19681968The Dawning of the “Age of

Aquarius”?

THE TET OFFENSIVEJanuary

• Vietnamese New Year

• North Vietnamese attacked over 100 South Vietnamese and American villages and military bases

• Heavy American casualties

Changes American attitudes towards the war

ASSASSINATION OF REV. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

April

• American Civil Rights Movement

• MLK killed after giving a speech to striking sanitation workers in Alabama

• “I have been to the mountaintop”

• Leads to riots in most major American cities

UNIVERSITY PROTESTS

Beginning in the United States, university students began to protest:– The war in Vietnam– The irrelevance of

their courses and the lack of professors who could actually teach

– Various social problems (civil rights, freedom of speech, feminism)

FRANCEUniversity Students and Workers Protest

• French university students in Nanterre outside Paris protest what they perceive as an inferior education

• By Spring the protests have spread to the Sorbonne

• Student protestors marching in Paris are attacked by the police

• Workers join the protest• 9 million go on strike for better wages and

inclusion in decision-making• President de Gaulle sends in tanks• By June, the demands of the workers are met

and the strikes end

President de Gaulle resigned 10 months later

“PRAGUE SPRING”

Fall, 1967• Alexander Dubcek chosen as head of

Czech Communist Party • He called for more social and political

openness – Ends censorship of press– Secret ballot for elections– Allows political parties other than the

Communist Party

• Czechs began to hope for a new type of communism – “socialism with a human face”

AlexanderDubcek

• Problem: How to allow more freedom without causing Soviet interference?

• The openness in Czechoslovakia threatened neighboring Communist governments who did not want to see revolutions on their own nations

• Dubcek’s refusal to attend a Communist Party convention in Moscow was the excuse needed for invasion

• Soviet and Polish troops invaded in August, 1968

• Czech citizens peacefully resisted

• The Soviets won, removing Dubcek and other reformers from power

• Czech resistance went underground but it continued until the Fall of the Soviet Union in 1989

RFK ASSASSINATED June

• The war in Vietnam led President Johnson to decide not to run for re-election

• In April Senator Kennedy entered the race

• He was against the war and supported the Civil Rights Movement and Johnson's “Great Society”

• RFK gained the support of young Americans, Catholics, Blacks, Hispanics

• After winning the California Primary on June 5, it seemed almost certain he would win the Democratic nomination

• Shortly after winning the California Primary, Kennedy was shot by Sirhan Sirhan – the reasons were never disclosed

• Kennedy died the next day

• If Kennedy had lived, he would almost certainly have been the Democratic candidate for president.

• There would have been no student riots at the 1968 Democratic convention

• Nixon possibly would not have been elected president

AUTHORITARIAN AUTHORITARIAN CRACKDOWNSCRACKDOWNS

Soviet Union

• “Brezhnev Doctrine” – the Soviet Union has the right to intervene in satellite nations when communism/socialism is threatened

• “The shock of our tanks crushing the Prague Spring . . . convinced us that the Soviet colossus was invincible.” said one Russian liberal

• Large numbers of Eastern European liberals, artists, Jews and intellectuals defect to the West

United States

• Election of Richard Nixon as president• Americans decided that peace and

increased authority at home was important

• Nixon will increase number of troops sent to Vietnam and began the bombing of Cambodia which led to the Kent State demonstrations and killings in 1970

SOCIAL CHANGESSOCIAL CHANGES

The Summer Olympics in Mexico City

• Vera Caslavska• Czech• Gymnast – best in

the word at the time• Lowers her head

during the Soviet National Anthem as protest over their invasion of her homeland

• John Carlos and Tommie Smith

• First and third places in 200 metre run

• Give the Black Power Salute while the U.S. National Anthem is being played

The Catholic Church

• Vatican II ended in 1965 • Most Catholics are just

beginning to experience the changes

• Many Catholics are happy; but others are angry and some leave the Church

Vatican II

• Pope Paul VI issues the encyclical Humanae Vitae = on Human Life

• Condemns the use of artificial contraception, including the birth control pill

• Leads to protests within the Church

• This is the first time that a Church teaching has been so widely ignored by so many Catholics

Art and Music

The art of Andy Warhol

Bob DylanThe Mamas and the Papas

The Rolling Stones

The Beatles

The Rock Musical “Hair”

• Debutes on Broadway in 1968

• The first rock musical

• Immensly popular• Hit songs:

– Hair– Age of Aquarius– Let the Son Shine– Easy To Be Hard

Apollo 8• Dec. 21 launch• On Christmas Eve, while

circling the moon, Commander Lovell read:

• “In the beginning, God created the heaven and earth . . . And God said, “Let there be light and there was light. And God made the two great lights . . . He made the stars also “

What was the overall importance of 1968, both politically and culturally?