From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.
[edit] Events of 1968
[edit] January
[edit] February
- March 1 - The "Valle Giulia" student protest in Rome leads to a long period of violent disputes.
- March 7 - Vietnam War: The First Battle of Saigon ends.
- March 8 - The first student protests spark the 1968 Polish political crisis.
- March 11 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson mandates that all computers purchased by the federal government support the ASCII character encoding.[1]
- March 12 - Mauritius achieves independence from British rule.
- March 12 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson edges out antiwar candidate Eugene J. McCarthy in the New Hampshire Democratic primary, a vote which highlights the deep divisions in the country, as well as the party, over Vietnam.
- March 13 - The first Rotaract club is chartered in North Charlotte, North Carolina.
- March 14 - Nerve gas leaks from the U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground near Skull Valley, Utah.
- March 15 - British Foreign Secretary George Brown resigns.
- March 16 - Vietnam War - My Lai massacre: American troops kill scores of civilians.
- March 16 - U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy enters the race for the Democratic Party presidential nomination.
- March 17 - A demonstration in London's Grosvenor Square against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War leads to violence; 91 people are injured, 200 demonstrators arrested.
- March 18 - Gold standard: The Congress of the United States repeals the requirement for a gold reserve to back U.S. currency.
- March 19–23 - Afrocentrism, Black power: Students at Howard University in Washington, D.C., signal a new era of militant student activism on college campuses in the U.S. Students stage rallies, protests and a 5-day sit-in, laying siege to the administration building, shutting down the university in protest over its ROTC program, and demanding a more Afrocentric curriculum.
- March 21 - Vietnam War: In ongoing campus unrest, Howard University students protesting the Vietnam War, the ROTC program on campus and the draft, confront Gen. Lewis Hershey, then head of the U.S. Selective Service System, and as he attempts to deliver an address, shout him down with cries of "America is the Black man's battleground!"
- March 22 - Daniel Cohn-Bendit ("Danny The Red") and 7 other students occupy the administrative offices of the University of Nanterre, setting in motion a chain of events that lead France to the brink of revolution in May.
- March 31 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces he will not seek re-election.
- April 2 - Bombs placed by Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin explode at midnight in 2 department stores in Frankfurt-am-Main; they are later arrested and sentenced for arson.
- April 2 - The film version of 2001: A Space Odyssey premieres in Washington, D.C.
- April 4 - Martin Luther King, Jr. is shot dead at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Riots erupt in major American cities for several days afterward.
- April 4 - Apollo Program: Apollo-Saturn mission 502 (Apollo 6) is launched, as the second and last unmanned test-flight of the Saturn V launch vehicle.
- April 4 - La, la, la by Massiel (music and text by Manuel de la Calva and Ramón Arcusa) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1968 for Spain.
- April 6 - A shootout between Black Panthers and Oakland police results in several arrests and deaths, including 16-year-old Panther Bobby Hutton.
- April 7 - Racing driver Jim Clark is killed in a Formula 2 race at Hockenheim.
- April 10 - The ferry Wahine strikes a reef at the entrance to Wellington Harbour, New Zealand, with the loss of 53 lives, during Cyclone Giselle, which provides the windiest conditions ever recorded in New Zealand.
- April 11 - Josef Bachmann tries to assassinate Rudi Dutschke, leader of the left-wing movement (APO) in Germany, and tries to commit suicide afterwards, failing in both, although Dutschke dies of his brain injuries 11 years later.
- April 11 - German left-wing students blockade the Springer Press HQ in Berlin and many are arrested (one of them Ulrike Meinhof).
- April 11 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968.
- April 20 - Pierre Elliott Trudeau becomes Canada's 15th Prime Minister.
- April 20 - English politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial Rivers of Blood Speech.
- April 23 - President Mobutu releases captured mercenaries in the Congo.
- April 23 - Surgeons at the Hôpital de la Pitié, Paris, perform Europe's first heart transplant, on Clovis Roblain.
- April 23 - The United Methodist Church is created by the union of the former Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren churches.
- April 23–30 - Vietnam War: Student protesters at Columbia University in New York City take over administration buildings and shut down the university (see main article Columbia University protests of 1968).
- April 29 - The musical Hair officially opens on Broadway.
- May - May of '68 is a symbol of the resistance of that generation. Agitations and strikes in Paris lead many youth to believe that a revolution is starting. Student and worker strikes, sometimes referred to as the French May, nearly bring down the French government.
- May 2 - The Israel Broadcasting Authority commences television broadcasts.
- May 3 - Patrick Wall's MP speech to the Conservative Association at Leeds University is stopped by a large crowd, and his wife Sheila Wall is knocked to the ground and kicked in ensuing scuffles. Leeds Students President Jack Straw says "this manhandling is deplorable."
- May 14 - The Beatles announce the creation of Apple Records in a New York press conference.
- May 15 - An outbreak of severe thunderstorms produces tornadoes causing massive damage and heavy casualties in Charles City, Iowa, Oelwein, Iowa, and Jonesboro, Arkansas.
- May 17 - The Catonsville Nine enter the Selective Service offices in Catonsville, Maryland, take dozens of selective service draft records, and burn them with napalm as a protest against the Vietnam War.
- May 19 - General elections are held in Italy.
- May 19 - Nigerian forces capture Port Harcourt and form a ring around the Biafrans. This contributes to a humanitarian disaster as the surrounded population already suffers from hunger and starvation.
- May 22 - The U.S. nuclear-powered submarine Scorpion sinks with 99 men aboard, 400 miles southwest of the Azores.
- May 29 - Football: Manchester United wins the European Cup Final, becoming the first English team to do so.
[edit] August
- August 5–8 - The Republican National Convention in Miami Beach, Florida nominates Richard Nixon for U.S. President and Spiro Agnew for Vice President.
- August 11 - The last steam passenger train service runs in Britain. A selection of British Rail steam locomotives make the 120-mile journey from Liverpool to Carlisle and return to Liverpool, before having their fires dropped for the last time (a working known as the Fifteen Guinea Special).
- August 18 - Two charter buses push into the Hida River on National Highway Route 41 in Japan, in an accident caused by heavy rain; 104 are killed.
- August 20 - The Prague Spring of political liberalization ends, as 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 5,000 tanks invade Czechoslovakia.
- August 21 - The Medal of Honor is posthumously awarded to James Anderson, Jr. — he is the first black U.S. Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor.
- August 24 - France explodes its first hydrogen bomb.
- August 22–30 - Police clash with anti-war protesters in Chicago, Illinois, outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention, which nominates Hubert Humphrey for U.S. President, and Edmund Muskie for Vice President.
- August 29 - Crown Prince Harald of Norway marries Sonja Haraldsen, the commoner he has dated for 9 years, in Oslo.
[edit] September
[edit] October
- October 2 - Tlatelolco massacre: A student demonstration ends in a bloodbath at La Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Tlatelolco, Mexico City, Mexico, 10 days before the inauguration of the 1968 Summer Olympics.
- October 3 - In Peru, Juan Velasco Alvarado takes power in a revolution.
- October 5 - Police baton civil rights demonstrators in Derry, Northern Ireland, marking the beginning of The Troubles.
- October 8 - Vietnam War - Operation Sealords: United States and South Vietnamese forces launch a new operation in the Mekong Delta.
- October 11 - Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission (Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele, Walter Cunningham). Mission goals include the first live television broadcast from orbit and testing the lunar module docking maneuver.
- October 11 - In Panama, a military coup d'état, led by Col. Boris Martinez and Col. Omar Torrijos, overthrows the democratically-elected (but highly controversial) government of President Arnulfo Arias. Within a year, Torrijos ousts Martinez and takes charge as de facto Head of Government in Panama.
- October 12–27 - The Games of the XIX Olympiad are held in Mexico City, Mexico.
- October 12 - Equatorial Guinea receives its independence from Spain.
- October 14 - Vietnam War: The United States Department of Defense announces that the United States Army and United States Marines will send about 24,000 troops back to Vietnam for involuntary second tours.
- October 16 - In Mexico City, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, 2 black Americans competing in the Olympic 200-meter run, raise their arms in a black power salute after winning, respectively, the gold and bronze medals for 1st and 3rd place.
- October 16 - Kingston, Jamaica is rocked by the Rodney Riots, provoked by the banning of Walter Rodney from the country.
- October 20 - Former U.S. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy marries Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis on the Greek island of Skorpios.
- October 31 - Vietnam War: Citing progress in the Paris peace talks, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces to the nation that he has ordered a complete cessation of "all air, naval, and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam" effective November 1.
[edit] November
[edit] December
- December 3 - The '68 Comeback Special marks the concert return of Elvis Presley.
- December 9 - Douglas Engelbart publicly demonstrates his pioneering hypertext system, NLS, in San Francisco.
- December 10 - Japan's biggest heist, the still-unsolved "300 million yen robbery", occurs in Tokyo.
- December 11 - The film Oliver!, based on the hit London and Broadway musical, opens in the U.S. after being released first in England. It goes on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus is also filmed on this date, but not released until 1996.
- December 13 - Brazilian president Artur da Costa e Silva decrees the AI-5 (or the Fifth Institutional Act), which lasts until 1978 and marks the beginning of the hard times of Brazilian military dictatorship.
- December 20 - The Zodiac Killer is believed to have shot Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday on Lake Herman Road, Benicia, San Francisco Bay, California.
- December 22 - David Eisenhower marries Julie Nixon, the daughter of U.S. President-elect Richard Nixon.
- December 22 - Mao Zedong advocates that educated youth in urban China be re-educated in the country. It marks the start of the "Up to the mountains and down to the villages" movement.
- December 24 - Apollo Program: U.S. spacecraft Apollo 8 enters orbit around the Moon. Astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William A. Anders become the first humans to see the far side of the Moon and planet Earth as a whole. The crew also reads from Genesis.
[edit] Undated
[edit] Ongoing
[edit] Births
[edit] January–February
- January 1 - Davor Suker, Croatian soccer player (footballer)
- January 2 - Cuba Gooding Jr., American actor (Jerry Maguire)
- January 5 - Andrzej Gołota, Polish boxer
- January 6 - John Singleton, African-American film director and writer
- January 9 - Joey Lauren Adams, American actress
- January 9 - Al Schnier, American rock guitarist
- January 12 - Keith Anderson, American country music singer-songwriter
- January 13 - Pat Onstad, Canadian footballer
- January 14 - LL Cool J, African-American rapper and actor
- January 15 - Chad Lowe, American actor
- January 24 - Mary Lou Retton, American gymnast
- January 24 - Michael Kiske, German musician
- January 26 - Novala Takemoto, Japanese author and fashion designer
- January 27 - Mike Patton, American singer
- January 28 - Sarah McLachlan, Canadian singer
- January 29 - Edward Burns, American actor
- January 29 - Sora Jung, Korean actress
- February 1 - Lisa Marie Presley, American singer
- February 1 - Mark Recchi, Canadian hockey player
- February 3 - Vlade Divac, Serbian basketball player
- February 5 - Roberto Alomar, American baseball player
- February 7 - Peter Bondra, Slovakian ice hockey player in the NHL
- February 8 - Gary Coleman, African-American actor (Different Strokes)
- February 10 - Atika Suri, Indonesian television newscaster
- February 10 - Laurie Foell, New Zealand/Australian actress
- February 12 - Chynna Phillips, American singer/actress
- February 13 - Kelly Hu, Asian-American actress and former fashion model
- February 14 - Jules Asner, American model and television personality
- February 14 - Nelson "Viscera" Frazier, Jr., American professional wrestler
- February 18 - Dennis Satin, German film director
- February 18 - Molly Ringwald, American actress, singer and dancer
- February 22 - Brad Nowell, American musician (d. 1996)
- February 22 - Jeri Ryan, American actress (Star Trek: Voyager)
- February 22 - Delphine Boel, out-of-wedlock daughter of King Albert II of Belgium
- February 25 - Sandrine Kiberlain, French actress
- February 25 - Evridiki, Cypriot singer
- February 27 - Matt Stairs, Canadian baseball player
[edit] March–April
- March 1 - Kunjarani Devi, Indian weightlifter
- March 1 - Kathryn Cressida, American actress
- March 1 - Muho Noelke, German Zen master
- March 2 - Daniel Craig, British actor
- March 4 - Patsy Kensit, British actress
- March 4 - Giovanni Carrara, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player
- March 6 - Moira Kelly, American actress
- March 10 - Thio Li-ann, Singaporean law academic and Nominated Member of Parliament
- March 11 - Lisa Loeb, American singer
- March 13 - Akira Nogami, Japanese professional wrestler
- March 14 - James Frain, British actor
- March 15 - Kahimi Karie, Japanese singer
- March 15 - Mark McGrath, American musician (Sugar Ray)
- March 15 - Terje Riis-Johansen, Norwegian politician
- March 16 - Trevor Wilson, American basketball player
- March 18 - Shinichiro Miki, Japanese seiyu (voice actor)
- March 19 - Mots'eoa Senyane, Lesotho diplomat
- March 22 - Øystein Aarseth, Norwegian musician (d. 1993)
- March 23 - Mike Atherton, English cricketer
- March 23 - Damon Albarn, English rock musician (Blur, Gorillaz)
- March 23 - Mitch Cullin, American novelist
- March 26 - Kenny Chesney, American musician
- March 26 - James Iha, American rock musician (The Smashing Pumpkins)
- March 28 - Iris Chang, American author (d. 2004)
- March 28 - Nasser Hussain, English cricketer
- March 29 - Lucy Lawless, New Zealand actress and singer
- March 30 - Céline Dion, Canadian singer (My Heart Will Go On)
- April 1 - Andreas Schnaas, German director
- April 1 - Julia Boutros, Lebanese singer
- April 3 - Sebastian Bach, West Indian-born rock musician (Skid Row)
- April 8 - Patricia Arquette, American actress
- April 14 - Anthony Michael Hall, American actor and singer
- April 15 - Stacey Williams, American model
- April 18 - David Hewlett, English born Canadian actor
- April 19 - Ashley Judd, American actress
- April 20 - J. D. Roth, American television host
- April 23 - Timothy McVeigh, American terrorist (d. 2001)
- April 24 - Stacy Haiduk, American actress
- April 24 - Yuji Nagata, Japanese professional wrestler
- April 28 - Howard Donald, British singer (Take That)
[edit] May–June
- May 1 - Oliver Bierhoff, German footballer
- May 1 - D'Arcy Wretzky, American musician
- May 4 - Julian Barratt, British comedian
- May 6 - Dave Levine, American millionaire (Sextoy Dave)
- May 7 - Traci Lords, American actress/porn star
- May 8 - Jamie Summers, American porn star
- May 9 - Marie-José Perec, French athlete
- May 10 - Darren Matthews, English professional wrestler
- May 12 - Tony Hawk, American skateboarder
- May 16 - Chingmy Yau, Hong Kong actress
- May 17 - Constance Menard, French professional dressage rider
- May 20 - Waisale Serevi, Fijian rugby player
- May 21 - Julie Vega, Filipino child actress and singer (d. 1985)
- May 26 - Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark
- May 27 - Jeff Bagwell, American baseball player
- May 27 - Frank Thomas, American baseball player
- May 28 - Kylie Minogue, Australian actress and singer
- June 1 - Jason Donovan, Australian actor and singer
- June 2 - Beetlejuice, African-American member of the Wack Pack (The Howard Stern Show)
- June 2 - Jon Culshaw, English comedian and impressionist
- June 9 - Alexandr Konovalov, Russian lawyer and politician
- June 10 - Bill Burr, American comedian
- June 10 - The D.O.C., African-American rapper
- June 13 - Denise Pearson, British singer (Five Star)
- June 20 - Peter Paige, American actor
- June 25 - Oleg Taktarov, Russian mixed martial artist
- June 26 - Iwan Roberts, Welsh footballer
- June 26 - Shannon Sharpe, American football player and commentator
- June 28 - Adam Woodyatt, British actor
- June 29 - Theoren Fleury, Canadian hockey player
- June 30 - Philip Anselmo, American musician
[edit] July–August
- July 5 - Ken Akamatsu, Japanese mangaka
- July 7 - Jorja Fox, American actress
- July 7 - Jeff VanderMeer, American writer
- July 8 - Akio Suyama, Japanese seiyu (voice actor)
- July 8 - Michael Weatherly, American actor
- July 10 - Hassiba Boulmerka, Algerian athlete
- July 15 - Stan Kirsch, American actor
- July 16 - Robin Nixon, American music producer
- July 16 - Dhanraj Pillay, Indian field hockey player
- July 16 - Barry Sanders, African-American football player
- July 17 - Darren Day, British actor and TV presenter
- July 19 - Jim Norton, American comedian
- July 21 - Johnnie Barnes, American football player
- July 22 - Rhys Ifans, Welsh actor
- July 23 - Gary Payton, African-American basketball player
- July 24 - Kristin Chenoweth, American soprano and actress
- July 27 - Julian McMahon, Australian actor
- July 30 - Robert Korzeniowski, Polish racewalker
- August 1 - Dan Donegan, American rock musician (Disturbed)
- August 3 - Rod Beck, American baseball player (d. 2007)
- August 5 - Colin McRae, Scottish rally car driver (d. 2007)
- August 9 - Gillian Anderson, American actress (The X-Files)
- August 9 - James Roy, Australian author
- August 9 - Eric Bana, Australian actor
- August 10 - Greg Hawgood, Canadian ice hockey player
- August 11 - Charlie Sexton, American guitarist, singer and songwriter
- August 12 - Andras Jones, American actor
- August 14 - Jason Leonard, English rugby player
- August 14 - Darren Clarke, Northern Irish professional golfer
- August 15 - Debra Messing, American actress (Will And Grace)
- August 17 - Ed McCaffrey, American football player
- August 17 - Bruno van Pottelsberghe, Belgian economist
- August 21 - Dina Carroll, British singer
- August 24 - Tim Salmon, American baseball player
- August 24 - Shoichi Funaki, Japanese professional wrestler
- August 25 - Stuart Murdoch, Scottish singer, songwriter and guitarist (Belle and Sebastian)
- August 25 - Rachael Ray, American television chef and host
- August 28 - Billy Boyd, Scottish actor
- August 31 - Hideo Nomo, Japanese baseball player
- August 31 - Valdon Dowiyogo, Nauruan politician and Australian football player
[edit] September–October
- September 1 - Mohamed Atta al Sayed, Egyptian terrorist (d. 2001)
- September 4 - Phill Lewis, American actor
- September 4 - Mike Piazza, American baseball player
- September 5 - Thomas Levet, French golfer
- September 7 - Marcel Desailly, French footballer
- September 10 - Big Daddy Kane, African-American hip-hop artist
- September 11 - Kay Hanley, American musician
- September 11 - Tetsuo Kurata, Japanese actor
- September 18 - Toni Kukoč, Croatian basketball player
- September 20 - Darrell Russell, American race car driver (d. 2004)
- September 20 - Phillipa Forrester, British TV presenter
- September 20 - Leah Pinsent, Canadian actress
- September 23 - Yvette Fielding, English television presenter
- September 25 - Will Smith, African-American rapper and actor (Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air)
- September 26 - James Caviezel, American actor (The Passion Of The Christ)
- September 26 - Michelle Meldrum American guitarist (d. 2008)
- September 28 - Naomi Watts, English-born Australian actress
- September 29 - Patrick Burns, American paranormal investigator and television personality
- September 29 - Samir Soni, Indian film and TV actor
- October 1 - Mark Durden-Smith, English television presenter
- October 1 - Jay Underwood, American actor
- October 2 - Victoria Derbyshire, British radio presenter
- October 3 - Paul Crichton, English footballer
- October 7 - Thom Yorke, British singer/songwriter
- October 8 - CL Smooth, African-American rapper
- October 10 - Feridun Düzağaç, Turkish rock music artist, singer and songwriter
- October 10 - Bart Brentjens, Dutch mountainbiker
- October 11 - Jane Krakowski, American actress
- October 12 - Hugh Jackman, Australian actor (X-Men)
- October 14 - Johnny Goudie, American musician
- October 14 - Matthew Le Tissier, English footballer
- October 15 - Didier Deschamps, French footballer
- October 15 - Jyrki 69, Finnish singer
- October 17 - Ziggy Marley, Jamaican musician and oldest son of Bob Marley
- October 19 - Rodney Carrington, American stand-up comic and country musician
- October 22 - Shaggy, Jamaican singer
- October 24 - Sal the Stockbroker, American comedian and radio writer (The Howard Stern Show)
- October 29 - Tsunku, Japanese singer, music producer, and song composer
- October 31 - Vanilla Ice, American rapper (Ice Ice Baby)
[edit] November–December
- November 1 - Silvio Fauner, Italian cross-country skier
- November 3 - Debbie Rochon, Canadian actress
- November 4 - Council Nedd II, American Anglican bishop
- November 4 - Daniel Landa, Czech composer, singer, actor and rallye racer.
- November 4 - Lee Germon, New Zealand cricketer
- November 8 - Parker Posey, American actress
- November 8 - Zara Whites, Dutch actress
- November 9 - Nazzareno Carusi, Italian pianist
- November 10 - Steve Brookstein, British singer
- November 10 - Petra Liebetanz, German-American photographer
- November 11 - David L Cook, Christian music singer and comedian
- November 12 - Sammy Sosa, Dominican Major League Baseball player
- November 13 - Pat Hentgen, baseball player
- November 14 - Serge Postigo, Canadian actor
- November 15 - Jennifer Charles, American singer
- November 15 - Ol' Dirty Bastard, African-American rapper (d. 2004)
- November 15 - Fausto Brizzi, Italian screenwriter and film director
- November 18 - Barry Hunter, Northern Irish footballer and football manager
- November 18 - Owen Wilson, American actor
- November 20 - John Trobaugh, American artist and photographer
- November 21 - Qiao Hong, Chinese table tennis player
- November 22 - Rasmus Lerdorf, Danish-Greenlandic creator of PHP
- November 23 - Hamid Hassani, Iranian scholar
- November 25 - Jill Hennessy, Canadian actress
- November 25 - Jacqueline Hennessy, Canadian actress and talk show host
- November 27 - Michael Vartan, French actor
- November 29 - Jonathan Knight, American singer
- December 2 - Nate Mendel, American rock musician (Foo Fighters)
- December 2 - Lucy Liu, Asian-American actress
- December 5 - Margaret Cho, Korean-American actress and comedian
- December 7 - Mark Geyer, Australian rugby league player
- December 7 - Filip Naudts, Belgian photographer
- December 8 - Mike Mussina, American baseball player
- December 8 - Michael Cole, American TV commentator (World Wrestling Entertainment)
- December 9 - Kurt Angle, American amateur and professional wrestler, 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist
- December 17 - Paul Tracy, Canadian race car driver
- December 18 - Rachel Griffiths, Australian actress
- December 24 - Choi Jin-sil, South Korean actress and model
- December 26 - Dennis Knight, American professional wrestler
[edit] Unknown dates
[edit] Deaths
[edit] January–March
- January 7 - Gholamreza Takhti, Iranian wrestler (b. 1930)
- January 15 - Bill Masterton, Canadian hockey player (b. 1938)
- January 19 - Ray Harroun, American race car driver (b. 1879)
- January 21 - Will Lang Jr., American journalist (b. 1914)
- January 22 - Duke Kahanamoku, American swimmer (b. 1890)
- January 26 - Merrill C. Meigs, American newspaper publisher and aviation promoter (b. 1883)
- January 30 - Robert Wood Johnson, American business leader and philanthropist (b. 1893)
- February 4 - Neal Cassady, American writer (b. 1926)
- February 7 - Nick Adams, American actor (b. 1931)
- February 11 - Howard Lindsay, American playwright (b. 1888)
- February 20 - Anthony Asquith, British director and writer (b. 1902)
- February 21 - Howard Walter Florey, Australian-born pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (b. 1898)
- February 22 - Peter Arno, American cartoonist (b. 1904)
- February 27 - Frankie Lymon, American singer (b. 1942)
- February 29 - Tore Ørjasæter, Norwegian poet (b. 1886)
- March 16 - Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Italian composer (b. 1895)
- March 16 - Leon Cadore, American baseball pitcher (b. 1890
- March 20 - Charles Chaplin Jr., American actor (b. 1925)
- March 23 - Edwin O'Connor, American novelist and Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (b. 1918)
- March 27 - Yuri Gagarin, Soviet cosmonaut, first human in space (b. 1934)
- March 30 - Bobby Driscoll, American child actor (b. 1937)
[edit] April–June
- April 1 - Lev Davidovich Landau, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)
- April 4 - Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., African-American civil rights activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (assassinated) (b. 1929)
- April 7 - Jimmy Clark, Scottish race car driver (b. 1936)
- April 10 - Gustavs Celmins, Latvian politician (b. 1899)
- April 14 - Al Benton, American baseball player (b. 1911)
- April 22 - Stephen H. Sholes, American record executive (b. 1911)
- April 25 - John Tewksbury, American athlete (b. 1876)
- May 7 - Mike Spence, British race car driver (b. 1936)
- May 9 - Mercedes de Acosta, American poet, playwright, costume designer, and socialite (b. 1893)
- May 9 - Marion Lorne, American actress (b. 1883)
- May 14 - Husband E. Kimmel, American admiral (b. 1882)
- June 1 - Helen Keller, American spokeswoman for the deaf and blind (b. 1880)
- June 2 - Jouett Shouse, American politician (b. 1879)
- June 6 - Robert F. Kennedy, U.S. Senator and U.S. Attorney General (assassinated) (b. 1925)
- June 6 - Randolph Churchill, British politician, son of Winston Churchill (b. 1911)
- June 14 - Salvatore Quasimodo, Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
- June 15 - Sam Crawford, American baseball player (b. 1880)
- June 24 - Tony Hancock, British comedian (b. 1924)
[edit] July–December
- July 6 - Johnny Indrisano, American boxer and actor (b. 1906)
- July 7 - Ellsworth Johnson, American gangster (b. 1906)
- July 18 - Corneille Heymans, Belgian physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)
- July 23 - Henry Hallett Dale, English scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1875)
- July 28 - Otto Hahn, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
- July 31 - Jack Pizzey, Premier of Queensland, Australia (b. 1911)
- August 19 - George Gamow, Ukrainian-born physicist (b. 1904)
- August 27 - Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent (b. 1906)
- August 29 - Ulysses S. Grant III, American soldier and planner (b. 1881)
- September 8 - Luther Perkins, American guitarist (b. 1928)
- September 12 - Tommy Armour, Scottish golfer (b. 1894)
- October 2 - Marcel Duchamp, French artist (b. 1887)
- October 9 - Pierre Mulele, Congolese revolutionary
- October 13 - Bea Benaderet, American actress (The Flintstones) (b. 1906)
- October 27 - Lise Meitner, German-Austrian physicist, discoverer of nuclear fission (b. 1878)
- October 30 - Rose Wilder Lane, American author and reporter (b. 1886)
- October 30 - Ramón Novarro, Mexican actor (b. 1899)
- November 4 - Michel Kikoine, Belarusian painter (b. 1892)
- November 6 - Charles Munch, French conductor and violinist (b. 1891)
- November 7 - Gordon Coventry, Australian rules footballer (b. 1901)
- November 13 - Berthold Bartosch, Czech animator (b. 1893)
- November 25 - Upton Sinclair, American writer (b. 1878)
- November 26 - Arnold Zweig, German writer (b. 1887)
- December 2 - Adamson-Eric, Estonian artist (b. 1902)
- December 10 - Karl Barth, German Protestant theologian (b. 1888)
- December 10 - Thomas Merton, American author (b. 1915)
- December 12 - Tallulah Bankhead, American actress (b. 1902)
- December 19 - Norman Thomas, American politician (b. 1884)
- December 20 - John Steinbeck, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
- December 30 - Trygve Lie, Norwegian United Nations Secretary General (the first) (b. 1896)
- December 30 - Vladimir Peter Tytla, American animator (b. 1904)
- December 31 - George Lewis, American musician (b. 1900)
[edit] Nobel Prizes
[edit] Academy Awards
- Best Picture: In the Heat of the Night, Walter Mirisch
- Best Foreign Language Film: Closely Watched Trains, Czechoslovakia
- Best Documentary Feature: The Anderson Platoon, Pierre Schoendoerffer
- Best Director: Mike Nichols, The Graduate
- Best Actor: Rod Steiger, In the Heat of the Night
- Best Actress: Barbra Streisand, Funny Girl and Katharine Hepburn, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
- Best Supporting Actor: George Kennedy, Cool Hand Luke
- Best Supporting Actress: Estelle Parsons, Bonnie and Clyde
- Best Original Screenplay: William Rose, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
- Best Adapted Screenplay: Stirling Silliphant, In the Heat of the Night
1968 was the only year of the twentieth century during which no British serviceman or servicewoman was killed in action.[2]
[edit] References
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
