1968. It was a turbulent year. Social and political cross-currents crested and clashed. Nearly every month brought a major event that captivated the country and, in time, etched its way into history. Those events turned on the major issues of that day — war, race, politics, gender.
The North Vietnamese Army launched a massive offensive. A presidential commission released a report on urban riots. President Lyndon Johnson announced he would not run again. Martin Luther King, Jr. and then Bobby Kennedy were assassinated. Protesters clashed with Chicago police outside the Democratic National Convention. A feminist “No More Miss America!” protest disrupted the beauty pageant. Olympic medalists gave a black power salute in Mexico City.
Fifty years later, WGBH News is marking the anniversaries of a dozen national events with stories, interviews and graphics that connect them to the Boston area. Our 1968 coverage looks back on that seminal year at a time when we find ourselves once again facing heightened social and political tensions.
