ( , ; formerly Santa Isabel) is the capital of Equatorial Guinea and the province of Bioko Norte. It is located on the north coast of the island of Bioko, ( bvb, Etulá, and as ''Fernando Pó'' by the Europeans). In 2018, the city had a p ...
), the flag of Spain was lowered and the new flag was raised above the recently built government building. In spite of a positive start to his presidency, Macías assumed dictatorial power within less than five months and then begin a reign of terror that oversaw the deaths of as much as one-fifth of the population of 400,000. The presidency of Macias lasted until August 3, 1979, when he was overthrown and then executed in a coup led by his nephew, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who was still president in 2018. *Born: Hugh Jackman, Australian film and stage actor, known popularly for his portrayal of Wolverine in nine feature films of '' X-Men''; in
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...


October 13, 1968 (Sunday)

*The new Michigan International Speedway, located a few miles south of the small town of Brooklyn, Michigan, held its first auto race, the Michigan 250, near the end of the
1968 USAC Championship Car season The 1968 USAC Championship Car season consisted of 28 races, beginning in Hanford, California on March 17 and concluding in Riverside, California on December 7. The USAC National Champion and Indianapolis 500 winner was Bobby Unser. Mike Spence ...
. Ronnie Bucknum got the checkered flag for his first and only victory. *Died: **
Bea Benaderet Beatrice Benaderet ( ; April 4, 1906 – October 13, 1968) was an American actress and comedienne. Born in New York City and raised in San Francisco, she began performing in Bay Area theatre and radio before embarking on a Hollywood career that ...
, 62, American comedian and television actress; from lung cancer **
John L. Hines John Leonard Hines (May 21, 1868 – October 13, 1968) was an American general who served as Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1924 to 1926. Early career Born in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, to Irish parents, Edward and Mary, ...
, 100, U.S. Army General and World War I hero **
Hossein Behzad Hossein Behzad (1894 – 13 October 1968) (حسین بهزاد) was a prominent Iranian painter. His early work was in the styles of the old masters of Persian painting of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, hoping to save Persian min ...
, 74, Iranian painter


October 14 Events Pre-1600 *1066 – The Norman conquest of England begins with the Battle of Hastings. * 1322 – Robert the Bruce of Scotland defeats King Edward II of England at the Battle of Old Byland, forcing Edward to accept Scotland's i ...
, 1968 (Monday)

*The United States Department of Defense announced that the United States Army and United States Marines was sending about 24,000 troops back to
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 ...
for second tours of duty in the ongoing Vietnam War. *At the Olympics in Mexico City, U.S. track and field athlete Jim Hines became the first person recognized as running the 100 meters race in less than 10 seconds, setting a new world record of 9.95 seconds. *Guards at a prison farm in Cummins, Arkansas fired into a crowd of about 70 inmates who had refused to go to work in the fields until their demands were met, wounding 24 of them.


October 15 Events Pre-1600 *1066 – Following the death of Harold II at the Battle of Hastings, Edgar the Ætheling is proclaimed King of England by the Witan; he is never crowned, and concedes power to William the Conqueror two months later. * 1211 ...
, 1968 (Tuesday)

*The United States Supreme Court issued its first ruling of its new term, holding in a 6-to-3 decision that the state of Ohio had to, as the other 49 states had done, include third-party candidate
George C. Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Alabama for four terms. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best remembered for his staunch segregationist and ...
on its ballots for the November 5 U.S. presidential election, and in the longer term, ruling that states could not impose burdensome regulations on minor parties without compelling reasons. An Ohio law, requiring third-party presidential candidates to have a primary election, a convention, and a petition with "signatures amounting in number to at least 15% of the vote in the last statewide election" was not applied to the Republican and Democratic parties, and the Court concluded that Wallace had been denied equal protection under the 14th Amendment. *
Liu Shaoqi Liu Shaoqi ( ; 24 November 189812 November 1969) was a Chinese revolutionary, politician, and theorist. He was Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee from 1954 to 1959, First Vice Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party from 1956 to 1966 and C ...
, the
President of the People's Republic of China The president of the People's Republic of China, commonly called the president of China, is the head of state and the second-highest political office of the People's Republic of China. The presidency is constitutionally a largely ceremonial off ...
and one of the first victims of China's Cultural Revolution, was officially stripped of all of his powers, almost two years after he had last been seen in public. An editorial in the party newspaper ''Red Flag'' was read aloud over Peking Radio, and referred to Liu only by an epithet. "We have completely disposed of the anti-revolutionary elements, led by China's Khrushchev, into the wastebasket of history," an announcer quoted, "and he no longer has power and authority in the Party and government. The declaration of proletarian victory is therefore not just a claim, but a fact." *The
Kingdom of Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
, located in the Himalayan Mountains, inaugurated its first ever airport. The facility, financed and built by neighboring India and located in the small city of Paro, was opened by India's Deputy Prime Minister, Morarji Desai. *Born: ** Didier Deschamps, French national soccer football team midfielder from 1989 to 2000, and manager of the France national team since 2012; in
Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine re ...
** Jyrki 69 (stage name for Jyrki Pekka Emil Linnankivi), Finnish singer who is the lead vocalist of the gothic rock band
The 69 Eyes The 69 Eyes are a Finnish rock band. It was founded in 1989 in Helsinki by vocalist Jyrki 69 (who also writes the band's lyrics), guitarists Bazie, Timo-Timo and bassist Archzie, joined in 1992 by drummer Jussi 69; the lineup never changed sin ...
; in Helsinki


October 16, 1968 (Wednesday)

*In Mexico City, African-American athletes
Tommie Smith Tommie C. Smith (born June 6, 1944) is an American former track and field, track and field athlete and former wide receiver in the American Football League. At the 1968 Summer Olympics, Smith, aged 24, won the 200-meter sprint finals and gold me ...
and
John Carlos John Wesley Carlos (born June 5, 1945) is an American former track and field athlete and professional American football player. He was the bronze-medal winner in the 200 meters at the 1968 Summer Olympics, where he displayed the Black Power sal ...
raised their fists in a
black power salute During their medal ceremony in the Olympic Stadium in Mexico City on October 16, 1968, two African-American athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, each raised a black-gloved fist during the playing of the US national anthem, "The Star-Spangled ...
at medal ceremony after winning, respectively, the gold and bronze in the Olympic men's 200 meter race. After refusing to apologize, the two men were expelled from the team and sent home. The third man on the platform, white Australian silver medalist
Peter Norman Peter George Norman (15 June 1942 – 3 October 2006) was an Australian track athlete. He won the silver medal in the 200 metres at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, with a time of 20.06 seconds. This remains an Oceanian record. H ...
, wore an Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR) badge to show solidarity with Smith and Carlos. *The DSV ''Alvin'', a deep-submergence vehicle which would later explore the wreckage of the RMS ''Titanic'', sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean while preparing for a routine inspection dive about southeast of Cape Cod. Lifting lines from the ship's tender ''Lulu'' had broken and the ''Alvin'', which still had its hatch open as it prepared to take on a crew, plunged before hitting the ocean floor. The craft would finally be recovered on September 1, 1969. *U.S. President Johnson held a telephone conference call simultaneously with all three of the major U.S. presidential candidates, to inform them that he had no plans to change the American bombing of North Vietnam. At the time, Richard Nixon was in
Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...
, Hubert Humphrey was in St. Louis, and George Wallace was in Los Angeles. * Czechoslovakia's Prime Minister Oldrich Cernik reluctantly signed his nation's treaty with the Soviet Union in Prague, officially recognizing the right for Warsaw Pact troops to occupy Czechoslovakian territory. Appearing on behalf of the USSR was Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin. *American mountain climber Jim Madsen fell to his death from El Capitan in Yosemite National Park while attempting to come to the aid of two friends who were temporarily stranded on the wall. * The Jimi Hendrix Experience released their last studio album, '' Electric Ladyland''. The album includes a cover of Bob Dylan's All Along the Watchtower, which became the band's best-selling single.


October 17, 1968 (Thursday)

*
Nancy Tuckerman Nancy Ludlow Tuckerman (October 24, 1928 – August 1, 2018) was the White House Social Secretary during the Kennedy administration. After the Kennedy assassination, she remained the personal secretary to Jackie Kennedy until the latter's death in ...
, the press secretary for presidential widow Jackie Kennedy, announced that the former First Lady had departed on a charter flight from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on an
Olympic Airways Olympic Airlines ( el, Ολυμπιακές Αερογραμμές, ''Olympiakés Aerogrammés'' – OA), formerly named Olympic Airways for at least four decades, was the flag carrier airline of Greece. The airline's head office was located ...
Boeing 707, to marry one of the world's wealthiest men, shipping company owner Aristotle Onassis, the following week. The announcement came less than a week after the U.S. Senate had voted "to provide Mrs. Kennedy with Secret Service protection until her death or until she remarries." *'' Bullitt'', the iconic
Steve McQueen Terrence Stephen McQueen (March 24, 1930November 7, 1980) was an American actor. His antihero persona, emphasized during the height of the counterculture of the 1960s, made him a top box-office draw for his films of the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1 ...
action film that featured what has been called "the most famous car chase in cinematic history", premiered at New York City's
Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplac ...
and became a critical and box office success. *Born: Ziggy Marley (David Nesta Marley), Jamaican reggae musician; in
Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...
*Died: Harun Thohir and
Usman Haji Muhammad Ali Second Sergeant Usman bin Haji Muhammad Ali (18 March 1943 – 17 October 1968), also spelt Osman bin Haji Mohamed Ali, was an Indonesian marine and convicted murderer. He uses the aliases Janatin or Usman Janatin during his task of bombing the ...
, both 25, two Indonesian Marine Corps operatives who had carried out the March 10, 1965 MacDonald House bombing that injured 36 people in Singapore, three of them fatally, were hanged.


October 18, 1968 (Friday)

* John Lennon was taken by London police to the Paddington Green police station on charges of possession of cannabis and obstructing a police search, in "the first arrest of a member of the Beatles, the most successful entertainers in the history of British show business". He and Yoko Ono were arrested at Lennon's apartment in the Marylebone district, and were released after posting bond to secure their appearance the next day in court. *African-American athlete Bob Beamon broke the world record for the long jump by more than half a meter (55 cm) and almost two feet at the
1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...
in Mexico City. His record stood for 23 years, and is still the second longest jump in history. *Died: Lee Tracy, 70, American film actor "whose machinegun delivery typified the breezy spirit of the talkies when sound came to the movies"; from advanced liver cancer


October 19, 1968 (Saturday)

*Frustrated by the collapse of attempts to find a new Prime Minister,
Charles Helou Charles Helou ( ar, شارل الحلو; 25 September 1913 – 7 January 2001) was a Lebanese politician and President of Lebanon from 1964 to 1970. Early life and education Born in Beirut on 25 September 1913, Helou was the scion of a powerf ...
sought to resign his post as the President of Lebanon, but was unable to locate the Speaker of Parliament in Beirut in order to present the necessary papers. The next day, parliamentary leaders and the presidents of Lebanon's three major trade union federations conferred with Helou and talked him out of resigning. The crisis ended when former Prime Ministers Abdullah Yafi and Hussein Oweini (both Sunni Muslims) and two Maronite Christian members of Parliament, Raymond Edde and Pierre Gemayal, agreed to form a four-member cabinet, led by Yafi (whose resignation on October 9 had created the chaos). The four ministers handled all the tasks of the 16 ministries of the government.


October 20, 1968 (Sunday)

*Less than five years after the assassination of her husband, former U.S. First Lady
Jacqueline Kennedy Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American socialite, writer, photographer, and book editor who served as first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A po ...
married Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis in a ceremony on the Greek island of Skorpios. In doing so, she forfeited $200,000 per year of financial support from the Kennedy family (part of a pre-nuptial agreement with John F. Kennedy) and a $10,000 widow's pension from the U.S. government. Onassis provided her $3,000,000 and set up trusts of one million dollars apiece for Caroline Kennedy and John Kennedy Jr.; the marriage lasted until the death of Onassis on March 15, 1975. *American athlete Dick Fosbury broke the Olympics record for the
high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...
and introduced the world to his unorthodox technique of twisting his body and going over the bar upside down and head first, reaching . The " Fosbury Flop" became the standard for high jumping.


October 21, 1968 (Monday)

*The busiest railway station 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 ...
, Tokyo's
Shinjuku station is a major railway station in the Shinjuku and Shibuya wards in Tokyo, Japan. In Shinjuku, it is part of the Nishi-Shinjuku and Shinjuku districts. In Shibuya, it is located in the Yoyogi and Sendagaya districts. It is the world's busiest rai ...
, was taken over at 9:00 at night by thousands of anti-war protesters. The
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 ...
ese '' Beheiren'' group had arranged simultaneous rallies in 270 locations throughout the station. An estimated 60,000 commuters were at Shinjuku, unable to leave while rioters broke windows, tore up the interiors of train cars, and trashed the station. Tokyo riot police finally dispersed the crowd in and around the station after midnight, using fire hoses and tear gas.


October 22, 1968 (Tuesday)

*In an act that did not become public until 48 years later, Republican presidential candidate
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 ...
telephoned his closest aide (and future Chief of Staff) H. R. Haldeman, and ordered him to get intermediaries to persuade
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 ...
ese President
Nguyen Van Thieu Nguyễn () is the most common Vietnamese surname. Outside of Vietnam, the surname is commonly rendered without diacritics as Nguyen. Nguyên (元)is a different word and surname. By some estimates 39 percent of Vietnamese people bear this su ...
to refuse to participate in the Paris Peace Talks to end the Vietnam War. Haldeman's handwritten notes of the conversation referred to Anna Chennault, who had connections with other people who knew Thieu, and included the entry "VN— keep Anna Chennault working on SVN"; the second page of notes were "re V.N. bomb halt news" and Haldeman's summary, "any other way to monkey wrench it? Anything RN can do." In 1977, Nixon denied that he had any knowledge of Chennault's contact with the Thieu government as rumors of "the Chennault affair" circulated, but in 2007, the Nixon presidential library opened the Haldeman notes to researchers, and historian
John A. Farrell John Aloysius Farrell is an American author and historian. He has written biographies of U.S. President Richard Nixon, Senator Ted Kennedy, House Speaker Thomas "Tip" O'Neill, and defense attorney Clarence Darrow. He is a former White House corr ...
discovered the note in 2016. Whether Thieu would have derailed the talks anyway, without Nixon's efforts, efforts by private citizens to "defeat the measures of United States" were a federal crime. By 1968, the Vietnam War had claimed more than 30,000 American lives, and 58,220 died by the time the war ended. *
Apollo 7 Apollo 7 (October 1122, 1968) was the first crewed flight in NASA's Apollo program, and saw the resumption of human spaceflight by the agency after the fire that killed the three Apollo 1 astronauts during a launch rehearsal test on Ja ...
, the first space mission where the entire crew had the common cold, ended its 11-day mission with a descent made worse by painful pressure in the astronauts ears and sinuses. With the crew having proven the success of the maneuvers necessary for releasing and then redocking between an orbiting ship and the crewed lunar module, the capsule safely landed in the Atlantic Ocean north of Puerto Rico at 8:12 in the morning local time and was picked up by the aircraft carrier USS ''Essex''. The ''Essex'' was closely followed by a Soviet Navy intelligence ship, the ''Ekholog'', which in turn was constantly observed by a U.S. Navy helicopter hovering overhead. *The pornographic film '' Vixen!'', the first American film to have an X rating under the new classification system of the MPAA, was released nationwide. Director Russ Meyer voluntarily gave his film an X rating, limiting the film to adults only, 17 days before the MPAA system of ratings was introduced.
Erica Gavin Erica Gavin (born Donna Graff; July 22, 1947) is an American film actress best known for playing the title role in Russ Meyer's 1968 film ''Vixen!'' Early years Gavin was born in Los Angeles, California. At age 19, she worked as a topless dance ...
appeared as the nymphomaniac title character. *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 signed into law by U.S. President Johnson. *Born:
Shaggy Shaggy may refer to: People *Shaggy (musician) (born 1968), Jamaican American reggae rapper and singer *Shaggy 2 Dope, half of the hip hop, horrorcore band Insane Clown Posse *Shaggy Flores (born 1973), Nuyorican poet, writer and African diaspora ...
(stage name for Orville Richard Burrell), Jamaican-born American reggae singer; in
Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...


October 23, 1968 (Wednesday)

*, the first warship of the Indian Navy to be constructed in India, was launched into the Arabian Sea from the
Mazagon dock Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) (IAST: ''Majhagānv Dawk Limiṭeḍ''), formerly called Mazagon Dock Limited, is a shipyard situated in Mazagaon, Mumbai. It manufactures warships and submarines for the Indian Navy and offshore platfo ...
in Bombay (now Mumbai); the ''Nilgiri'' was commissioned on June 3, 1972. Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...
christened the ship by "breaking a coconut against the hull of the
Leander Leander is one of the protagonists in the story of Hero and Leander in Greek mythology. Leander may also refer to: People * Leander (given name) * Leander (surname) Places * Leander, Kentucky, United States, an unincorporated community * Le ...
instead of a bottle of champagne in the western manner."


October 24, 1968 (Thursday)

*Starting at 3:08 in the morning local time, military and civilian personnel of North Dakota's Minot Air Force Base reported an unidentified flying object. According to a report filed with the U.S. Air Force's Project Blue Book, an employee charged with servicing the Minot AFB's missiles was the first to describe "a bright orangeish-red object", followed by the crew of a B-52 bomber had spotted the object on its radar and then had a visual sighting. According to the Air Force summary, "Fourteen other people in separate locations also reported sighting a similar object". *The 199th and last mission of the fastest airplane in history, the X-15 rocket plane, was completed by NASA test pilot
William H. Dana William Harvey "Bill" Dana (November 3, 1930 – May 6, 2014) was an American aeronautical engineer, U.S. Air Force pilot, NASA test pilot, and astronaut. He was one of twelve pilots who flew the North American X-15, an experimental spacep ...
, who landed at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base at 10:14 a.m. local time, a little more than 11 minutes after the X-15 was launched from a B-52. During his flight, on re-entry, Dana reached a maximum speed of
Mach Mach may refer to Mach number, the speed of sound in local conditions. It may also refer to: Computing * Mach (kernel), an operating systems kernel technology * ATI Mach, a 2D GPU chip by ATI * GNU Mach, the microkernel upon which GNU Hurd is bas ...
5.38, or .


October 25 Events Pre-1600 * 285 (or 286) – Execution of Saints Crispin and Crispinian during the reign of Diocletian, now the patron saints of leather workers, curriers, and shoemakers. * 473 – Emperor Leo I acclaims his grandson Leo II a ...
, 1968 (Friday)

*Formerly The New Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin gave its first live concert under its new name, performing at
Surrey University The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its royal charter in 1966, along with a number of other institutions following recommendations in the Robbins Report. The instituti ...
in England.
Jimmy Page James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Page is prolific in creating guitar riffs. His style involves various alternative ...
remained as lead guitar, but reorganized the Yardbirds with
Robert Plant Robert Anthony Plant (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the English rock band Led Zeppelin for all of its existence from 1968 until 1980, when the band broke up following the ...
taking the place of Keith Relf, bassist John Paul Jones (John Richard Baldwin) coming in for Chris Dreja, and drummer John Bonham replacing Jim McCarty. The new band name was a variation of the slang term of "a lead balloon" as any unsuccessful venture, and was based on Page's recollection of a joke by
Keith Moon Keith John Moon (23 August 19467 September 1978) was an English drummer for the rock band the Who. He was noted for his unique style of playing and his eccentric, often self-destructive behaviour and addiction to drugs and alcohol. Moon grew ...
of The Who that a duo of Moon and Page would "go down like a 'lead zeppelin'". In order to avoid confusion between the different pronunciations of "lead" (the verb lead and the dense substance lead), the spelling was altered to "led". *
Northeast Airlines Flight 946 Northeast Airlines Flight 946 was a domestic U.S. flight from Boston, Massachusetts, to Montpelier, Vermont, with a scheduled stop in Lebanon, New Hampshire, operated by Northeast Airlines. On October 25, 1968, some time during the evening, the ...
crashed into a heavily wooded mountainside while descending through fog toward the regional airport at Lebanon, New Hampshire, killing 32 of the 42 people on board. The Fairchild F-27 turboprop had departed Boston at 5:42 p.m. on its scheduled multi-stop flight to Montpelier, Vermont, and was cleared to descend to 2,800 feet by the Lebanon air traffic controller. Instead of leveling off at the prescribed altitude, the crew continued the descent and struck the Moose Mountain at an altitude of . *Born: David McCormack, Australian musician, singer-songwriter, and actor; in South Brisbane, Queensland


October 26, 1968 (Saturday)

*Soviet cosmonaut
Georgi Beregovoi Georgy Timofeyevich Beregovoy (russian: Гео́ргий Тимофе́евич Берегово́й, ua, Гео́ргій Тимофі́йович Берегови́й; 15 April 1921 – 30 June 1995) was a Soviet cosmonaut who commanded the s ...
, 47, became the oldest person up to that time to be launched into outer space, as the USSR sent up
Soyuz 3 Soyuz 3 (russian: Союз 3, ''Union 3'') was a spaceflight mission launched by the Soviet Union on 26 October 1968. Flown by Georgy Beregovoy, the Soyuz 7K-OK spacecraft completed 81 orbits over four days. The 47-year-old Beregovoy was a dec ...
, its first crewed space mission since the program had been halted by the April 24, 1967 death of Vladimir Komarov. Beregovoi was rumored to be on a mission to go into lunar orbit. Instead, Beregovoi remained in Earth orbit and performed a rendezvous (but not a docking) with the uncrewed Soyuz 2 spacecraft. After 61 orbits, Soyuz 3 returned safely to Earth on October 30. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, the Soyuz program released records showing that Beregovoi had failed in the docking attempt because he "had been trying to dock with Soyuz 2 while flying Soyuz 3 upside down" and "had to be 'rescued' by ground control from his precarious predicament", after which further attempts were canceled.


October 27, 1968 (Sunday)

*The 1968 Summer Olympics closed in Mexico City. One reporter noted that "The problem games, as they came to be known, had been brought off successfully— more successfully in fact, than by any other host," and added, "Competitively, this has been the greatest Olympics in history. Incredible feats have necessitated practically rewriting the entire amateur record book," with 20 world records broken. In all, 7,600 athletes from 112 nations participated. The United States won the most medals (45 gold, 107 overall) with the Soviet Union in second place (29 gold, 91 in all). *For the first time in more than 20 years, Great Britain remained on
British Summer Time During British Summer Time (BST), civil time in the United Kingdom is advanced one hour forward of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), in effect changing the time zone from UTC±00:00 to UTC+01:00, so that mornings have one hour less daylight, and ev ...
rather than moving clocks back an hour on the last Sunday of October and staying on Central European Time (CET). In that Britain was at the westernmost portion of the CET zone, sunrise would be after 9:00 in the morning in December. With time being moved back an hour in the United States, London was six hours ahead of New York. *In the largest anti-American protest in British history, a crowd of 30,000 demonstrators marched through London near the U.S. Embassy. *Died:
Lise Meitner Elise Meitner ( , ; 7 November 1878 – 27 October 1968) was an Austrian-Swedish physicist who was one of those responsible for the discovery of the element protactinium and nuclear fission. While working at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute on rad ...
, 89, Austrian physicist and co-discoverer, with Otto Hahn, of the process of nuclear fission in uranium; however, she was denied the Nobel Prize in Chemistry that went to Hahn for the discovery in 1944. In 1997, chemical element 109 meitnerium (Mt) was named in her honor.


October 28, 1968 (Monday)

*On the 50th anniversary of Czechoslovakia's October 28, 1918, declaration of independence from Austria-Hungary, the Eastern European nation's National Assembly voted to restructure its government as "a socialist federation of two national states", the
Czech Socialist Republic The Czech Socialist Republic ( cs, Česká socialistická republika, ČSR) was a republic within the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. The name was used from 1 January 1969 to November 1989, when the previously unitary Czechoslovak state changed ...
and the Slovak Socialist Republic, effective January 1, 1969. President Ludvik Svoboda signed the act into law on October 30 at the
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 ...
Castle. A little more than 23 years later, the two states would peacefully separate into independent nations as the Czech Republic and the
Republic of Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
. *Thousands of Czechoslovakian demonstrators marched through the streets of Prague for the first time since the August invasion, to protest the nation's continued occupation by 650,000 Soviet Union troops. The Soviets did not respond, and left it to Prague's police to arrest demonstrators trying to break through the cordon surrounding the Prague Castle at
Hradčany Square Hradčany Square (Czech: Hradčanské náměstí) is a square near Prague Castle in Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On ...
. *Born:
Juan Orlando Hernández Juan Orlando Hernández Alvarado (; born 28 October 1968), also known as JOH, is a Honduran lawyer and politician who served as President of Honduras from 2014 to 2022. A member of the National Party, Hernández previously served as the presi ...
, 55th President of Honduras from 2014 to 2022; in Gracias


October 29, 1968 (Tuesday)

*
Yusuf Zuayyin Yusuf Zuayyin (‎; 25 January 1931 – 10 January 2016) was a Syrian politician. A member of the Ba'ath Party, he served as Prime Minister of Syria in 1965 and again from 1966 to 1968. He was born in Abu Kamal Abu Kamal ( ar, أَبُ ...
, considered a progressive member of the ruling Ba'ath Party, resigned as
Prime Minister of Syria The prime minister of Syria (Arabic: رئيس وزراء سوريا), formally titled the president of the Council of Ministers ( ar, رئيس مجلس الوزراء), is the head of government of the Syrian Arab Republic. Nomination The prime ...
after 16 months in office. Syrian President Nureddin al-Atassi then assumed that office as well and formed a cabinet, and would perform both jobs until his overthrow on November 13, 1970. Atassi's 26-member cabinet included 14 military officers. Although state radio gave no reason for the president's acceptance of Zuayyin's resignation, observers in Lebanon theorized that the shakeup had been the result of a struggle within the Ba'ath Party between Syrian Air Force General
Hafez al-Assad Hafez al-Assad ', , (, 6 October 1930 – 10 June 2000) was a Syrian statesman and military officer who served as President of Syria from taking power in 1971 until his death in 2000. He was also Prime Minister of Syria from 1970 to 1 ...
and Syria's most powerful man, Army General Salah Jadid, with hardliner Assad superseding Jadid's role as strongman. *Born: Tsunku (Mitsuo Terada), Japanese record producer; in Higashiōsaka,
Osaka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Osaka Prefecture has a population of 8,778,035 () and has a geographic area of . Osaka Prefecture borders Hyōgo Prefecture to the northwest, Kyoto Prefecture ...


October 30, 1968 (Wednesday)

* Ulchin-Samcheok Landings: a squad of 120 North Korean Army commandos landed in boats along a 25-mile long section of the eastern coast of South Korea, between Samcheok and
Uljin-gun Uljin County (''Uljin-gun''; Korean: 울진군) is a county in North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. Before 1963, Uljin was in Gangwon Province. It borders the Sea of Japan in the east, Bonghwa-gun and Yeongyang-gun in the west, Yeongdeok-gun i ...
and infiltrated the countryside on a mission to establish intelligence-gathering bases. Along the way, 23 civilians and 40 South Korean soldiers were killed by the invaders before 110 of the 120 North Koreans were killed and seven captured. Only three were able to escape back to the north. *After a five-month search, a United States Navy ship located portions of the submarine USS ''Scorpion'', which had disappeared on May 22. The oceanographic research ship ''Mizar'' had been among 40 ships and planes that had been searching the North Atlantic Ocean for traces of the lost sub, which was found at a depth of at a location southwest of the Azores. *American physicist
Luis W. Alvarez Luis Walter Alvarez (June 13, 1911 – September 1, 1988) was an American experimental physicist, inventor, and professor who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1968 for his discovery of resonance states in particle physics using the ...
was announced as the winner of the Nobel Prize, for his discoveries in elementary particle physics, and Norwegian-born Yale professor Lars Onsager was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his 1931 theories of theoretical thermodynamics. *Thirty-eight people in South Korea, on their way home from a funeral, were killed and another 40 were injured when their chartered bus ran off of a cliff and fell into the Nam River. *Died: ** Ramon Novarro, 69, American silent film star, was beaten to death in his home at 3110 Laurel Canyon Boulevard outside Los Angeles. Novarro was described in his obituary as the "last of the dashing Latin Lovers of the silent screen" and the star of the 1925 production of ''
Ben-Hur Ben-Hur or Ben Hur may refer to: Fiction *'' Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ'', an 1880 novel by American general and author Lew Wallace ** ''Ben-Hur'' (play), a play that debuted on Broadway in 1899 ** ''Ben Hur'' (1907 film), a one-reel silent ...
''. Brothers Paul Ferguson and Thomas Ferguson would be convicted of first degree murder on September 17, 1969. ** Malcolm Hale, 27, American musician for the rock group Spanky and Our Gang; of bronchial pneumonia at his home in Chicago. In later years, the legend would circulate that he died of carbon monoxide poisoning from a defective space heater. **U.S. Army Corporal James Van Howard, 21, son of country music singer Jan Howard and the subject of her song " My Son", released earlier and based on her letter to him for his safe return home from the war. **
Pert Kelton Pert or PERT may refer to: Ships * - see List of United States Navy ships: P * , a World War II corvette, originally HMS ''Nepeta'' * ''Pert'' (sidewheeler), a 19th-century steamboat that operated in British Columbia, Canada Statistics * PER ...
, 61, American stage, film and television actress whose roles included "Mrs. Peroo" in '' The Music Man''; of a heart attack **
Conrad Richter Conrad Michael Richter (October 13, 1890 – October 30, 1968) was an American novelist whose lyrical work is concerned largely with life on the American frontier in various periods. His novel '' The Town'' (1950), the last story of his trilogy '' ...
, 78, American novelist and short-story author


October 31, 1968 (Thursday)

*The Condon Committee, a University of Colorado study group led by Professor Edward Condon, delivered its final report, ''Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects'', to the United States Air Force, which had funded the project. Condon's summary was "Our general conclusion is that nothing has come from the study of UFOs in the past 21 years that has added to scientific knowledge. Careful consideration of the record as it is available to us leads us to conclude that further extensive study of UFOs probably cannot be justified in the expectation that science will be advanced thereby." The report would be published as a mass-market paperback in January. *The Norway tanker MT ''Etnefjell'' caught fire in the North Atlantic Ocean, southeast of Cape Farewell, Greenland. One man was killed, and 29 of the other 32 crewmen evacuated the ''Etnefjell'', rowing away in a pair of lifeboats, while the master, chief mate and first engineer remained behind. After four days adrift, the three officers were rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter USCGC ''Absecon''; the 29 who had escaped to apparent safety, however, were never located and were presumed to have gone down with their boats during a storm. *Citing progress in the Paris Peace Talks, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announced in a nationwide address that he had ordered a complete cessation of "all air, naval, and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam" effective at 9:00 p.m. local time on November 1. The announcement, which came five days before the U.S. presidential election, confirmed speculation that a major breakthrough had been made in negotiations between the United States and South Vietnam on one side, and North Vietnam and the Viet Cong on the other. *Democrat presidential nominee Hubert Humphrey continued his rise in voter preference polls, narrowing the gap between him and Republican frontrunner Richard Nixon to just three percent in the latest Harris Poll, based on surveys taken of 1,675 likely voters on October 27 and 28. Polling showed Nixon with 40% approval, Humphrey with 37%, George Wallace with 16% and 7% undecided."Nixon-HHH Gap Dips to 3 Points", ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', November 1, 1968, p. 1.


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 ...
*1968-10 *1968-10