Humanities Homework Help

1968 was, in my opinion, the worst year in that time frame. So many events came one after another, all making the year worse and worse. In January of 1968, North Vietnamese communist forces began the Tet Offensive, on the Tet holiday, and it striked against South Vietnam and the troops of the United States that were stationed there. This led to a lack in support from the public of the United State’s involvement in the war, for, the communist forces were not weakening. In February, the Orangeburg massacre occurred, which was a shooting at South Carolina State University. Local patrol officers shot protesters demonstrating against racial segregation.

Then a few months later, in April, Martin Luther King Jr., a leader and light in the Civil Rights Movement, was assassinated in Memphis. As news spread the nation, riots broke out throughout cities in America. April and May had various student protests against the Vietnam war, inspired by demonstrations held at Columbia University. In June, Robert F. Kennedy, brother to John F. Kennedy, after being close to securing the Democratic presidential nomination, was assassinated. One good thing about 1968 was that the FDA approved intrauterine devices, or commonly known as IUDs (birth control). However, that good news lasted a short while when in July, Pope Paul VI announced and reaffirmed the Catholic church’s position on artificial birth control being immoral and wrong. This caused hardships, controversy, and protests in the sexual revolution.

1968 had multiple other tumultuous events, including class differences escalating, problems in the economy, doubts in leaders of the nation, the Olympic protests by Tommie Smith and John Carlos- resulting in them getting thrown off the team, the boomer generation versus the silent generation. Also never forget there was the Zodiac Killer!