February 1968

<< February 1968 >>
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
010203
04050607080910
11121314151617
18192021222324
2526272829
February 1, 1968: RCAF, RCN and Army merge as Canadian Armed Forces
February 10, 1968: The smaller Boeing 737 begins service
February 29, 1968: Kerner Commission releases report on 1967 riots
February 9, 1968: The four mile Rotterdam subway opens

The following events occurred in February 1968:

February 1, 1968 (Thursday)
  • The Royal Canadian Air Force, the Royal Canadian Navy and the Canadian Army merged to form the unified Canadian Armed Forces.[1] The 105,000 members all wore the same type of "dull-green uniform" to replace the distinct sailors, soldiers, and airmen standard issue; naval rank designations were retained, but the insignia for seagoing armed forces officers was similar to those used by those in the army or air force, with a common symbol for a navy captain and an army colonel, or an army captain and a navy lieutenant .[2]
  • In the United States, the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central Railroad merged to form the "Penn Central", the service name for the new corporation officially called the "Pennsylvania New York Central Transportation Company". The merger took effect at 12:10 a.m. Eastern time, and, at $4.29 billion, was the biggest in corporate history at the time.[3] The last obstacle to the combination was cleared when the United States Supreme Court concluded on January 15 that it would not violate antitrust laws.[4]
  • Former U.S. Vice President Richard M. Nixon announced his candidacy for the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States.[5][6] Nixon had been the Republican candidate in 1960 but lost to John F. Kennedy.
  • The day after the Tet Offensive had seen a massive attack on South Vietnam's capital, Saigon's police chief, Brigadier General Nguyen Ngoc Loan, displayed a captured Viet Cong officer, Nguyen Van Lem, to a group of reporters. As the journalists watched, the chief pulled out a .38 caliber revolver and executed the Viet Cong prisoner with a single shot to the head at point-blank range.[7] Photographer Eddie Adams captured the moment in an iconic photo.[8] In addition, a crew for the American NBC television network filmed the event and the footage was broadcast on the Huntley-Brinkley Report the following night.[9]
  • At the Columbus Zoo outside of Columbus in Powell, Ohio, a gorilla was born to Colo— who had, on December 22, 1956, been the first gorilla born in captivity[10] — marking the first time in recorded history that a second generation of gorillas had been born in a zoo.[11] Colo's offspring, a female, would be named "Emmy".[12]
  • The USS Rowan collided with the Soviet merchant ship Kapitan Vislobokov in the Sea of Japan, roughly 95 miles east of the South Korea port of Pohang, leaving a six-foot wide hole in the Russian vessel's stern, but causing no injuries.[13]
  • Minimum wage in the United States was raised from $1.40 an hour to $1.60 an hour.[14]
  • Vince Lombardi resigned as head coach of the Green Bay Packers following their win in Super Bowl II, and retained his job as the team's general manager.[15]
  • Born:
  • Died: Lawson Little, 57, American golfer who won the U.S. Open in 1940

February 2, 1968 (Friday)
  • Hilmar Baunsgaard became the new Prime Minister of Denmark after King Frederik IX approved the forming a coalition government[16] of Baunsgaard's leftist Social Liberal Party with the Conservative People's Party and the center-right Venstre Party encompassing a majority (99 of 179 seats) in Denmark's parliament, the Folketing. Baunsgaard replaced Jens Otto Krag, whose Social Democrats had won 62 seats, more than any of the other parties but far from a majority.[17]
  • Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia 76ers performed the first, and only, "triple double double" in National Basketball Association history, with 22 points, 25 rebounds and 21 assists in a 131 to 121 win at home over the Detroit Pistons.[18][19]
  • The United States 1st Cavalry Division was able to take back the city of Quang Tri from the Viet Cong two days after the provincial capital had been taken during the Tet Offensive.[20]
  • In Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR), President Jean-Bedel Bokassa, President Joseph Mobutu of the Congo, and President Francois Tombalbaye of Chad agreed to form the Union of Central African States (UEAC, the Union des etats de l'Afrique centrale). Ten months after setting up the alliance, Bokassa would announce the CAR's withdrawal.[21]
  • British Musicians Ian Anderson, Jeffrey Hammond and John Evan, who had played under various billings such as "Navy Blue", "Ian Anderson's Bag o'Nails" and "Bag o'Blues", appeared in concert for the first time under the name that they would become their trademark, Jethro Tull. Their talent agent, Dave Robson, had suggested that they borrow the name of an 18th Century agriculturalist and inventor, the Viscount Jethro Tull (1674–1741), who had invented the horse-drawn seed drill that revolutionized agriculture. Robson's reasoning was that the name "had a nice grubby farmer sound to it".[22]
  • Deputy U.S. Secretary of Defense Paul H. Nitze inaugurated a program to curtail the growing use of marijuana among U.S. troops fighting in the Vietnam War.[23]
  • U.S. and North Korean officials met for the first time at Panmunjom regarding the recent seizure of the USS Pueblo by North Korean forces.[24]
  • Born: Kenny Albert, American sportscaster, in New York

February 3, 1968 (Saturday)

February 4, 1968 (Sunday)
  • Eleven students from the Jesuit University of Guadalajara died in a sudden snowstorm that overwhelmed their party of 29 who were attempting to climb the 17,343 feet (5,286 m) Iztaccihuatl volcano. The hikers had gotten as far as the 14,100 feet (4,300 m) level when they were trapped by the weather.[28]
  • Nine residents, all transients, of the Hotel Roosevelt on Boston's skid row died in a fire, and another 15 were injured.[29]
  • The SR.N4 (Saunders-Roe Nautical 4), the world's largest hovercraft, was launched. It would enter commercial service on August 1, and would run for 22 years, ceasing on October 1, 2000.[30]
  • Martin Luther King Jr., returned to the Ebenezer Baptist Church where he had been pastor, and delivered what would prove to be his final sermon there. Made two months before his assassination on April 4, his sermon was titled "The Drum Major Instinct", about the human desire for recognition of one's good works. Citing Mark 10:35, King would go on to say that one's ambition should be a life of service, and added, "I just want to leave a committed life behind." A recording of the sermon would be played at King's funeral.[31]
  • Porsche automobiles came in first, second and third place in the 24 Hours of Daytona motor event. The winning car, the new Porsche 907, was so far ahead of the second place team, that "five unnecessary driver changers were made in the last two hours, so each member of the Porsche team could share the honor of the triumph"; when the 24 hours came to an end, the three Porsches "swept across the finish line abreast, taking the checkered flag of victory together".[32]
  • Died: Neal Cassady, 43, American icon of the Beat Generation, was found in a coma beside a railroad track outside of San Miguel de Allende in Mexico, and died in a hospital without regaining consciousness.[33]

February 5, 1968 (Monday)
  • All but one of the 19 crew on the British fishing trawler Ross Cleveland died when the ship capsized in a storm and sank off the coast of Isafjordur at Iceland. The only survivor was the ship's 59-year old cook, who managed to escape before the ship was seen to go down. The Ross Cleveland was the third fishing vessel from the English port of Hull to have been lost in Iceland within less than a month; the St Romanus had disappeared on January 11 and the Kingston Peridot had vanished on January 26, each with twenty crew on board.[34][35]
  • Greece passed legislation to end a practice that had been given the name "baby marketing", with parents legally selling their infants to brokers who would then resell them to purchasers in the United States and the Netherlands. According to the laws proponents, "A boy, purchased on the Greek market for around $US400 could fetch from $3,000 to $5,000 in America. Girls were said to sell for about half that figure." In 1966, the number of babies "exported" from Greece was claimed to be 1,000 per year. Under the new law, no Greek child, being adopted by a foreigner, would be allowed to leave the country until a social worker filed a report and a court gave its approval.[36]
  • A conference to reform the Constitution of Canada opened in Ottawa.[37]
  • Born:
  • Died: Luckey Roberts (Charles Luckyth Roberts), 80, African-American pianist and composer known for "Moonlight Cocktail"

February 6, 1968 (Tuesday)

February 7, 1968 (Wednesday)
  • All 102 people aboard an Indian Air Force plane, many of them members of The Garhwal Rifles, were lost when the Antonov An-12 disappeared in the Himalayan mountains while flying to Chandigarh from Leh.[42] No trace of the plane would be found for 33 years until an Italian mountaineering expedition's discovery of several Garhwal Rifle badges in 2001. In 2003, glacial movement at the 17,323 feet (5,280 m) level of one of the Chandrabhaga Peaks of the Dhaka Glacier would lead to the disinterment of several aircraft parts and the body of one of the servicemen, Bali Ram.[43] Three more bodies would be found in 2007[44] On August 31, 2013, another soldier's remains would be recovered, although most of the servicemen remain entombed under the ice.[45][46]
  • Shortly after midnight, the Battle of Khe Sanh and the Vietnam War took a new turn as the North Vietnamese Army attacked with tanks and other armored vehicles for the first time.[47] The 304th Division of the North Vietnamese Army overran the U.S. Army Special Forces camp at Lang Vei with 11 Soviet PT-76 tanks.[48] In all, 316 defenders of the camp would be killed; all but seven of them were Montagnards fighting for South Vietnam and members of the Royal Laotian Army.[49]
  • "It became necessary to destroy the town to save it" became one of the most famous quotes arising out of the Vietnam War, as a news story by Associated Press war correspondent Peter Arnett was published worldwide about the death and destruction caused by American forces during the retaking of the South Vietnamese coastal city of Ben Tre. At least 1,000 civilians had died and 45 percent of Ben Tre's buildings were destroyed in the bombardment by American airplanes and shelling by U.S Navy ships, a measure taken as a last resort after 2,500 Viet Cong had taken control of the city. The quote (often restated as "We had to destroy the village in order to save it") was attributed by Arnett to "a U.S. major"; later in the story, Arnett referred to his interview with U.S. Air Force Major Chester L. Brown, who had directed the bombing.[50] The phrase, however, was actually coined by the reporter; Arnett asked the question, "So you had to destroy the village in order to save it?" and then attributed the words to Major Brown.[51]
  • Nine people were killed and 69 others injured in a fire and subsequent explosions at a meat-packing plant in Chicago. The blast, which occurred at 4:27 in the afternoon, happened when a gasoline tanker truck was traveling through an alley behind the Mickelberry's Food Products plant at 801 West 49th Place, and struck a pipe on the plant's outside wall. The tank ruptured, sending a pool of gasoline into the plant's basement, where it reached a furnace and ignited. Five people were killed immediately, and four more died of their burn injuries.[52]
  • Born:
  • Died: Nick Adams, 36, American television actor best known for starring in the TV series The Rebel, apparently of a drug overdose; the inquest could not agree whether his death was suicide or an accident, but murder has also been suggested.[53]

February 8, 1968 (Thursday)
  • The Orangeburg massacre took place in Orangeburg, South Carolina, when officers of the South Carolina Highway Patrol fired into a crowd of African-American students on the South Carolina State College campus.[54][55][56] Three students — Harry Ezekial Smith, 19; Samuel Hammond Jr., 18; and Delano Middleton, 17 — were killed, another 27 were wounded. Middleton, a high school student, had been visiting friends on the campus, and was shot four times.[57] On Monday, the college's NAACP chapter had organized a move to desegregate the All-Star Bowling Lanes near the campus; a brawl broke out the next day when more African-American students showed up at the bowling alley, and the day after, tensions were high as SCSC students made plans to picket the Orangeburg City Hall. The triggering incident was when a group of students was building a bonfire at the edge of the campus near the highway patrolmen's command post; someone threw a piece of wood and, whether intended or accidentally, it struck a patrolman. When other officers saw the man fall down, they began firing into the crowd.[58]
  • Former Alabama Governor George C. Wallace formally announced his intention to run as an independent candidate in the 1968 United States presidential election.[59]
  • The classic science fiction film Planet of The Apes premiered in New York City.[60]
  • Born: Gary Coleman, American child actor and star of the situation comedy Diff'rent Strokes; in Zion, Illinois (died 2010)
  • Died: Samuel Ephesians Hammond Jr., 18, Delano Herman Middleton, 17, and Henry Ezekial Smith, 19, students killed in the Orangeburg massacre[56]

February 9, 1968 (Friday)
  • The Netherlands inaugurated its very first subway transit system, the Rotterdam Metro, with the opening of one of the world's smallest subway systems. For its first 14 years of existence, the city's Metro, ceremonially opened by Crown Princess Beatrix, had only 3.7 miles (6.0 km) of track. However, it was successful in easing the city's traffic jams; a reporter noted that during rush hour, "Instead of taking 90 minutes by car, Rotterdam's communters can now do the trip from one end of the town to the other in 12 minutes by subway."[61]
  • The Soviet government newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, whose audience was the young Communist Party members who belonged to the Party's youth wing, the Komsomol, published an unusually frank admission that the Soviet Union lagged behind the capitalist Western nations in almost every aspect of economic development. Noting that a 1961 prediction by former party leader Nikita Khrushchev— that the Soviet Union would surpass the United States in its standard of living by 1970— was not going to happen and was not even close to occurring, the newspaper survey presented statistics that Soviet citizens had 6.75% as many automobiles, one-fourth the number of radios, less than half as much new clothing and half as much meat and dairy products as Americans. The survey noted, however, that the Soviets were ahead in the number of physicians, the amount spent per student on education, and the amount of housing construction.[62]
  • Twenty-one people in Ceylon were killed while riding from the capital city of Colombo, after the bus that they were in fell 150 feet off of a cliff.[63]
  • Born: Alejandra Guzmán, Mexican singer-songwriter and actress who had a #1 hit in 2005 with "Volverte a Amar"; in Mexico City, the daughter of actress Silvia Pinal and singer Enrique Guzmán

February 10, 1968 (Saturday)

February 11, 1968 (Sunday)

February 12, 1968 (Monday)

February 13, 1968 (Tuesday)

February 14, 1968 (Wednesday)
  • The second tallest man-made structure in the world, the 2,060 feet (630 m) tall KXJB Tower at Galesburg, North Dakota, near Fargo, was accidentally knocked down by a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter that was on a training flight from Grand Forks Air Force Base. All four men on the helicopter were killed after the aircraft struck a supporting guy-wire and then the television tower itself. Fargo's CBS affiliate, KXJB Channel 4 (now KRDK-TV), went off the air. The tower had been second in height only to the world's tallest man-made structure, the nearby KTHI tower, which was 2,068 feet (630 m) tall.[76]
  • U.S. Army General Earle G. Wheeler, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called a press conference after rumors circulated that he had told a closed congressional committee hearing that he would not rule out using nuclear weapons in the Vietnam War. Asked about the prospect of a nuclear strike to prevent the fall of the critical Khe Sanh Combat Base, General Wheeler did not completely reject using atomic bombs, and said, "I do not think they will be required to defend Khe Sanh but I refuse to speculate any further."[77]
  • Born: Scott McClellan, White House Press Secretary for U.S. President George W. Bush from 2003 to 2005; in Austin, Texas
  • Died: Pierre Veuillot, 55, French cardinal and Roman Catholic Archbishop of Paris, died of leukemia

February 15, 1968 (Thursday)

February 16, 1968 (Friday)
  • The world's first 9-1-1 emergency call was placed in Haleyville, Alabama, by Alabama Speaker of the House Rankin Fite, from the Haleyville City Hall; the call was routed by the operator to the city's police station, where it was referred to U.S. Representative Tom Bevill.[81] The United Kingdom had introduced the 9–9–9 emergency call in 1968.[82][83]
  • With cameras rolling, North Vietnam released three American prisoners of war, the first of nine, to the custody of peace activists Daniel Berrigan and Howard Zinn.[84] As part of the propaganda event, the POWs each "expressed their thanks to their captors for the humane and lenient treatment" that they had received, and "expressed remorse over the war". All but one of the nine met the order of release approved by the senior ranking officers (SROs) in each POW camp ("sick and injured first, then enlisted personnel, and the remaining officers by order of shoot-down". The exception would be a Navy seaman who was given permission by his superiors to accept release because he had memorized the names of all his fellow prisoners of war.[85]
  • The Selective Service System of the United States revised its rules for deferments and exemptions from the draft, allowing the induction of most graduate students who were pursuing a master's degree, a decision that affected 600,000 men.[86] Students in medical school, dental school, or other health field remained exempt, as did those in a theological seminary who planned on "going into ministry".[87]
  • The crash of a Taiwanese Civil Air Transport airlines Boeing 727 killed 21 of the 63 people on board when the plane attempted an emergency landing while flying from Hong Kong to Taipei.[88] At the time, C.A.T. was largely owned and secretly operated by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.[88]
  • An arsonist killed 12 people inside a bar at the Randolph Hotel at 107 West Reed Street in Moberly, Missouri. William Edward Coleman, angry after having been banned from buying drinks at the Randolph Tavern, was identified as the man walked in with a five-gallon bucket filled with gasoline, splashed it throughout the tavern, then set fire to it at about 3:00 in the afternoon. The four women and eight men who were killed had rushed to the back of the bar in the mistaken belief that they were heading to an exit.[89][90] Coleman would be convicted of the murder of one of the victims on September 25, 1969 and sentenced to death,[91] which would become a sentence of life imprisonment after the 1972 decision invalidating existing capital punishment laws.
  • The NBC television network announced that Star Trek, tentatively set for cancellation, would be renewed for a third season. With the decision having been made following a well-publicized letter writing campaign, a voiceover at the close of that evening's episode informed the viewers and asked that no further mail be sent.[92][93]
  • Born: Warren Ellis, British comic book writer (Transmetropolitan, Planetary)

February 17, 1968 (Saturday)

February 18, 1968 (Sunday)
The Emir of Dubai
  • The emirs of Abu Dhabi and Dubai met at the village of as-Sameeh and announced their decision to make a federation of their two emirates, in what would be the first step in creating the United Arab Emirates. At the close of their announcement, Emir Zayed of Abu Dhabi and Emir Rashid of Dubai invited the rulers of the five other kingdoms within the British protectorate (known then as the "Trucial States") to join them in a union. On February 27, the rulers of the seven other Trucial States, as well as those of the emirates of Bahrain and Qatar, would sign a pledge to form a "Federation of Arab Emirates".[99] By the time that the area was granted on December 2, 1971, however, the UAE would consist of six of the seven states (Abu Dhabi and Dubai, as well as Ajman, Fujairah, Kalba and Sharjah), but not Bahrain or Qatar. The seventh state, Ras al-Khaimah, would join two months later.[100]
  • The first snowboarding contest was held, a couple of years after the creation of the sport in which skiers ride a laminated wooden board in the same manner of a surfboard. The competition took place at the Muskegon State Park outside Muskegon, Michigan at a slope called Blockhouse Hill.[101]
  • The leaders of China's Communist Party, its State Council, its Central Military Committee and the Central Cultural Revolution Panel announced the "Notice of February 18", directing financial institutions to freeze the bank deposits of on any persons accused of being part of ten categories of undesirables ("traitors, spies, capitalist roaders in the communist party, landlords, rich peasants, counterrevolutionaries, bad elements, rightists who have not been well reformed, counterrevolutionary bourgeois and counterrevolutionary intellectuals").[102]
  • Born:

February 19, 1968 (Monday)
  • Misterogers Neighborhood (later called Mister Rogers' Neighborhood), described at the time by one critic as "probably the finest children's television series ever made",[103] debuted nationwide in the U.S. on National Educational Television at 5:30 in the afternoon. While Presbyterian minister and child psychologist Fred Rogers had been on the air on Pittsburgh's WQED-TV since 1963, and had expanded by 1966 to some other educational stations in Chicago and along the east coast, it had run out of funding until the Sears Roebuck Foundation and the Ford Foundation made grants for new productions; the show had gone off the air in 1967, but was shown in reruns on stations after parents of preschoolers and young children demanded its return.[103] It would then continue as a staple of Public Broadcasting System programming after NET's assets were acquired by PBS and would continue until Rogers's retirement on August 31, 2001.
  • The International Court of Justice, commonly known as the "World Court", settled the dispute between India and Pakistan over the Rann of Kutch salt marshes on the border between the two nations. The three member arbitration panel awarded 90% of the Rann to India and 10% to Pakistan.[104] With the exception of granting Pakistan the northern part of Rann, the panel restored the area to the areas occupied before the 1965 war between the two nations.[105]
  • The Florida Education Association, a labor union for most of the schoolteachers in Florida, called the first statewide teachers' walkout in American history, forcing the closure of the schools in 51 of Florida's 67 counties.[106][107] The unprecedented statewide walkout would continue for a month, and would inspire similar teacher strikes elsewhere in the United States.
  • Fifteen of the 20 crew on the Panamanian cargo ship Capitaine Frangos were killed when the ship sank after colliding with an unidentified ship at the entrance to the Dardanelles in Turkey.[108]
  • A vote, in Canada's House of Commons, to raise income taxes by five percent, failed 82 to 84. Led by former Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, opposition members of the Progressive Conservative Party called on Liberal Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson and his coalition government to resign and to call new elections. Pearson— whose Liberal Party was looking for his successor in the wake of his announced retirement— declined to step down.[109]

February 20, 1968 (Tuesday)

February 21, 1968 (Wednesday)

February 22, 1968 (Thursday)

February 23, 1968 (Friday)
  • The newly incorporated Hyundai Motor Company of South Korea, represented by its president, Chung Ju-yung, signed an agreement with the Ford Motor Company of the United States for a joint venture in which Ford Motor would supply Hyundai with the technology and equipment to construct a plant in Ulsan, in return for a percentage of the profits.[126]
  • The first victim of a Scottish serial killer, nicknamed "Bible John" by the media, was found in Glasgow. Patricia Docker, a 25 year old nurse, had been raped and strangled after having last been seen at a Glasgow dance hall.[127]
  • Died: Fannie Hurst, 82, American novelist and short story writer

February 24, 1968 (Saturday)

February 25, 1968 (Sunday)

February 26, 1968 (Monday)

February 27, 1968 (Tuesday)
  • "Report from Vietnam by Walter Cronkite", a 30-minute installment of a CBS News special, aired at 10:30 in the evening Eastern time. At the close of the program, the host of the CBS Evening News told an audience of nine million viewers, "It seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate... it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could. This is Walter Cronkite. Good night."[143] Although U.S. President Johnson is said to have remarked to advisers the next day that "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost the war!" (or in some accounts, "I've lost the American people."), historian W. Joseph Campbell would note after research that "Under scrutiny, the 'Cronkite moment' dissolves as illusory— a chimera, a media-driven myth."[144]
  • U.S. President Johnson visited Dallas for the first time since he had been sworn in as President at Dallas Love Field on November 22, 1963. Johnson spoke to about 10,000 delegates of National Rural Electric Cooperative convention and told them that he believed that the Vietnam War had reached "a turning point".[145]
  • Born: Matt Stairs, Canadian Major League Baseball designated hitter; in Saint John, New Brunswick
  • Died: Frankie Lymon, 25, American rhythm and blues singer who achieved a hit at age 13 with "Why Do Fools Fall in Love", died of a heroin overdose.[146]

February 28, 1968 (Wednesday)
  • The township of Auroville was founded in India's union territory of Pondicherry by Hindu spiritual leader Mirra Alfassa, and named for her mentor, Sri Aurobindo. In the inaugural ceremony, "about 5,000 people from some 125 nations gathered at a banyan tree in the future city", each bringing some dirt from their homelands to be placed in an urn. Forty years later, Auroville (which originally was conceived as home to 50,000 people) had 1,700 residents from 35 nations.[147]
  • Canada's Prime Minister Pearson won a vote of confidence in the House of Commons of Canada by a margin of 138 to 119, bringing an end to the crisis that had begun nine days earlier when his tax proposal failed.[148]
  • The annual Rio Carnival in Rio de Janeiro ended on Ash Wednesday after four days with 83 deaths (14 of them murders) and more than 5,000 injuries.[149]
  • All but one of the 23 servicemen on board a U.S. Marines helicopter were killed when the CH-46 Sea Knight was struck by ground fire and crashed about 11 miles (18 km) northeast of the Khe Sanh Combat Base.[150]
  • Soul on Ice, the classic memoir of African-American activist Eldridge Cleaver, was released by the McGraw-Hill Publishing Company.[151]
  • Several changes took place within the First Gorton Ministry of the new Australian government, including the renaming of Charles Barnes' department as the Minister for External Territories. Future Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser joined the Cabinet as Minister for Education and Science, as did Ken Anderson as Minister for Supply.
  • Michigan Governor George Romney became the first major presidential candidate to withdraw from the 1968 campaign. Romney had declared his intention to seek the nomination of the Republican Party, but concluded that he was well behind former U.S. Vice President Richard M. Nixon in raising funds for the New Hampshire primary.[152]
  • Died:

February 29, 1968 (Thursday)
  • The Brussels Convention of 1968, subtitled "on the mutual recognition of companies and bodies corporate within the EEC", was signed in the Belgium capital by the representatives of the six (European Economic Community) members (France, Italy, West Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg).[153]
  • A political crisis began in Poland when the Polish Writers' Union voted to condemn encroachments on the right to free speech.[154]
  • In the continuing reforms of the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia, the Writers’ Union published the first copy of the magazine Literární listy to not require the approval of government censors.[155]
  • The Kerner Commission (officially, The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders) released its report on the riots of the previous summer and highlighted racial discrimination in the United States as a primary cause.[156] The 426-page report became a national bestseller, with two million copies purchased, and summarized the problem with the ominous warning, "Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal."[157][158]
  • U.S. President Johnson made an unscheduled appearance at the Pentagon for the farewell ceremony for outgoing Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara. Johnson became the first U.S. president to be trapped in an elevator when he, the Secretary and 11 other people were caught between the second and third floor when the elevator became stuck. It took another 12 minutes before maintenance men could release them. Johnson joked, "I never knew it took so long to get to the top in the Pentagon," while McNamara said "This is what's wrong with there being 29 days in February."[159]
  • For the fourth time in the 20th century, a supernova within the spiral galaxy NGC 6946 was observed from Earth,[160] at least 22 million years after it had occurred. Swiss astronomer Paul Wild and Canadian astronomer David Dunlap, working independently of each other, both detected the supernova, now designated as SN1968B. Other supernovae had been seen by Earth astronomers in 1917, 1939, and 1948, and more would be observed in later years (1969, 1980, 2002, 2004, 2008 and 2017).
  • The 10th Annual Grammy Awards were held at Chicago, Los Angeles, Nashville and New York City. Big winners included The Beatles & George Martin for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and Johnny Mann for "Up, Up and Away".[161][162]
  • Died: Tore Ørjasæter, 81, Norwegian poet

References
  1. Desmond Morton, A Military History of Canada (McClelland & Stewart, 2009) p254
  2. "Canadian Armed Forces Merge— Without Conflict", The Courier-Journal (Louisville), February 1, 1968, p7
  3. "'Just Call Us Penn Central'", Cincinnati Enquirer, February 2, 1968, p33
  4. Robert A. Levy and William H. Mellor, The Dirty Dozen: How Twelve Supreme Court Cases Radically Expanded Government and Eroded Freedom (Penguin, 2008)
  5. "Nixon Announces Candidacy for Nomination for President", Chicago Tribune, February 2, 1968, p1
  6. Conrad Black, Richard M. Nixon: A Life in Full (PublicAffairs, 2008) p511
  7. Kishalay Bhattacharjee, Blood on My Hands: Confessions of Staged Encounters (Harper Collins, 2015)
  8. Winslow, Donald R. (April 19, 2011). "The Pulitzer Eddie Adams Didn't Want". The New York Times.
  9. "Street Execution of a Viet Cong Prisoner, Saigon, 1968", by Robert Hariman and John Louis Lucaites, in Getting the Picture: The Visual Culture of the News, ed. by Jason Hill and Vanessa R. Schwartz (Bloomsbury, 2015) p92
  10. "Baby Gorilla Born, the 1st in Captivity", Chicago Sunday Tribune, December 23, 1956, p5
  11. "Gorilla in Ohio Makes History", UPI report in Pampa (TX) Daily News, February 2, 1968, p1
  12. Nancy Roe Pimm, Colo's Story: The Life of One Grand Gorilla (Lerner Publishing, 2011) p33
  13. "U.S. Warship, Russ Vessel in Collision", Chicago Tribune, February 3, 1968, p5
  14. "Minimum Wage Going Up Today", Orlando Evening Star, February 1, 1968, p20-D
  15. "Lombardi Gives Up Coaching at Green Bay", Chicago Tribune, February 2, 1968, p1
  16. "Baunsgaard Puts Cabinet Together", Bridgeport (CT) Telegram, February 2, 1968, p31
  17. "Denmark, Kingdom of", in Heads of States and Governments: A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Over 2,300 Leaders, 1945 through 1992, by Harris M. Lentz (Fitzroy Dearborn, 1994) p1294
  18. Mark Bonavita and Brendan Roberts, Official NBA Register: 1998–99 Edition (Sporting News Publishing Company, 1998) p305
  19. "Now Wilt's Big Assist Man", Philadelphia Daily News, February 3, 1968, p30
  20. "GIs Free Quang Tri, Battle 4,000 in Hue", Chicago Tribune, February 2, 1968, p1
  21. "Chad", in Historical Dictionary of the Central African Republic, by Richard Bradshaw (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016) p159
  22. Raymond Benson, Jethro Tull (Oldacastle Books, 2002)
  23. William M. Hammond, Public Affairs: The Military and the Media, 1968–1973 (U.S. Government Printing Office, 1996) p183
  24. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v29p1/d254
  25. "Princess Weds German Prince in 'Quiet' Affair", Philadelphia Inquirer, February 4, 1968, p1
  26. "Protest Voice 'Out', Love, Love, Love 'In'", Indianapolis Star, February 5, 1968, p1
  27. https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/DOC_0005974259.pdf
  28. "11 Die in Snow upon Volcano", Chicago Tribune, February 7, 1968, p1
  29. "9 Killed in Boston Hotel Blaze", Chicago Tribune, February 5, 1968, p4
  30. Peter J. Mantle, High-Speed Marine Craft: One Hundred Knots at Sea (Cambridge University Press, 2015)
  31. A Time to Break Silence: The Essential Works of Martin Luther King, Jr., for Students (Beacon Press, 2013)
  32. "Porsches Score 1–2–3 Sweep at Daytona", Chicago Tribune, February 5, 1968, p3-3
  33. "Mexico City", in Beat Culture: Lifestyles, Icons, and Impact, ed. by William Lawlor (ABC-CLIO, 2005) p237
  34. "Third trawler lost: six in danger", The Guardian (Manchester), February 6, 1968, p1
  35. "Fishing Boat Sinks With 19 Aboard", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 5, 1968, p9
  36. "Greek law ends baby trading", Sydney Morning Herald, February 6, 1968, p3
  37. Peter H. Russell, Constitutional Odyssey: Can Canadians Become a Sovereign People? (University of Toronto Press, 2004) p79
  38. "De Gaulle Officially Opens 10th Winter Olympics", Chicago Tribune, February 7, 1968, p3-1
  39. "Olympic Games Open as Ski Dispute Rages", Philadelphia Inquirer, February 7, 1968, p35
  40. "Cabinet Quits", Sydney Morning Herald, February 7, 1968, p3
  41. Olivier Julien, Sgt. Pepper and the Beatles: It Was Forty Years Ago Today (Routledge, 2016)
  42. "Plane With 98 Lost", Pittsburgh Press, February 10, 1968, p1
  43. "Mission to recover remains of servicemen called off", by Sandeep Dikshit, in The Hindu, September 17, 2003
  44. "ID of soldier killed in 1968 Spiti crash found", The Times of India, July 30, 2012
  45. "Remains of soldier who died in air crash found after 45 years", by Sarabjit Pandher, September 1, 2013
  46. Aviation Safety Network
  47. "Enemy Uses Tanks For First Time", The Sun (Baltimore), February 7, 1968, p1
  48. Phil Ball, Ghosts and Shadows: A Marine in Vietnam, 1968–1969 (McFarland, 2015)
  49. "Battle of Lang Vei", by John A. Cash, in Seven Firefights in Vietnam (Government Printing Office, 1970) p138
  50. "The Only Way To 'Save' City Was To Destroy It", by Peter Arnett, AP report in Corpus Christi (TX) Caller-Times, February 7, 1968, p2
  51. "Ben Tre", in Historical Dictionary of the War in Vietnam, by Ronald B. Frankum Jr. (Scarecrow Press, 2011) p70
  52. "BLAST KILLS 5, INJURES 73", Chicago Tribune, February 8, 1968, p1
  53. Peter L Winkler (Oct 30, 2009). "Nick Adams: His Hollywood Life and Death". Crime Magazine. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  54. "Guardsmen Seal Off College Campuses After 3 Killed In Orangeburg Shooting", The Index-Journal (Greenwood SC), February 9, 1968, p1
  55. "Three Slain in Negro Rioting; Order Curfew— Emergency Declared by S. C. Governor", Chicago Tribune, February 10, 1968, p16
  56. Shuler, Jack (2012), Blood & Bone: Truth and Reconciliation in a Southern Town, Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, p. 21
  57. "Orangeburg (South Carolina) Massacre of 1968", by John G. Hall, in Encyclopedia of American Race Riots (Greenwood, 2007) p492
  58. "Orangeburg State College Police Riot (1968)", in Historical Dictionary of the Civil Rights Movement, ed. by Christopher M. Richardson and Ralph E. Luker (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014) p357
  59. "Wallace Announces Race for Presidency", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 8, 1968, p1
  60. David Hofstede, Planet of the Apes: An Unofficial Companion (ECW Press, 2001) p14
  61. "Subway Opens in Rotterdam", UPI report in Fort Lauderdale (FL) News and Sun-Sentinel, February 10, 1968, p7A
  62. "'61 Khrush Prophecy Wrong, Pravda Says", Indianapolis Star, February 10, 1968, p3
  63. "Bus Plunge Kills 21", Charleston (WV) Daily Mail, February 10, 1968, p2
  64. R.E.G. Davies, Airlines of the Jet Age: A History (Smithsonian Institution, 2016)
  65. Alan Hahn, New York Knicks: The Complete Illustrated History (MBI Publishing Company, 2012) p76
  66. John Kreiser and Lou Friedman, The New York Rangers: Broadway's Longest Running Hit (Sports Publishing LLC, 1996) p177
  67. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=MAYRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fZMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6452%2C2075058
  68. Micheal Clodfelter, Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492–2015 (McFarland, 2017) p708
  69. Dennis Wainstock, Election Year 1968: The Turning Point (Enigma Books, 2013) p53
  70. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d68
  71. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d70
  72. "U. S. Rushes 10,500 More GIs to Viet", Chicago Tribune, February 14, 1968, p1
  73. https://discoverlbj.org/item/tel-12711
  74. "Black Environmental Liberation Theology", by Dianne D. Glave, in To Love the Wind and the Rain: African Americans and Environmental History (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2005) p193
  75. https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/DOC_0005974273.pdf
  76. "Four Killed When Copter Hits Tower", Chicago Tribune, February 15, 1968, p1B-8
  77. "Won't Use A-Arms", Chicago Tribune, February 15, 1968, p1
  78. John Roberts, Safeguarding the Nation: The Story of the Modern Royal Navy (Seaforth Publishing, 2009) p83
  79. Kristan Stoddart, Losing an Empire and Finding a Role: Britain, the USA, NATO and Nuclear Weapons, 1964–70 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) p119
  80. Tony Glover, and Scott Dirks, Blues with a Feeling: The Little Walter Story (Routledge, 2002)
  81. Martin Wilson, Uniquely Alabama (Heinemann-Raintree Library, 2004) p10
  82. "Calls for Service", in The Encyclopedia of Police Science, ed. by Jack R. Greene (Taylor & Francis, 2007) p129
  83. "Ala. Town Installs First Alert Phone", Bridgeport (CT) Post, February 17, 1968, p2
  84. "North Vietnam Frees Three U.S. Pilots", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 16, 1968, p1
  85. "The American POW experience", by Glenn Robbins, in New Perspectives on the Vietnam War: Re-examining the Culture and History of a Generation, ed. by Andrew Wiest, et al (Routledge, 2009) p179
  86. "CUT DRAFT DEFERMENTS— Graduate Students Hit Hard by Change", Chicago Tribune, February 17, 1968, p1
  87. Francisco Jiménez, Taking Hold: From Migrant Childhood to Columbia University (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015) p93
  88. "Formosa Jet Crash Kills 21, Injures 30", Chicago Tribune, February 17, 1968, p1
  89. "Gasoline Hurled and Ignited; 12 Persons Die in Tavern Fire", Chicago Tribune, February 17, 1968, p1
  90. "12 Killed in Moberly Tavern Inferno; Bill Coleman Charged With Murders", Moberly (MO) Monitor-Index, February 17, 1968, p1
  91. "Missouri's High Court Upholds Death Sentence", Springfield (MO) News-Leader", December 15, 1970, p10
  92. "A Trek to Reckon With", "TV Week", Valley Times (San Fernando Valley, CA), February 16, 1968, p2
  93. "'Star Trek' Pardoned— Network 'Ax-executives' Yield To Series Fans", Tampa Bay Times, February 21, 1968, p7-D
  94. "Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame— History and Inductee Listing", in The Sports Hall of Fame Encyclopedia: Baseball, Basketball, Football, Hockey, Soccer, by David Blevins (Rowman & Littlefield, 2012) p1145
  95. "Naismith's Son Among Dignitaries As Basketball Hall of Fame Opens", Hartford (CT) Courant, February 18, 1968, p4C
  96. "TWO DISQUALIFIED; KILLY GETS SWEEP— They Missed Gate, Slalom Judges Rule— 3d Gold Medal for French Star", Chicago Tribune, February 18, 1968, p2-1
  97. Rapport Officiel Xes Jeux Olympiques D'Hiver 1968 Grenoble (1968)
  98. "Papuans Quit Jungle for Day to Cast Votes", Chicago Tribune, February 18, 1968, p5
  99. Husain M. Albaharna, The Legal Status of the Arabian Gulf States: A Study of Their Treaty Relations and Their International Problems (Manchester University Press, 1968) p7
  100. Matteo Legrenzi, The GCC and the International Relations of the Gulf: Diplomacy, Security and Economic Coordination in a Changing Middle East (I.B.Tauris, 2015) p14
  101. Lowell Hart, The Snowboard Book: A Guide for All Boarders (W. W. Norton & Company, 1997) p10
  102. "China", by Wei Wang, in Can Banks Still Keep a Secret?, ed. by Sandra Booysen and Dora Neo (Cambridge University Press, 2017) p164
  103. "TV Today: Misterogers Rated High by Experts", by Clay Gowran, Chicago Tribune, February 15, 1968, p1-C11
  104. "Rann of Kutch", in Encyclopedia of the United Nations and International Agreements: N to S, ed. by Edmund Jan Osmańczyk (Taylor & Francis, 2003) p1894
  105. Lesley G. Terris, Mediation of International Conflicts: A Rational Model (Taylor & Francis, 2016) p152
  106. "Florida Teacher Walkout Paralyzes School System", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 19, 1968, p2A
  107. "Teacher Walkouts Shut Florida Schools", Chicago Tribune, February 20, 1968, p26
  108. "15 missing as ship sinks". The Times (57180). London. 29 February 1968. col G, p. 5.
  109. "DEFEAT TAX HIKE IN CANADA— Rivals Call on Pearson to Resign", Chicago Tribune, February 20, 1968, p1
  110. Harry G. Lang, A Phone of Our Own: The Deaf Insurrection Against Ma Bell (Gallaudet University Press, 2000) p79
  111. Ramashray Roy, The Uncertain Verdict: A Study of the 1969 Elections in Four Indian States (University of California Press, 1975) p33
  112. Idiot box channeling the Prime Ministers
  113. Brian Harvey, China's Space Program: From Conception to Manned Spaceflight (Springer, 2004) p49
  114. "China Academy of Space Technology (CAST)". NTI. Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  115. "The Third World in 1968", by Arif Dirlik, in 1968: The World Transformed, ed. by Carole Fink, et al. (Cambridge University Press, 1998) p307
  116. Manfred Kohler, The Role of Languages and Language Policies in Belgian State and Politics with Emphasis on the Flemish-Walloon Conflict: Reason for a State to fail or Driving Force behind Federalism and Conciliation (Diplomica Verlag, 2009) p72
  117. Jon E. Lewis, The Mammoth Book of Polar Journeys (Little, Brown Book Group, 2011)
  118. "Koerner, Roy Martindale", in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 2005–2008 (Oxford University Press, 2013) p660
  119. "3,800-Mile Ocean Sled Ride Ends", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 13, 1969, p1
  120. David Harland, NASA's Moon Program: Paving the Way for Apollo 11 (Springer, 2010) p390
  121. "Alexander Dubček", in Dictionary of World Biography: The 20th Century, ed. by Frank N. Magill (Routledge, 1999) p969
  122. "Asians Pour into London from Kenya", Chicago Tribune, February 25, 1968, p3
  123. Michael Zander, The Law-Making Process (Bloomsbury, 2015)
  124. Frank Reeves, British Racial Discourse: A Study of British Political Discourse About Race and Race-related Matters (Cambridge University Press, 1983) pp206-207
  125. "2 Million Face Loss of British Rights", Chicago Tribune, March 1, 1968, p3-16
  126. A. J. Jacobs, The New Domestic Automakers in the United States and Canada: History, Impacts, and Prospects (Lexington Books, 2015) p183
  127. "20 Years on, the Mystery of Bible Johns Still Haunts a City", Evening Times (Glasgow), February 11, 1989, p6
  128. "XW-TAD Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 24 July 2011.
  129. "Makarios Wins Reelection By 20–1 Vote Margin", Tampa Tribune, February 26, 1968, p4-A
  130. Chrysostomos Pericleous, Cyprus Referendum: A Divided Island and the Challenge of the Annan Plan (I.B.Tauris, 2009) p101
  131. "Another State In India Falls to Central Rule", Louisville (KY) Courier-Journal, February 26, 1968, p5
  132. Elections in Senegal African Elections Database
  133. "Candidate Can't Lose", Fort Lauderdale (FL) News, February 26, 1968, p2
  134. Galia Golan, Reform Rule in Czechoslovakia: The Dubcek Era 1968–1969 (Cambridge University Press, 1973) p183
  135. Ben Kiernan, How Pol Pot Came to Power: Colonialism, Nationalism, and Communism in Cambodia, 1930–1975 (Yale University Press, 1985) p269
  136. "Zap Comix", by Robert Beerbohm, in Icons of the American Comic Book: From Captain America to Wonder Woman, ed. by Randy Duncan and Matthew J. Smith (ABC-CLIO, 2013) p844
  137. Eric Hammel, Fire in the Streets: The Battle for Hue, Tet 1968 (Pacifica Military History, 2010) p353
  138. "Mental Hospital Fire Deaths Rise To 22", Indianapolis Star, February 27, 1968, p40
  139. "1968: Hospital blaze kills 21 patients", On This Day, BBC News
  140. "Locked ward 'had duty nurse'", The Guardian (Manchester), February 27, 1968, p3
  141. "The Prague Spring and the Warsaw Pact Invasion as Seen from Prague", by Jan Rychlik, in The Prague Spring and the Warsaw Pact Invasion of Czechoslovakia, 1968: Forty Years Later, ed. by M. Mark Stolarik (Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, 2010) p36
  142. Max Hall, Harvard University Press: A History (Harvard University Press, 1986) p168
  143. Jake Blood, The Tet Effect: Intelligence and the Public Perception of War (Routledge, 2005) p46
  144. W. Joseph Campbell, Getting It Wrong: Debunking the Greatest Myths in American Journalism (University of California Press, 2016) p115
  145. "LBJ: Blood, Sweat, Tears in Viet", Chicago Tribune, February 28, 1968, p1
  146. "Frankie Lymon Dies in Apartment". The New York Times. February 28, 1968. Frankie Lymon, the rock 'n' roll singer who popularized "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" was found dead yesterday in the apartment of his grandmother, apparently, of an overdose of narcotics, according to the police.
  147. "Auroville (India)", in The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena, by J. Gordon Melton (Visible Ink Press, 2007) p18
  148. "Pearson Wins Vote of Confidence, 138—119", Chicago Tribune, February 29, 1968, p20
  149. "News Briefs— Foreign", Chicago Tribune, February 29, 1968, p3
  150. "U.S. Copter Downed, 22 Die; Find Grave of 100 Cong Victims", Chicago Tribune, February 29, 1968, p3
  151. Eldridge Cleaver, Target Zero: A Life in Writing (St. Martin's Press, 2015) p140
  152. "ROMNEY BOWS OUT OF RACE— Lagging Far behind Nixon in N.H. Drive", Chicago Tribune, February 29, 1968, p1
  153. European Economic Law, ed. by Alberto Santa Maria (Kluwer Law International, 2009) p9
  154. Andrzej Leon Sowa, Historia polityczna Polski: 1944–1991, p338
  155. Holý, Jiří. Writers Under Siege: Czech Literature Since 1945. Sussex: Sussex Academic Press, 2011, pp 119
  156. Jessie Carney Smith and Linda T. Wynn, Freedom Facts and Firsts: 400 Years of the African American Civil Rights Experience (Visible Ink Press, 2009) p61
  157. "Kerner Commission Report (1968)", by John H. Stanfield, in Race and Racism in the United States: An Encyclopedia of the American Mosaic, ed. by Charles A. Gallagher and Cameron D. Lippard (ABC-CLIO, 2014)
  158. "WHY, WHAT WHEN OF RIOTS— Kerner Commission Tells Findings", Chicago Tribune, March 1, 1968, p1
  159. "Lyndon Stuck with McNamara for 12 Minutes— in Elevator", Chicago Tribune, March 1, 1968, p5
  160. "NGC 6946", in The Messier Catalog, Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) website
  161. Campbell, Mary (1 March 1968). "Up, Up and Away Picks Up 6 Grammy Record Awards". The Sun. Retrieved 1 May 2011.
  162. "1967 Grammy Award Winners". Grammy.com. Retrieved 1 May 2011.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.