Nineteen sixty-eight was a busy year full of turmoil and discovery for America and world. Throughout the year, assassinations and citizen deaths terrified the country. Major social figures like Martin Luther King Jr and Robert Kennedy were killed in shows of political dissonance. Rampant sociopaths preyed on the fear already instilled within the American government.
Martin Luther King Jr played a vital role in the civil rights movement, making him the most publically known activist and the force behind the movement. His vast participation and association with the movement made King a prime target for hate crime. King was assassinated April 4, 1968 after being shot while leaving his hotel room in Memphis, Tennessee (Risen). The death of one of the most prominent activist was met with great resistance, causing riots in 125 cities, 21,000 arrest, and about 385 million dollars worth of damage in today’s currency (Risen). These riots would further divide America and unfortunately would not be the last assassination to shake the country.
Only two months after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, Robert Kennedy was assassinated on June 6th, 1968. The brother of President John F. Kennedy kept politics in the family, and following his brother’s assassination made a name for himself within the government. During the 1960s, the Arab-Israeli conflicts were at an all time high and as a candidate for president he made his support for Israel known. Sirhan Sirhan, the man who killed Kennedy, was Palestinian and strongly resented Kennedy because of he felt as if Kennedy was a danger to the Palestinians. Sirhan was displeased by Kennedy stating that Kennedy’s support to send 50 bombs to “that seemed as though it were a betrayal,” (A.P.). Having occurred so soon after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., Kennedy’s death caused a sense of national desperation, according to political scientist Ross Baker. It left the country in a state of shock and fear. Throughout the rest of the year, that fear fueled many advances, but also left the American people vulnerable.
On the west coast, a man who identified himself as the “Zodiac Killer” had just committed his first known murder. On December 20, 1968, the Zodiac Killer shot and killed high schoolers Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday (Biography.com). Faraday was killed by bullet to the head, and Jensen was killed by five shots to the back. The deaths continued, and soon the serial killer became notorious. The Zodiac Killer was known for being narcissistic and sociopathic. He left clues to his identity at the crime scene, and signed off on his deaths with a symbol that acted as his signature. He effectively mocked the police by sending letters to the police department and newspapers, because even with the clues they were not able to arrest or identify him. His letters were ciphered, and most still have not been decoded. In one letter he included the message, “I like killing people because it is so much fun” (Biography.com). To this day, the identity of the Zodiac Killer is still unknown, making the murders even more eery.
It was not just at home where things were going bad for the United States. Overseas the United States had become involved in the Vietnam War, starting with the Tet Offensive. According to History.com, “The Tet Offensive was a coordinated series of North Vietnamese attacks on more than 100 cities and outposts in South Vietnam.” The attack occurred on the dawn of the first day of the Tet, the celebration of the lunar new year, which had typically been an informal truce between North and South Vietnam. The offensive was used in order to create conflict amongst the South Vietnamese and cause the U.S to scale back their involvement in the Vietnam War. Although the North Vietnamese suffered heavy casualties and did not achieve conflict amongst the South Vietnamese, the Tet Offensive was still seen as a strategic victory.
With the Vietnam War came anti-war protests. The protests started as conflict in Vietnam rose, and had begun years before the offensive. Protests began because the United States was fighting a war some believed they had no place in. The United States got involved to fight against communism, but many Americans did not see this and wondered why we were involved in a different country’s civil war. Following protests, many U.S government supporters of the war started talking about scaling back. President Johnson announced he’d be scaling back bombing, sparing 90% of the communist-held territory, and called for negotiations to end the war. (History.com). Overall, the Vietnam War is considered to be a loss for America, and the fight against communism took a backseat in politics.
After the Vietnam War, America’s tension with Russia continued to rise. Besides the Vietnam War and other components of the Cold War, the United States and Russia had also been involved in what was deemed an unofficial “space race”. Two of the biggest powers at the time were going back and forth, trying to assert technological dominance. The United States proved dominant and in December of 1968, NASA launched the first manned rocket into space. This was important because it showed Russia our capabilities as a nation and showed the citizens of the United States hope for the future. Apollo 8 astronaut Jim Lovell recalled the launch of the spacecraft as, “an uplift after what had been a poor year,” (Brice), and Apollo 7 astronaut Walter Cunningham described the mission as, “a big psychological step.” (Brice).
Nineteen sixty-eight proved to be a chaotic year for American citizens. Emotions ran high, and although the year ended with the successful launch of Apollo 8, it was a year filled mainly with defeat and tragedy. Politically motivated assassinations transformed the social rights movement, and changed the face of the presidential election. Citizens were fearful for the country, and with the Tet Offensive, and Vietnam War on the horizon, began to distrust their government. A rampant murderer in the West worked to prove this by mocking the police and killing without consequence. Until this point, American history had never seen a year that was able to divide a country, and bring it together at the same simultaneously in the way 1968 did.