1968The Year that Rocked

the World

What was the prevailing theme throughout 1968?

PROTESTS

France

Who: Workers/university students

Why: Low wages/boredom, dislike of old people (respectively)

What did they do: Riot, riot, riot

What happened: De Gaulle had a brief panic attack, then offered a pay raise to the workers, who then abandoned the student movement to collapse

What were the implications: De Gaulle crippled

Czechoslovakia Who: Basically everyone

Why: Desire for better rights, freedom of press

What did they do: Sit-ins, general protesting

What happened: Soviets invade, Czech leaders are forced out

What were the implications: End of Prague Spring, repression of Czechoslovakia, international disgrace for Soviets

Poland

Who: University students

Why: Discontent with the current regime, banning of theatre

What did they do: Marched, a lot

What happened: Government blamed “Zionists”, expelled Jews

What were the implications: Post-Holocaust Jewish population is

United StatesWho: African Americans/college

students/feminists/hippies, yippies

Why: Killing of MLK, general oppression/Vietnam, Robert Kennedy assassination, no one likes Hubert Humphrey/Miss America pageant, general misogyny

What did they do: Burning, yelling, rioting, sitting, marching etc.

What happened: Police+protesters=lots of clubbing

What were the implications: Creation/widening of the “generation gap”, oodles of social change

The 1968 Presidential Election

They all ran for office…

He won.

Why They Were Unelectable

RACISTSCARED OF CROKITE

SECRETLIBERAL

SECRET HIPPIE ASSASINATED LIKED BOMBING VIETMANESE CHILDREN

WIN

Why the Election was Pivotal

For the Right:

-Age of Nixon

-Shift to majority position (won 7 out of the next 10 elections)

-Weakening of moderate elements (loss of Rockefeller)

For the Left:

-Division of the party: the New Left versus the party establishment

-Loss of majority position (won 7 out of the last 9 elections)

-Loss of the South

-Establishment of the primary process

Conclusion1968 marked the a crucial point in

world history, when many of the old regimes of the World War II era were being rejected for the first time. It was a time of fierce division among the populations of many countries as many of the cultural differences between the old and new became evident. Anger grew as the youth felt increasingly excluded and alienated by the political establishment. This prompted the rise of activism, as the youth took matters into its own hands. The social climate and political activism of 1968 defines that of our present.