1968 and the Making of Modern America

1968 began 50 years ago today.

Before it ended, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy would be assassinated; U.S. troops would suffer their deadliest year yet in Vietnam––and massacre scores of civilians at My Lai*; Richard Nixon would be elected president; the Khmer Rouge would form in Cambodia; humans would orbit the moon; Olympic medal winners in Mexico City would raise their fists in a black power salute; President Johnson would sign the Civil Rights Act of 1968; Yale University would announce that it intended to admit women; 2001: A Space Odyssey would premier; and Led Zeppelin would give their first live performance.

All year, along with colleagues at , I’ll be looking back at the events of 1968, marking major touchstones as well as forgotten political and cultural events. One aspiration is to mark a particularly momentous year in American history. Another