January 30-31 - The Tet offensive in Vietnam shatters the American public's image of the war.
February - The 1968 Winter Olympics open in Grenoble. Frenchman Jean-Claude Killy wins three gold medals in alpine skiing; Peggy Fleming takes the only U.S. gold, in figure skating.
February 8 - Highway patrolmen in South Carolina shoot into a crowd of black college students protesting a segregated bowling alley; three die and 27 are injured in what becomes known as the Orangeburg Massacre.
February 16 - The Beatles travel to India to visit the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. In the Grammy Awards on February 29, album of the year goes to the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
March 12 - President Johnson wins the New Hampshire presidential primary by a surprisingly narrow margin over anti-war candidate Eugene McCarthy.
March 16 - Sen. Robert Kennedy announces he will run for the Democratic nomination.
March 16 - U.S. soldiers, under the command of Lt. William Calley, kill more than 300 Vietnamese civilians in the My Lai Massacre.
March 31 - President Johnson announces he will not seek reelection to the presidency.
April 4 - The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated. Riots break out in cities across the U.S.
April 10 - In the Heat of the Night, a thriller exploring black/white social issues, wins five Academy Awards including best picture. Mike Nichols is named best director for The Graduate. The ceremony is postponed for two days due to the funeral of Martin Luther King Jr.
April 11 - President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968.
April 29 - The Broadway musical Hair opens, creating a sensation with its profanity, irreverence for the American flag and its nude scene.
May 13 - After massive student protests erupt in Paris, French workers join them for a one-day general strike in which nearly 800,000 people march through the streets protesting police violence and calling for the fall of Charles de Gaulle's government.
June 5 - Senator Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan after winning the Democratic primary in California.
June 17 - Rosa Johnson graduated from Paul Lawrence Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C.
July 28-29 - The American Indian Movement is founded in Minneapolis.
August 8 - Richard Nixon wins the Republican nomination for president.
August 22-30 - In Chicago, police and anti-war protestors clash outside the Democratic National Convention, leading to the arrest of the Chicago Eight (later the Chicago Seven) - some of whom were Bobby Seale, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin and Tom Hayden. Hubert H. Humphrey is nominated as the Democratic candidate for president.
September 7 - Members of a new Women's Liberation Movement protest the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City.
October 17 -Tommie Smith and John Carlos raise their arms in Black Power salutes while receiving their summer Olympic medals.
November 5 - Richard Nixon wins the presidential election.
November 5 - Democrat Shirley Chisholm of New York is first black woman elected to Congress.
November 22 - William Shatner and Nichelle Nichols share the first interracial kiss on U.S. television in the Star Trek episode "Plato's Stepchildren."
December 24 - Apollo 8 orbits the moon, sending back the "Earthrise" picture credited by many with fueling the environmental movement.
