Civil Rights Act of 1968

On April 11, 1968 President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (commonly known as the Fair Housing Act, or as CRA '68), which was meant as a follow-up to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. While the Civil Rights Act of 1866 prohibited discrimination in housing, there were no federal enforcement provisions. The 1968 act expanded on previous acts and prohibited discrimination concerning the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin, and as of 1974, gender; as of 1988, the act protects the disabled and families with children. It also provided protection for civil rights workers.

Victims of discrimination may use both the 1968 act and the 1866 act (via section 1982) to seek redress. The 1968 act provides for federal solutions while the 1866 act provides for private solutions (i.e., civil suits).

1968 Thule Air Base B-52 Crash

On January 21, 1968, a B-52G Stratofortress with the callsign "HOBO 28" from the 380th Strategic Bomb Wing at Plattsburgh Air Force Base, New York was assigned the "Hard Head" mission over Thule and nearby Baffin Bay. The bomber crew consisted of five regular crew members including Captain John Haug, the aircraft commander. Also aboard was a substitute navigator (Captain Curtis R. Criss), and a mandatory third pilot—Major Alfred D'Mario.
Before take-off, D'Mario placed three cloth-covered foam cushions on top of a heating vent under the instructor navigator's seat in the aft section of the lower deck. Shortly after take-off, another cushion was placed under the seat. The flight was uneventful until the scheduled mid-air refueling from a KC-135 Stratotanker, which had to be conducted manually because of an error with the B-52G's autopilot. Approximately one hour after refueling, while the aircraft was circling above its designated area, Captain Haug directed co-pilot Svitenko to take his rest period. His seat was taken by D'Mario. The crew was uncomfortable because of the cold, despite the heater's rheostat being turned up—D'Mario opened an engine bleed valve to increase the cabin's temperature by drawing additional hot air into the heater from the engine manifold. As a result of a heater malfunction, the temperature drop between the engine manifold and the cabin's heating ducts was negligible; during the next half hour, the cabin's temperature became uncomfortably hot, and the stowed cushions ignited. A member of the crew reported smelling burning rubber, and a search was mounted for the fire. The navigator searched the lower compartment twice before discovering the fire behind a metal box. He attempted to fight it with two fire extinguishers, but could not put out the blaze.


Thule Air Base in the foreground with North Star Bay, which was covered in sea ice at the time of the accident, in the background.
At 15:22 EST, approximately six hours into the flight and 90 miles (140 km) south of Thule Air Base, Haug declared an emergency. He advised Thule air traffic control that he had a fire on board and requested permission to perform an emergency landing at the air base. Within five minutes, the aircraft's fire extinguishers were depleted, electrical power was lost and smoke filled the cockpit to the point that the pilots could not read their instruments. As the situation worsened, the captain realised he would not be able to land the aircraft and advised the crew to prepare to abandon it instead. They awaited word from D'Mario that they were over land—when he confirmed that the aircraft was directly over the lights of Thule Air Base, the four crewmen ejected, followed shortly thereafter by Haug and D'Mario. The co-pilot, Svitenko, did not have an ejection seat and sustained fatal head injuries when he attempted to bail out through one of the lower hatches.
The pilotless aircraft initially continued north, then turned left through 180° and crashed onto sea ice in North Star Bay—about 7.5 miles (12.1 km) west of Thule Air Base—at 15:39 EST. The conventional high explosive (HE) components of four 1.1 megaton B28FI model hydrogen bombs detonated on impact, spreading radioactive material over a large area in a similar manner to a dirty bomb. A nuclear explosion was not triggered. The extreme heat generated by the burning of 225,000 pounds of aviation fuel during the five to six hours after the crash melted the ice sheet, causing wreckage and munitions to sink to the ocean floor.
The gunner (center), SSgt Calvin Snapp, is rescued after ejecting onto the ice
Haug and D'Mario parachuted onto the grounds of the air base and made contact with the base commander within ten minutes of each other. They informed him that at least six crew ejected successfully and the aircraft was carrying four nuclear weapons. Off-duty staff were mustered to conduct search and rescue operations for the remaining crew members. Three of the survivors landed within 1.5 miles (2.4 km) of the base and were rescued within two hours. Captain Criss, who was first to eject, landed 6 miles (9.7 km) from the base—he remained lost on an ice floe for 21 hours and suffered hypothermia in the −23 °F (−30.6 °C) temperatures, but he survived by wrapping himself in his parachute.

Philippines 1968 Wedding of the Year

December 25, 1968, Christmas - the most celebrated Wedding of the Year was took place at Santuario de San Jose, Greenhills, Mandaluyong, Rizal.

" It is an understatement to say that the grand wedding of superstars Fernando Poe, Jr. and Susan Roces is the wedding of the year. Like the comments of many who attended the nuptials, it was the most they have seen; different in many ways; significant to a large number of people - even affecting a lot of them."- Stardom

Get the details about the wedding of the year here.


Photo source - fpj-daking

1968 Summer Olympics

The 1968 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Mexico City in October 1968. The 1968 Games were the first Olympic Games hosted by a developing country, and were also the first Games hosted by a Spanish-speaking country. It is the only Games ever held in Latin America, and it was the second to be hosted outside of Europe, Australia, or the United States. It was also the first Olympic Games to be held in Autumn until the 1988 Summer Olympics.

Tet Offensive begins in 1968 - Vietnam

The Tet Offensive was a military campaign during the Vietnam War that began on January 31, 1968. Forces of the National Liberation Front for South Vietnam, or Viet Cong, and the People's Army of Vietnam, or North Vietnamese army, fought against the forces of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), the United States, and their allies. The purpose of the offensive was to strike military and civilian command and control centers throughout South Vietnam and to spark a general uprising among the population that would then topple the Saigon government, thus ending the war in a single blow.
The operations are referred to as the Tet Offensive because they began during the early morning hours of 31 January 1968, Tết Nguyên Đán, the first day of the year on a traditional lunar calendar and the most important Vietnamese holiday. Both North and South Vietnam announced on national radio broadcasts that there would be a two-day cease-fire during the holiday. In Vietnamese, the offensive is called Cuộc Tổng tiến công và nổi dậy ("General Offensive and Uprising"), or Tết Mậu Thân (Tet, year of the monkey).
NLF/NVA killed by U.S. air force personnel during an attack on the perimeter of Tan Son Nhut Air Base during the Tet Offensive

Tet is a Vietnamese word which means, New Year's festival

1968 - Martin Luther King Jr. Assasination

Martin Luther King Jr. Assassinated - On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. is shot down while standing on a motel's balcony in Memphis, Tennessee by James Earl Ray. Following the news of King's murder, racial violence breaks out in cities nationwide. King was booked in room 306 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, owned by black businessman Walter Bailey (and named after his wife). King's close friend and colleague, Reverend Ralph David Abernathy, who was present at the assassination, told the House Select Committee on Assassinations that King and his entourage stayed in room 306 at the Lorraine Motel so often that it was known as the "King-Abernathy Suite." According to biographer Taylor Branch, King's last words were to musician Ben Branch, who was scheduled to perform that night at an event King was going to attend: "Ben, make sure you play 'Take My Hand, Precious Lord in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty." At 6:01 p.m. on April 4, 1968, while he was standing on the motel's second-floor balcony, King was struck by a single bullet fired from a rifle. The bullet traveled through the right side of his neck, smashing his throat and then going down his spinal cord before lodging in his shoulder. King was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital, where doctors opened his chest and performed manual heart massage. He was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m. According to biographer Taylor Branch, King's autopsy revealed that though he was only 39 years old, he had the heart of a 60-year-old man. Read the full story here. Photos courtesy of Wikipedia and pop-culture.us

On that Christmas eve of 1968

Apollo 8 first broadcast the full view of earth from the moon.

December 24, 1968 – Apollo Program: U.S. spacecraft Apollo 8 enters orbit around the Moon. Astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William A. Anders become the first humans to see the far side of the Moon and planet Earth as a whole. The crew also reads from Genesis.

After launching on December 21, 1968, the crew took three days to travel to the Moon. They orbited ten times over the course of 20 hours, during which the crew made a Christmas Eve television broadcast in which they read the first 10 verses from the Book of Genesis. The crew timed this reading to coincide with a full view of planet Earth hanging in the empty blackness of space while clearly showing the rich diversity of the living planet as indicated in Earth's colors, seas, landforms, and weather patterns, rising over the dull gray horizon of the lifeless Moon. At the time, the broadcast was the most watched TV program ever. Apollo 8's successful mission paved the way for Apollo 11 to fulfill U.S. President John F. Kennedy's goal of landing a man on the Moon before the end of the decade.

1968 NASA launched Apollo 7

Apollo 7 (October 11-22, 1968) was the first manned mission in the Apollo program to be launched. It was an eleven-day Earth-orbital mission, the first manned launch of the Saturn IB launch vehicle, and the first three-person American space mission. The crew consisted of Mission Commander Walter M. Schirra, Command Module Pilot Donn F. Eisele, and Lunar Module Pilot R. Walter Cunningham. The mission was intended as a test flight of the newly redesigned module. Accordingly, it flew low around the Earth so its crew could track life-support systems, the propulsion systems and the control systems. Despite emotional tension amongst the crew the mission was a technical success, which led NASA to launch Apollo 8 just two months later.