The Beginning of a New Era - 1968

Ephemerides

• Insurrection in Poland. Thousands of students demand more freedom. They are supported by the workers. Controlling forces in Poland violently repress the demonstrations.
• Soviet tanks enter Czechoslovakia to put an end to the "Spring of Prague", an attempt to impart a more human face to socialism.
• Senator Robert Francis Kennedy, former justice minister under the presidency of his brother John, is assassinated in Los Angeles.
• Reverend Martin Luther King, spokesman for the civil rights of Black Americans, is assassinated in Memphis while giving a speech.
• The Summer Olympics take place in Mexico. During the games, two Black medal winners, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, raise a black-gloved fist in protest against racial segregation in the United States. As a result of this bold gesture, both men are banned from Olympic sports for life.
• May 1968 in France. The French republic is subjected to a serious economic, socio-political and cultural crisis.