Quick Facts from 1968:

• World Changing Events: Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis during garbage workers strike and Robert Kennedy assassinated in Los Angeles during his presidential campaign.
• The Top Song was Hey Jude by The Beatles
• Influential Songs include: Born to be Wild and Magic Carpet Ride by Steppenwolf, You Keep Me Hangin’ On by Vanilla Fudge and Tuesday Afternoon (Forever Afternoon) by The Moody Blues
• The Movies to Watch include Funny Girl, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Bandolero!, Night of the Living Dead, Planet of the Apes, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Odd Couple, The Love Bug and Yours Mine and Ours
• The Most Famous Person in America was probably Paul Newman
• Notable books include: The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick and Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past by Erich von Daniken
• Price of a postage stamp in 1968: 6 cents
  Chevrolet Impala sport coup: $3,468.00
  Panasonic Tape Recorder: $29.95
• The Funny Guy was: Woody Allen
• The Other Funny Guy was Bill Cosby
  The Funny Lady was: Carol Burnett
• The Conversation: Saigon police chief Nguyen Ngoc Loan executes Viet Cong officer Nguyen Van Lém with a pistol shot to head. The execution is captured by photographer Eddie Adams, and helped many people question the Vietnam War.

Top Ten Baby Names of 1968:
Lisa, Michelle, Kimberly, Jennifer, Melissa, Michael, David, John, James, Robert

The Hotties and Fashion Icons:
Ewa Aulin, Honor Blackman, Veronica Carlson, Julie Christie, Yvonne Craig, Catherine Deneuve, Barbara Eden, Barbara Feldon, Jane Fonda, Goldie Hawn, Peggy Lipton, Virna Lisi, Ann-Margret, Elizabeth Montgomery, Caroline Munro, Turia Mau, Julie Newmar, Ingrid Pitt, Diana Rigg, Elke Sommer, Stella Stevens, , Sharmila Tagore, Twiggy, Raquel Welch, Barbara Windsor

Sex Symbols, Hollywood Hunks and Leading Men:
Jim Morrison

“The Quotes:”
“Book ’em Dano”
– Jack Lord in ‘Hawaii 5-0’

“You’ve come a long way, baby”
– Virginia Slims Cigarettes

“I became operational at the H.A.L. plant in Urbana, Illinois on the 12th of January 1992. My instructor was Mr. Langley, and he taught me to sing a song. If you’d like to hear it I can sing it for you.”
-Hal 5000, in ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’

“Open the pod bay doors, HAL.”
– Keir Dullea, in ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’

“Ring around the collar”
– Wisk Laundry Detergent

“They’re coming to get you, Barbara”
– Johnny, in ‘Night Of The Living Dead’

“Hello gorgeous.”
– Barbra Streisand as Fanny Brice, in ‘Funny Girl’

“Get your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!”
– Charlton Heston, in ‘Planet of the Apes’

“Daisy, Daisy give me your answer do
I’m half crazy, all for the love of you
It won’t be a stylish marraige
I can’t afford the carriage
But you look sweet upon the street
On a bicycle built for two”
– Hal 9000

Time Magazine’s Man of the Year:
Apollo 8 Astronauts (William Anders, Frank Borman, and Jim Lovell)

Miss America:
Debra Barnes (Pittsburgh, KS)

Miss USA:
Dorothy Anstett (Washington)

The Scandals:
April 4 – Reverend Martin Luther King was assassinated by James Earl Ray.

June 5 – Senator Robert F. Kennedy (D, NY) was assassinated by Sirhan Bishara Sirhan.

VietCongAP Photojournalist Eddie Adams took this photograph of an officer shooting a handcuffed prisoner in the head at point-blank range and earned a Pulitzer Prize in 1969. Although it changed the viewpoint of the war in many American’s eyes, the victim was, in fact, a Vietcong ‘revenge squad’ leader, having killed dozens of (unarmed) civilians that very same day.
The phrase ‘fog of war’ was invented for events like this.

“Heidi Game” AFL Championship Game : With the Jets leading 32-29 with only 65 seconds left in the Game , the Raiders quickly scored 14 points to win, 43-32. Meanwhile, millions of American television viewers were unable to see Oakland’s comeback. The NBC television network cut off the live broadcast in favor of a pre-scheduled airing of Heidi, a new made-for-TV version of the classic children’s story.

The Doors’ Jim Morrison, at a Miami concert, drunkenly screeched “There are no rules!” and exposed “himself”

Pop Culture History:
Roy Jacuzzi invented the first self-contained, fully integrated whirlpool bath, and named it the Jacuzzi®.

Cost of a Superbowl ad in 1968: $54,000

1st appearances & 1968’s Most Popular Christmas gifts, toys and presents:
Don’t Break The Ice, Hot Wheels, Battling Tops, Silly Putty*, Whirlee Twirlee
* Silly Putty originally came out in 1950, but gained new popularity when it was announced that the Apollo astronauts brought some to the moon (stress relief, they said).

Best Film Oscar Winner:
In the Heat of the Night (presented in 1968)

Broadway Show – Plaza Suite (Play) Opened on February 14, 1968 and Closed: October 3, 1970

Broadway Show – Hair (Musical) Opened on April 29, 1968 and Closed: July 1, 1972

Broadway Show – Promises, Promises (Musical) Opened on December 1, 1968 and Closed: January 1, 1972

Popular and Notable Books From 1968:
A Small Town in Germany by John le Carre
Airport by Arthur Hailey
Richard Scarry’s Best Storybook Ever by Richard Scarry
Richard’s Scarry’s Cars and Trucks and Things That Go by Richard Scarry
Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past by Erich von Daniken
Christy by Catherine Marshall
The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron
Couples by John Updike
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
The Double Helix by James D. Watson
The First Circle by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors by Richard Hooker
Myra Breckinridge by Gore Vidal
The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
Preserve and Protect by Allen Drury
The Salzburg Connection by Helen MacInnes
Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion
Linda Goodman’s Sun Signs by Linda Goodman
Testimony of Two Men by Taylor Caldwell
The Tower of Babel by Morris L. West
Vanished by Fletcher Knebel

1968 Most Popular TV shows:
1. Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In (NBC)
2. Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. (CBS)
3. Bonanza (NBC)
4. Mayberry R.F.D. (CBS)
5. Family Affair (CBS)
6. Gunsmoke (CBS)
7. Julia (NBC)
8. The Dean Martin Show (NBC)
9. Here’s Lucy (CBS)
10. The Beverly Hillbillies (CBS)

1968 Billboard Number One Songs
December 30, 1967 – January 19, 1968:
Hello Goodbye – The Beatles

January 20 – February 2:
Judy In Disguise (With Glasses) – John Fred & His Playboy Band

February 3 – February 9:
Green Tambourine – The Lemon Pipers

February 10 – March 15:
Love Is Blue – Paul Mauriat

March 16 – April 12:
(Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay – Otis Redding

April 13 – May 17:
Honey – Bobby Goldsboro

May 18 – May 31:
Tighten Up – Archie Bell & the Drells

June 1 – June 21:
Mrs. Robinson – Simon & Garfunkel

June 22 – July 19:
This Guy’s In Love With You – Herb Alpert

July 20 – August 2:
Grazing In The Grass – Hugh Masekela

August 3 – August 16:
Hello, I Love You – The Doors

August 17 – September 20:
People Got To Be Free – The Rascals

September 21 – September 27:
Harper Valley P.T.A – Jeannie C. Riley

September 28 – November 29:
Hey Jude – The Beatles

November 30 – December 13:
Love Child – Diana Ross & The Supremes

December 14, 1968 – January 31, 1969:
I Heard It Through The Grapevine – Marvin Gaye

Sports:
World Series Champions: Detroit Tigers
Superbowl II Champions: Green Bay Packers
NBA Champions: Boston Celtics
Stanley Cup Champs: Montreal Canadiens
U.S. Open Golf Lee Trevino
U.S. Tennis: (Men/Ladies) Arthur Ashe/Virginia Wade
Wimbledon (Men/Women): Rod Laver/Billie Jean King
NCAA Football Champions: Ohio State
NCAA Basketball Champions: UCLA
Kentucky Derby: Forward pass