1968 Winter Olympics, Venues
Less than 100m away from the Stade de glace, and also in Parc Paul Mistral, the 400m track for the speed skating events was installed between February and November 1966. The venue Patinoire de vitesse, which does not have a roof and has a practice ice-rink in the middle of it, had a capacity of 2,500. The cooling system was removed after a few years and today the concrete track is used by roller skaters. The only ready venue was the city's ice-rink patinoire municipale, which opened in September 1963, next to the speed skating track, where the 1964 Figure Skating European Championship took place. The arena, which has 2,000 seats and 700 can stand, was the venue for Group B's ice hockey matches.


1968 Winter Olympics, Venues
The venue for the alpine skiing took place in Chamrousse, a town 30 kilometres east of Grenoble. The finish line for five out of the six races was in the region of Recoin de Chamrousse, the other was the men's downhill event was in Casserousse. In the construction of the new ski slopes, around 300,000m3 of rocks had to be blown up or dug away; particularly large movements of the earth and changes to the terrain were necessary in the upper part of the men's downhill section and in the slalom section. In addition, six new chairlifts were installed. In the preparation of the slopes, over 10,000 people were needed, this consisted mainly of soldiers.


1968 Winter Olympics, Venues
In Autrans, 36 kilometres west of Grenoble in Vercors Massif, the cross-country skiing event and biathlon took place there. Provisional stands at the finish line were available for spectators, which were to the north and southwest of the village. Also in Autrans, the ski jumping in the normal hill took place. The ski jumping hill of Le Claret is still in use today. It originally had a hill size of 70m, but later was made bigger and now measures 90m high.


1968 Winter Olympics, Venues
The 90m hill could have been built without any problems in Autrans, but the organisers decided instead to use Saint-Nizier-du-Moucherotte, 17 kilometres away from Grenoble, as well as Vercors-Massif. The relatively small distance to the city and the better accessibility guaranteed a larger audience. The construction period lasted from July 1966 to January 1967. After the games, the Dauphine hill was only rarely used for competitions and closed down and fell into ruin beginning in 1990. A third Olympic venue in the Vercors-Massif was Villard-de-Lans, 34 kilometres from Grenoble, where the luge competition took place. The track is exactly 1,000m long, has 14 curves and has a drop of 110m. After it temporarily closed down in 1994 it was remodelled. Today, it now has an artificial surface which makes it possible to use all-year-round. It is no longer used for competitions.


1968 Winter Olympics, Venues
The third Olympic venue in Vercors Massif was 34 km away from Grenoble in the commune of Villard-de-Lans, where the luge competition took place. The track for the luge was exactly 1 km long, had 14 corners and had a drop of 110m. After the track was temporarily closed in 1994, it was rebuilt at today's location. It has an artificial surface, which makes using the track all year round possible. For competitions it is no longer used.


1968 Winter Olympics, Venues
The furthest distance, which is also the highest, is L'Alpe d'Huez, 65 kilometres southeast of Grenoble. The bobsleigh took place at Col de Poutran at a height of around 2,000m. It was 1,500m long, had 13 corners and had a drop of 140m. It was principally a natural course, but three of the corners were exposed to direct sunlight, and was kept artificially frozen by ammonia and liquid nitrogen. In L'Alpe d'Huez, a replacement course was made available for the alpine skiing.


1968 Winter Olympics, Accommodation
The Olympic village was located in the southern part of the city on the border with the suburbs of Échirolles and Eybens. On the site of the former airport Grenoble-Mermoz, a large housing estate with 6,500 rooms was built in two years. A primary school, secondary school, nursery, youth center, shopping center, and library were all built as part of the construction of the housing estate. All of these were still in use after the Olympic Games. The male athletes were housed in a tower block and in eleven apartment blocks.


1968 Winter Olympics, Accommodation
The female athletes lived in a building with 263 individual rooms, which later went on to serve as a home for workers. Other buildings on the estate housed around 12,000 trainers, officials, timekeepers, volunteers, police and drivers. The catering took plate in a future school kitchen. Two more smaller Olympic villages were available to the Nordic and Alpine skiers as well as their physios. Holiday homes were also newly built and were located in Autrans and Chamrousse. A year before the Olympics, there was great adversity at the pre-Olympic competitions. The accommodation did not meet the necessary standards, so much so the Austrian team left. This led the hosts to have a rethink and make improvements.


1968 Winter Olympics, Medal winners
There were 35 events contested in 6 sports (10 disciplines).


1968 Winter Olympics, Participating nations
In Grenoble, there were 1158 athletes and 37 teams, a new record in terms of the number of participants. This was Morocco's first appearance at the Winter Olympics.


1968 Winter Olympics, Participating nations, The two Germanys
Similar to the 1952 Summer Olympics with Saarland, who had sent its own team but had not been integrated as a part of West Germany, there were two teams participating from Germany.


1968 Winter Olympics, Participating nations, The two Germanys
For the first time, the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) was present with its own team. It was provisionally accepted into the IOC, as long as it formed a complete German team consisting of athletes from both the West and East. This had to be done under the leadership of the National Olympic Committee for Germany, a board recognised by the IOC. Following on from this, the National Olympic Committee of East Germany tried to achieve complete recognition.


1968 Winter Olympics, Participating nations, The two Germanys
This did not work out because of resistance from Karl Ritter von Halt, the president of the National Olympic Committee for Germany, who was close friends with then-IOC president Avery Brundage. After Halt died in 1961, the same year the Berlin Wall was built by East Germany to prevent the defections of its citizens to the West, the close contact with the IOC leadership was lost under his successor Willi Daume. The reality of the split made the qualification almost impossible. On 8 October 1965, the IOC decided to accept East Germany as a full member.


1968 Winter Olympics, Participating nations, The two Germanys
Both national olympic committees agreed on using the same flag and anthem. The black-red-gold flag with the white Olympic rings in the middle of it has been used at all Olympic Games since 1960, as well as the replacement anthem "Ode an die Freude" (Ode to Joy) from Beethoven's 9th symphony, which was used previously. Both countries presented themselves as completely independent from 1972, using their respective national flags and anthems.


1968 Winter Olympics, Participating nations, The two Germanys
On 21 January 1968, 21-year-old Ralph Pöhland, one of the most famous East German winter olympians, fled to West Germany after the pre-Olympic tournament at Les Bioux, Switzerland. His assistant in helping to flee was Georg Thoma, a West German ski jumper. This incident led to relationships between the two German teams turning sour, which never used to be the case.


1968 Winter Olympics, Medal count
These are the top ten nations that won medals at the 1968 Winter Games.


1968 Winter Olympics, Medal count, Medals and diplomas
For the 1968 Winter Games, 228 gold, silver and bronze medals were manufactured in total, designed by Roger Excoffon and coined by French minting company Monnaie de Paris. For the first time in Olympic history, the medals, given out for the winners in every sport, had their own design. The logo of the games was depicted on the front of the medal, and on the back was a pictogram etched into the surface that depicted the sport that the medal winner competed in. The medals had an diameter of 50 mm (2 in) and were 3 mm (0 in) thick.


1968 Winter Olympics, Medal count, Medals and diplomas
The gold and silver medals consisted of silver with a composition of 925/1000, but the gold medals were coated in an additional six grams of gold. The medals hang of ribbons in the Olympic colours, which happened to also be a first, as they had used chains before 1968 . In addition, the athletes received a box made of black leather, lined with either white, blue or red silk.


1968 Winter Olympics, Medal count, Medals and diplomas
The commemoration medal was designed by Josette Hébert-Coeffin. The front side of the medal depicted the decorated head of a Greek athlete with snowflakes and ice crystals in the background. The other side depicted the silhouette of Grenoble in front of the mountain range Belladonne. There were three different types of medals. 20 were made of silver, 210 of silver-coated bronze and 15,000 of bronze.


1968 Winter Olympics, Medal count, Medals and diplomas
Excoffon also designed the Olympic diplomas, which were given to the six best athletes in each discipline. They were made of cream coloured parchment paper. Around the logo contained the words "Xes Jeux Olympiques d'Hiver Grenoble 1968", as well as the Olympic motto "Citius, altius, fortius". In the middle of the paper, the word "Diplome" was written in gold writing. However, similar diplome were handed out to officials, participants, journalists and volunteers on ordinary white paper and without the gold writing as a souvenir.


1968 Winter Olympics, Medal count, Medals and diplomas
The medal ceremony took place in the evening of the finals event in the Stade de glace.


1968 Winter Olympics, Events, timetable and results
Compared to the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, the number of disciplines increased to 35, and the men's biathlon relay was also added.


1968 Winter Olympics, Events, timetable and results
On 4 February, two days before the official opening ceremony, the first ice hockey preliminary matches took place. This games had a function to lead the vacant spots for 4 teams,the three winners are placed into Group A alongside the five teams already assigned to the group. The losing team was placed into Group B.


1968 Winter Olympics, Ceremonies, Opening ceremony
For the opening ceremony, a temporary stadium was built that was supported by scaffolding and able to hold 60,000 spectators. The Stade inaugural was situated in the immediate vicinity to the Olympic Village and press center. At the back of the stadium, there was a steel scaffold that kept host to the Olympic flame, located in a 4m wide bowl at the top, which also was able to take 550 kg in weight. There was also stairs leading to the top, containing 96 steps.


1968 Winter Olympics, Ceremonies, Opening ceremony
The ceremony began on Tuesday, 6 February at 3:00 p.m., with French president Charles de Gaulle in attendance. Among the 500 invited guests of honour was IOC president Avery Brundage, the Irani empress Farah Pahlavi, the Danish Crown Princess Margrethe and the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg Josephine Charlotte. After the Marseillaise was sung, the French national anthem, cultural performances followed.


1968 Winter Olympics, Ceremonies, Opening ceremony
The procession of the athletes into the stadium was traditionally led by the Greek team. The other teams proceeded into the stadium in alphabetical order, starting with West Germany (Allemagne) and then East Germany (Allemagne d'Est). The last team out was the hosts, the French team. Albert Michallon, president of COJO, said in his speech that all athletes and visitors were welcome. Brundage again recollected Pierre de Coubertin's ideals and expressed the hope of these ideals lead to a peaceful and less materialistic world. He invited Charles de Gaulle to open the Games. De Gaulle appeared on the stage and read out the opening set-phrase.


1968 Winter Olympics, Ceremonies, Opening ceremony
14 Chasseurs Alpins soldiers carried a 54m Olympic flag into the stadium and hoisted. The organisers had decided against the usual tradition of letting the peace dove fly. Instead, they let out 500 small Olympic flags on paper parachutes and 30,000 perfumed paper roses from three helicopters over the stadium. Following this, figure skater Alain Calmat was the last torch bearer to enter the stadium. He climbed up the steps to the bowl, where his a sound of his heartbeat amplified over the loudspeakers. Once at the top, he lit the Olympic flame.


1968 Winter Olympics, Ceremonies, Opening ceremony
Shortly afterwards, skier Leo Lacroix read out the Olympic oath. At the end, the Patrouille de France, the aerobatic flight display team, flew over the stadium and marked out the colours of the Olympic rings with their vapour trails in the sky.


1968 Winter Olympics, Ceremonies, Closing ceremony
The Winter Olympics ended on Sunday, 18 February, with the closing ceremony in the Stade de glace. The first highlight was the figure skaters putting on an exhibition skating session. It also included ice dancing, an event that was first introduced into the main programme in 1976. The best ten partners from the last world championship took part in the event and there was no scores. After that, the last award ceremonies then took place.


1968 Winter Olympics, Ceremonies, Closing ceremony
After the Marseillaise was played, all athletes who were still in Grenoble reassembled onto the ice and the flag bearers formed a semi-circle. Whilst the flags of Greece, France and next host Japan were put up, a torchbearer brought the Olympic flame into the stadium and ignited it into a bowl on the ice. IOC president Avery Brundage thanked the organisers and declared the games over. When the Olympic flag was pulled down, gun salutes were heard all across the town and finally the flame went out.


1968 Winter Olympics, Top athletes and performances
11-years-old Romanian figure skater Beatrice Huștiu became the youngest female participant at the 1968 Winter Games. She took part in the singles event and finished in 29th place, which was third from bottom. The youngest male participant was aged 12 years and 110 days. He was also a figure skater called Jan Hoffmann, who represented East Germany. In Grenoble, he finished in 26th place and was also third from bottom. In 1974 and 1980, he became world champion, and in 1980, he won silver in the Olympic Games at Lake Placid.


1968 Winter Olympics, Top athletes and performances
American speed skater Dianne Holum was the youngest medal winner. She won silver in the 500m event at the age of 16 years and 266 days. Two days later, she added a bronze by competing in the 1000m event. The youngest gold medal winner was also from the USA: 19-year-old figure skater Peggy Fleming.


1968 Winter Olympics, Top athletes and performances
The oldest medal winner and oldest gold medal winner was 40-year-old Italian Eugenio Monti, who won the gold medal in the four-man bobsleigh team. Five days before, he had also won the two-man bobsleigh team gold medal.


1968 Winter Olympics, Doping and gender control
The public became more aware of the doping issue during the 1960s. The first death caused by doping at the Olympic Games occurred in 1960 in Rome, when Danish cyclist Knut Enemark Jensen, who took amphetamines, fell off his bike and died. It took four years until the IOC recognised the seriousness of the situation and created a medical commission. In 1967, the IOC followed the example set by other sport associations and proclaimed a ban on doping. For the first time, doping control was carried out at the 1968 Winter Olympics. The IOC tested 86 athletes but all the tests came back negative.


1968 Winter Olympics, Doping and gender control
Also in 1967, the IOC decided to carry out gender controls in order to prevent intersex people from competing at women's competitions. Multiple athletes from Eastern Europe immediately retired after the IOC had decided this, which led to much speculation. Erik Schinegger, the 1966 female downhill world champion from Austria, was tested a couple of days before the 1968 Winter Games. It turned out Schinegger had been born with internal sex organs doctors had never tested for. After learning of this condition, Schinegger ultimately decided to have gender confirmation surgery and legally changed his first name from Erika to Erik.


1968 Winter Olympics, Media coverage
The media representatives lived in an apartment complex built between April 1966 and October 1967, a few hundred meters away from the Olympic village in Malherbe, a central part of Grenoble. The complex consisted of seven eight to ten floored towers totaling 637 flats, an underground car park and a school. The school housed an IBM computer center, a copy center, the studios of French radio and TV broadcaster ORTF and broadcasters from other countries, photo laboratories, and other technical amenities.


1968 Winter Olympics, Media coverage
The offices of the newspaper and photo journalists, the technicians, and the general administration were situated on the bottom floors of the towers, the other floors serving as accommodation. The press restaurant was later used as a car park. There were also smaller press centers in the Stade de glace in Grenoble, and at the five other venues in Autrans, Chamrousse, L'Alpe d'Huez, Saint-Nizier-du-Moucherotte, and Villard-de-Lans.


1968 Winter Olympics, Media coverage
The organising committee COJO assigned 1,545 accreditations to the following people: 1,095 went to press, radio and television journalists, 301 to photographers, and 149 to other unnamed groups. On 19 September 1966, COJO signed an exclusive contract with ORTF for the provision of broadcasting on the television to EBU's catchment area and to Canada. On 14 February 1967, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) received the exclusive broadcasting rights for the United States and Latin America. On 15 October 1967, NHK received the rights to broadcast in Japan.


1968 Winter Olympics, Media coverage
For the first time in the history of the Olympic Games, the Games were transmitted in colour. ORTF installed 25 colour and 37 black and white cameras (ABC had an independent broadcasting system). The total broadcasting time lasted 150 hours and 15mins, 91 hours and 25 mins were in colour. The total number of viewers was recorded at 600 million.


1968 Winter Olympics, Media coverage
Concerning the question of scoring the men's freestyle figure skating and the unfortunate circumstances of the men's slalom, the Bild am Sonntag published the title "Am Ende kam der große Krach" ("At the end there was a great bust-up"). The "Münchner Merkur" said they would have tolerated Schranz's disqualification, but the incidents in the figure skating had led to a bitter aftertaste.


1968 Winter Olympics medal table
The 1968 Winter Olympics, officially known as the X Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event held in Grenoble, France, from 6 to 18 February 1968. A total of 1,158 athletes representing 37 National Olympic Committees (NOCs)—including Morocco's first delegation—participated in 35 events from 10 different sports and disciplines. The team relay (4 × 7.5 km) event in biathlon was contested for the first time.


1968 Winter Olympics medal table
Fifteen NOCs won at least one medal, and thirteen of them secured at least one gold. For the first time, after three consecutive editions of the Winter Olympics, the Soviet Union did not finish first in the overall and gold medal counts. Having won a total of thirteen medals, of which five were gold, they came second to Norway, whose athletes took home fourteen medals (six golds, six silvers, and two bronzes).


1968 Winter Olympics medal table
This was Norway's comeback to the top spot of both medal rankings, after the 1952 Winter Olympics, and the sixth time since the nation first competed at the inaugural 1924 Winter Games. The host team, France, concluded its participation with a set of nine medals: four golds (tied with Italy), three silvers, and two bronzes. Eight of these medals were obtained in alpine skiing events, and three of the four French Olympic titles were won by a single alpine skier, Jean-Claude Killy, who swept the men's events.


1968 Winter Olympics medal table
East and West Germany entered separate teams for the first time, ending a run of three straight editions (1956–1964) in which German athletes participated as a single team. Victories by Thomas Köhler and Klaus-Michael Bonsack (luge doubles), and by Franz Keller (Nordic combined), resulted in the first Winter Olympics gold medal for East and West Germany, respectively. Czechoslovakia also got its first-ever gold at the Winter Games, thanks to a successful combination of ski jumps by Jiří Raška in the normal hill (70 m) event.


1968 Winter Olympics medal table
Raška also secured a silver medal in the large hill (90 m) event, after becoming one of the first Olympic ski jumpers to cross the 100-metre mark. Czechoslovak athletes collected a second silver, in ice hockey, and a bronze, in figure skating, helping the nation to achieve its best result in the Winter Olympics, at that time. In Grenoble, Romania won its first and so far only medal at the Winter Games, as Ion Panţuru and Nicolae Neagoe secured the bronze in bobsleigh's two-man event.


1968 Winter Olympics medal table
Toini Gustafsson, a Swedish cross-country skier, contributed three of her NOC's eight medals, including two of its three golds, with victories in both women's individual events and a runner-up place in the team relay. Half of Italy's four gold medals were obtained by nine-time bobsleigh world champion Eugenio Monti, who finally drove his sled to the Olympic two- and four-man titles, after two silvers in Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956 and two bronzes in Innsbruck 1964. Canada collected three medals, of which two were won by alpine skier Nancy Greene (gold in women's giant slalom and silver in women's slalom). All nine medals secured by athletes of the Dutch delegation were in speed skating events.


1968 Winter Olympics medal table, Medal table
The medal table is based on information provided by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and is consistent with IOC convention in its published medal tables. By default, the table is ordered by the number of gold medals won by an NOC. The number of silver medals is taken into consideration next and then the number of bronze medals. If nations are still tied, equal ranking is given and they are listed alphabetically.


1968 Winter Olympics medal table, Medal table
In speed skating, ties for the second place in the men's 500 m, 1,500 m, and women's 500 m events resulted in the awarding of an additional four silver medals; as a consequence, three bronzes were not presented. This explains the uneven number of total gold (35), silver (39), and bronze (32) medals distributed in these Games.


1968 Winter Universiade
The 1968 Winter Universiade, the V Winter Universiade, took place in Innsbruck, Austria.


1968 Winter Universiade, Alpine skiing
Men: Slalom Gold – Milan Pazout (Czechoslovakia) Silver – Per Sunde (Norway) Bronze – Bill Marolt (United States)


1968 Winter Universiade, Alpine skiing
Men: Giant slalom Gold – Per Sunde (Norway) Silver – Milan Pazout (Czechoslovakia) Bronze – Franz Vogler (West Germany)


1968 Winter Universiade, Alpine skiing
Men: Downhill Gold – Scott Pyles (United States) Silver – Günther Scheuerl (West Germany) Bronze – Loris Werner (United States)


1968 Winter Universiade, Alpine skiing
Men: Combined Combined event is the overall standings of all disciplines on the Universiade program. Gold – Milan Pazout (Czechoslovakia) Silver – Robert Wollek (France) Bronze – Scott Pyles (United States)


1968 Winter Universiade, Alpine skiing
Women: Slalom Gold – Kathy Nagel (United States) Silver – Viki Jones (United States) Bronze – Christina Ditfurth (Austria)


1968 Winter Universiade, Alpine skiing
Women: Giant slalom Gold – Kathy Nagel (United States) Silver – Viki Jones (United States) Bronze – Marisella Chevallard (Italy)


1968 Winter Universiade, Alpine skiing
Women: Downhill Gold – Heidi Obrecht (Switzerland) Silver – Christina Ditfurth (Austria) Bronze – Paola Strauss (Italy)


1968 Winter Universiade, Alpine skiing
Women: Combined Combined event is the overall standings of all disciplines on the Universiade program. Gold – Kathy Nagel (United States) Silver – Viki Jones (United States) Bronze – Christina Ditfurth (Austria)


1968 Winter Universiade, Nordic skiing
Men: 15km Gold – Jon Hoias (Norway) Silver – Yevgeniy Platunov (Soviet Union) Bronze – Anatoliy Zakharov (Soviet Union)


1968 Winter Universiade, Nordic skiing
Men: 4 x 10 km relay Gold – Soviet Union Silver – Japan Bronze – Finland


1968 Winter Universiade, Nordic skiing
Women: 10km Gold – Yanna Yelistratova (Soviet Union) Silver – Lyubov Menchikova (Soviet Union) Bronze – Lidiya Doronina (Soviet Union)


1968 Winter Universiade, Nordic skiing
Women: 3 x 5 km relay Gold – Soviet Union Silver – Poland Bronze – Czechoslovakia


1968 Winter Universiade, Nordic combined
Men: Gold – Hiroshi Itagaki (Japan) Silver – Masatoshi Sudo (Japan) Bronze – Antonin Kucera (Czechoslovakia)


1968 Winter Universiade, Ski jumping
Men: Small Hill - K90 Gold – Hiroshi Itagaki (Japan) Silver – Masakatsu Asari (Japan) Bronze – Yukio Kasaya (Japan)


1968 Winter Universiade, Figure skating
Men: Gold – Vladimir Kurenbin (Soviet Union) Silver – Marian Filc (Soviet Union) Bronze – Günter Anderl (Austria)


1968 Winter Universiade, Figure skating
Women: Gold – Kumiko Okawa (Japan) Silver – Helli Sengstschmid (Austria) Bronze – Kazumi Yamashita (Japan)


1968 Winter Universiade, Figure skating
Pairs: Gold – Bohunka Šrámková / Jan Šrámek (Czechoslovakia) Silver – Tatiana Sharanova / Anatoli Evdokimov (Soviet Union) Bronze – Lyudmila Suslina / Alexander Tikhomirov (Soviet Union)


1968 Winter Universiade, Figure skating
Ice dancing: Gold – Heidi Mezger / Herbert Rothkappl (Austria) Silver – Diana Skotnická / Martin Skotnický (Czechoslovakia) Bronze – none


1968 Winter Universiade, Ice hockey
Men: Gold – Soviet Union Silver – Czechoslovakia Bronze – Canada (University of Toronto Varsity Blues)


1968 Winter Universiade, Speed skating
Men: 500M Gold – Erhard Keller (West Germany) Silver – Keiichi Suzuki (Japan) Bronze – Takayuki Hida (Japan)


1968 Winter Universiade, Speed skating
Men: 1500M Gold – Aleksandr Zhekulayev (Soviet Union) Silver – Valeriy Bayonov (Soviet Union) Bronze – Arkadiy Kichenko (Soviet Union) Bronze – Pekka Halinen (Finland)


1968 Winter Universiade, Speed skating
Men: 3000M Gold – Aleksandr Zhekulayev (Soviet Union) Silver – Pekka Halinen (Finland) Bronze – Anatoliy Nokhrin (Soviet Union)


1968 Winter Universiade, Speed skating
Men: 5000M Gold – Aleksandr Zhekulayev (Soviet Union) Silver – Anatoliy Nokhrin (Soviet Union) Bronze – Yoshiaki Demachi (Japan)


1968 Wisconsin Badgers football team
The 1968 Wisconsin Badgers football team represented the University of Wisconsin in the 1968 Big Ten Conference football season. The team was led by second-year head coach John Coatta, and they competed in the Big Ten Conference. The Badgers finished the season 0–10 (0–7 in Big Ten, last); to date, this is the first (and only) time the Badgers have finished winless.


1968 Wisconsin Badgers football team
This was the first season of artificial turf at Camp Randall Stadium; the Tartan Turf home opener was against Washington of the Pac-8, who had just installed AstroTurf at their Husky Stadium in Seattle. Outside of these two, the only other University Division venues with synthetic turf in 1968 were the Astrodome (Houston) and Neyland Stadium (Tennessee).


1968 Wisconsin Badgers football team, NFL/AFL Draft selections
Two University of Wisconsin Badgers were selected in the 1969 NFL/AFL draft, which lasted seventeen rounds with 442 selections.


1968 Wisconsin gubernatorial election
The 1968 Wisconsin gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 1968. Republican Warren P. Knowles won the election with 53% of the vote, winning his third term as Governor of Wisconsin and defeating Democrat Bronson La Follette.


1968 Women's British Open Squash Championship
The 1968 Women's Open Squash Championships was held at the Lansdowne Club and Royal Aero Club in London from 16–22 February 1968.Heather McKay (née Blundell) won her seventh consecutive title defeating Bev Johnson in the final.


1968 World 600
The 1968 World 600, the ninth running of the event, was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that took place on May 26, 1968, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina.


1968 World 600, Background
Charlotte Motor Speedway, a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) quad-oval track located in Concord, North Carolina, was the location for the race. The track's turns were banked at twenty-four degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, was five degrees. The back stretch, opposite of the front, also had a five degree banking. During the 1968 season, Charlotte Motor Speedway hosted the NASCAR Grand National Series twice, with the other race being the National 500.


1968 World 600, Background
Designed and built by Bruton Smith and partner and driver Curtis Turner in 1959, the first World 600 NASCAR race was held at the 1.5 mi (2.4 km) speedway on June 19, 1960. On December 8, 1961, the speedway filed bankruptcy notice. Judge J.B. Craven of US District Court for Western North Carolina reorganized it under Chapter 10 of the Bankruptcy Act; Judge Craven appointed Robert "Red" Robinson as the track's trustee until March 1962. At that point, a committee of major stockholders in the speedway was assembled, headed by A.C. Goines and furniture store owner Richard Howard. Goines, Howard, and Robinson worked to secure loans and other monies to keep the speedway afloat.


1968 World 600, Background
By April 1963 some $750,000 was paid to twenty secured creditors and the track emerged from bankruptcy; Judge Craven appointed Goines as speedway president and Howard as assistant general manager of the speedway, handling its day-to-day operations. By 1964 Howard become the track's general manager, and on June 1, 1967, the speedway's mortgage was paid in full; a public burning of the mortgage was held at the speedway two weeks later.


1968 World 600, Background
Smith departed from the speedway in 1962 to pursue other business interests, primarily in banking and auto dealerships from his new home of Rockford, IL. He became quite successful and began buying out shares of stock in the speedway. By 1974 Smith was more heavily involved in the speedway, to where Richard Howard by 1975 stated, "I haven't been running the speedway. It's being run from Illinois." In 1975  Smith had become the majority stockholder, regaining control of its day-to-day operations. Smith hired H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler as general manager in October 1975, and on January 29, 1976, Richard Howard resigned as president and GM of the speedway.


1968 World 600, Race report
This race was shortened to 255 laps due to rain after being able to race for three hours and four minutes in front of 60,000 people. Rain had started to appear much earlier in the race but flagman Johnny Bruner would not wave the caution flag until the conditions got dangerous. Throughout the day, 0.32 inches of rain were reported around Charlotte Motor Speedway.


1968 World 600, Race report
Buddy Baker would defeat Donnie Allison under the race's sixth and final caution flag. Cale Yarborough would become the last-place finisher due to a crash on lap 45. All the competitors (except for Canadian Frog Fagan) was born in the United States of America. Bobby Allison suffered an engine problem on the 229th lap of the race; forcing him to retire in 28th place. Donnie Allison won the pole position at 159.223 miles per hour or 256.245 kilometres per hour during qualifying runs while actual race speeds would reach 104.207 miles per hour or 167.705 kilometres per hour. Both of Nord Krauskopf's teams would finish in the "top ten" during this race. The top ten finishers included Buddy Baker, Donny Allison, LeeRoy Yarbrough, David Pearson, Bobby Isaac, Charlie Glotzbach, Tiny Lund, James Hylton, Curtis Turner, and Sam McQuagg.


1968 World 600, Race report
Darel Dieringer would be a part of the race's second crash on lap 212; giving him a 32nd-place finish. Earl Balmer, Paul Lewis, and Phil Wendt would retire from NASCAR after this racing event. Prior to this race, Balmer was known as the winner of the 1966 Daytona 500 qualifying race.


1968 World 600, Race report
Notable crew chiefs for this race included Junior Johnson, Harry Hyde, Dale Inman, Banjo Matthews and Bud Moore.


1968 World Allround Speed Skating Championships for women
The 29th edition of the World Allround Speed Skating Championships for Women took place on 27 and 28 January 1968 in Helsinki at the Oulunkylä Ice Rink.


1968 World Amateur Snooker Championship
The 1968 World Amateur Snooker Championship was the third edition of the championship that later became known as the IBSF World Snooker Championship, the first event having been held in 1963. The 1968 tournament was played in Australia with two round-robin groups, one held in Adelaide and one on Melbourne, and the semi-finals and final being played at the Hordern Pavilion, Sydney.


1968 World Amateur Snooker Championship
David Taylor of England defeated Max Williams of Australia 8–7 in the final to win the title. Taylor also made the highest break, 96.


1968 World Amateur Snooker Championship, Qualifying groups
Matches in the qualifying groups were all played between 16 and 20 September.


1968 World Amateur Snooker Championship, Qualifying groups
Group A, played at the Albert Park table tennis stadium, Melbourne.


1968 World Amateur Snooker Championship, Knockout
The semi-final between Williams and van Renberg was played on 29 and 30 September; the semi-final between Taylor and Morgan was played on 1 and 2 October; the final was played on 3 and 4 October.


1968 World Championship Tennis circuit
The 1968 World Championship Tennis circuit was the inaugural tour  of the (WCT) one of the two rival professional male tennis tours of 1968 the other being the National Tennis League. The tour began on 22 January in Sydney, Australia and ended on 13 October in Durban, South Africa.


1968 World Championship Tennis circuit, Calendar
This is the complete schedule of events on the 1968 WCT circuit, with player progression documented until the quarterfinals stage.


1968 World Cup (men's golf)
The 1968 World Cup took place 14–17 November at the Olgiata Golf Club in Rome, Italy. It was the 16th World Cup event, which was named the Canada Cup until 1966 and changed its name to the World Cup in 1967. The tournament was a 72-hole stroke play team event with 42 teams. The third round on Saturday was interrupted by hail and rain storm, with six teams still on the course and play was resumed early Sunday. Each team consisted of two players from a country. The combined score of each team determined the team results.


1968 World Cup (men's golf)
The Canadian team of Al Balding and George Knudson won by two strokes ahead of the United States team of Julius Boros and Lee Trevino. The individual competition was won by Balding, five strokes ahead of Roberto Bernardini, Italy. This was the first team victory for Canada in the event, which was founded in Canada in 1953.


1968 World Figure Skating Championships
The 1968 World Figure Skating Championships were held in Geneva, Switzerland from February 27 to March 3. At the event, sanctioned by the International Skating Union, medals were awarded in men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dance.


1968 World Figure Skating Championships
The ISU representative was John R. Shoemaker of USA and the ISU Technical Delegate was Elemer Tertak of Hungary.


1968 World Open Match Play Snooker Championship
The 1968 World Open Match Play Snooker Championship was a snooker match between Rex Williams and Eddie Charlton for the title won first won by Fred Davis at the 1960 World Open Snooker Championship and then by Williams in the 1967 World Open Snooker Championship. Despite the name of the competition, Williams and Charlton were the only contestants in 1968. Charlton took the title by winning 43 frames to Williams' 30, a winning margin having been achieved at 37–20.


1968 World Open Match Play Snooker Championship, Summary
Fred Davis had won the 1960 World Open Snooker Championship, which was held in Australia with eight players competing in a round-robin. Davis and Rex Williams arranged to play a series of 51 five-frame matches from November 1966 to April 1967, with the winner taking the title, billed as the World Open Snooker Championship. Williams reached a winning margin at 26–23, after which Davis won the last two matches to make the final score 26–25.


1968 World Open Match Play Snooker Championship, Summary
In July 1968, in a match sanctioned by the Billiards Association and Control Council, Charlton challenged Williams for the title, now referred to as the World Open Match Play Snooker Championship, and AUD1,000. The match took place at the St George's Leagues Club, Sydney, as the best of 73 frames, with twelve frames played on each day except the last, when thirteen were played.


1968 World Open Match Play Snooker Championship, Summary
The start of the match was delayed for two days as Williams was suffering from tonsilitis, and started on 24 July, with Charlton taking a 7–5 lead on the first day, overturning Williams' 4–2 lead from the afternoon session by winning five of the six frames in the evening. Charlton extended this to 14–10 by the end of the second day, and by the end of play on 28 July, had reached a winning margin, at 37–23. The last day, 29 July, finished with Charlton 43–30 ahead.


1968 World Open Match Play Snooker Championship, Summary
The highest break of the match was 110, compiled by Charlton in the 61st frame. Williams' highest break, and the second-highest of the match, was 89.


1968 World Orienteering Championships
The 2nd World Orienteering Championships were held in Linköping, Sweden, 28–29 September 1968.


1968 World Orienteering Championships
The championships had four events; individual contests for men and women, and relays for men and women.


1968 World Orienteering Championships
The men's individual course had 18 controls over 14.6 kilometres, while the women's individual course had 10 controls over 7.8 kilometres.


1968 World Series
The 1968 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1968 season. The 65th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between American League (AL) champion Detroit Tigers and the National League (NL) champion (and defending World Series champion) St. Louis Cardinals. The Tigers won in seven games for their first championship since 1945, and the third in their history.


1968 World Series
The Tigers came back from a three-games-to-one deficit to win three consecutive games, largely on the arm of Mickey Lolich, who was named World Series Most Valuable Player (MVP); as of 2019, he remains the last pitcher to earn three complete-game victories in a single World Series. In his third appearance in the Series, Lolich had to pitch after only two days' rest in the deciding Game 7, because regular-season 31-game winner Denny McLain was moved up to Game 6 – also on two days' rest. In Game 5, the Tigers' hopes for the title would have been in jeopardy had Bill Freehan not tagged out Lou Brock in a home plate collision, on a perfect throw from left fielder Willie Horton, when Brock elected not to slide and went in standing up.


1968 World Series
The 1968 season was tagged "The Year of the Pitcher", and the Series featured dominant performances from Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson, MVP of the 1964 and 1967 World Series. Gibson came into the World Series with a regular-season earned run average (ERA) of just 1.12, a modern era record, and he pitched complete games in Games 1, 4, and 7. He was the winning pitcher in Games 1 and 4. In Game 1, he threw a shutout, striking out a Series record 17 batters, besting Sandy Koufax's 1963 record by two; it still stands as the World Series record today.


1968 World Series
In Game 4, a solo home run by Jim Northrup was the only offense the Tigers were able to muster, as Gibson struck out ten batters. In Game 7, Gibson was defeated by series MVP Lolich, allowing three runs on four straight hits in the seventh inning, although the key play was a Northrup triple that was seemingly misplayed by center fielder Curt Flood and could have been the third out with no runs scoring.


1968 World Series
The World Series saw the Cardinals lose a Game 7 for the first time in their history. This was the sixth World Series of the 1960s to go to a full seven games, the most of any decade. The Tigers were the third team to come back from a three-games-to-one deficit to win a best-of-seven World Series, the first two being the 1925 Pirates and the 1958 Yankees; since then, the 1979 Pirates, the 1985 Royals, and the 2016 Cubs have also accomplished this feat.


1968 World Series
Detroit manager Mayo Smith received some notoriety for moving outfielder Mickey Stanley to shortstop for the 1968 World Series, which has been called one of the gutsiest coaching moves in sports history by multiple sources. Stanley, who replaced the superior fielding but much weaker hitting Ray Oyler, would make two errors in the Series, neither of which led to a run.


1968 World Series
This was also the final World Series played prior to MLB's 1969 expansion, which coincided with the introduction of divisional play and the League Championship Series.


1968 World Series
All seven games of NBC's TV coverage were preserved on black-and-white kinescopes by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and circulate among collectors. Games 1 and 5 have been commercially released; these broadcasts, and that of Game 7, were frequently shown on CSN (Classic Sports Network) and ESPN Classic in the 1990s and 2000s.


1968 World Series, Summary
AL Detroit Tigers (4) vs. NL St. Louis Cardinals (3)


1968 World Series, Matchups, Game 1
The Tigers roared into Game 1 by setting a then-team record with 103 victories on the season and were appearing in their first World Series in 23 years. The Tigers led the American League with 185 home runs. Their team batting average was .235, fourth best in the league; the team stole only 26 bases on the year. The Cardinals, on the other hand, stole 110 bases, led the NL with 48 triples, and had a team batting average of .249, but hit only 73 home runs. Pitching was about even as both teams set their rotations for Game 1 with solid starters and adequate relievers.


1968 World Series, Matchups, Game 1
Fans overflowed Busch Stadium for Game 1 to watch the highly anticipated match-up of the Major League's top two pitchers—the Cardinals' Bob Gibson (22–9, 1.12 ERA) and the Tigers' Denny McLain (31–6, 1.96 ERA). Gibson was looking to become the first National League pitcher to win six World Series games while McLain was pitching in his first World Series game. The Cardinals had far more World Series experience than the Tigers with most of the Cardinal lineup (including all nine Game 1 starters) having played in a prior World Series. Both pitchers were highly competitive, fast workers, sporting overpowering fastballs coupled with excellent control.


1968 World Series, Matchups, Game 1
Gibson's performance in Game 1 was phenomenal. The menacing right-handed pitcher shut out the Tigers on just five hits, and he struck out a World Series-record 17 Detroit Tigers batters.


1968 World Series, Matchups, Game 1
The Cardinals broke through with three in the fourth off McLain. After McLain walked Roger Maris and Tim McCarver, Cardinal third baseman Mike Shannon singled in Maris and went to second base when Tiger left fielder Willie Horton misplayed the ball. McCarver pulled in at third. Cardinal second baseman Julián Javier followed this by singling in both baserunners to make the score 3–0. Outfielder Lou Brock added a home run in the seventh inning to complete the scoring.


1968 World Series, Matchups, Game 1
Gibson finished the game in the ninth inning with his 15th, 16th, and 17th strikeouts to pass Sandy Koufax's previous record of 15, set in the 1963 World Series.


1968 World Series, Matchups, Game 2
The Tigers' starting pitcher Mickey Lolich earned a complete-game victory and the Tigers tied the Series.


1968 World Series, Matchups, Game 2
Tiger outfielder Willie Horton hit a home run in the second inning; Lolich also helped his own cause with a homer in the third inning off the Cardinals' starter, Nelson Briles, scoring the eventual game-winning run. This was the only home run that Lolich hit during his entire professional career. The Tigers broke the game open in the sixth inning when first baseman Norm Cash led off with another homer, and second baseman Dick McAuliffe later provided a two-run single.


1968 World Series, Matchups, Game 2
Cardinal first baseman Orlando Cepeda gave St. Louis a run with an RBI single in the sixth, but that was all they scored. Al Kaline scored in the seventh inning when Jim Northrup hit into a double play, and the Tigers scored their final two runs in the ninth inning with bases-loaded walks to Don Wert and Lolich.


1968 World Series, Matchups, Game 3
In the first of three games at Detroit's Tiger Stadium, Al Kaline started the scoring with a two-run homer in the third inning, but the Cardinals came back in the fifth inning on an RBI double by center fielder Curt Flood off starter Earl Wilson. After Wilson put another batter on base, catcher Tim McCarver launched a three-run home run for the eventual game-winning runs off relief pitcher Pat Dobson. The Tigers cut the deficit to just one run on a home run by Dick McAuliffe. But Orlando Cepeda put the game out of reach in the seventh inning by smacking a three-run home run.


1968 World Series, Matchups, Game 3
The Cardinals' reliever Joe Hoerner entered the game in the sixth in relief of Ray Washburn (who got the win) and earned a save. Hoerner also collected a single batting in the eighth and became the first major leaguer to get a hit in the World Series after going hitless for the entire season.


1968 World Series, Matchups, Game 4
Tiger manager Mayo Smith, needing another left-handed bat in the lineup, made a major change by inserting veteran Eddie Mathews at third base. Mathews, recovering from a spinal operation that nearly ended his career, had one hit in the last game of his major league career. After a 35-minute rain delay, hard-hitting Hall-of-Famer Hank Greenberg threw out the first pitch.


1968 World Series, Matchups, Game 4
McLain had trouble warming up amidst the rainfall, and was throwing with less velocity from the outset. A 31-game winner during the regular season, he struggled for the second time in this World Series, as this one-sided pitching match-up with Bob Gibson showed. Lou Brock led the game off with a home run, and Mike Shannon added an RBI single later in the first inning. Two more Cardinals runs were knocked in during the third inning on Tim McCarver's triple and Mike Shannon's double.


1968 World Series, Matchups, Game 4
McLain's troubles continued, and after a walk to Julián Javier, the umpires stopped the game due to rain with two out in the third inning. McLain did not return when play resumed after a one-hour and 15-minute rain delay. Bob Gibson did return after the delay, and helped his own cause by hitting a home run off Joe Sparma in the fourth inning. Next, Lou Brock knocked a triple and scored on a ground-out by Roger Maris.


1968 World Series, Matchups, Game 4
The Cardinals' final runs came in the eighth inning when Gibson walked with the bases loaded, forcing in one run, and then Lou Brock drove in three more runs with a double. Brock was just a single short of hitting for the cycle in this game.


1968 World Series, Matchups, Game 4
The Tigers' only run came in the fourth inning when Jim Northrup hit a home run. Other than that, Gibson was a nearly perfect pitcher, tossing his second complete game in this World Series while striking out ten batters. The Cards now had a commanding 3–1 series lead.


1968 World Series, Matchups, Game 5
With the World Series on the line, the Tigers used their winner of Game 2, Mickey Lolich, as their starting pitcher. Lolich's first inning in this game was not too promising, as he allowed an RBI single by Curt Flood and a two-run home run to Orlando Cepeda. However, Lolich soon settled down, striking out eight Cardinal batters and allowing no more runs.


1968 World Series, Matchups, Game 5
Tigers' first baseman Norm Cash began the team comeback with a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning, plating Mickey Stanley who had tripled. This was followed by a Willie Horton triple and Jim Northrup's RBI single, making it a 3–2 game. In the fifth inning, the Cardinals had a chance to go up by two runs after Lou Brock hit a one-out double. Cardinal second baseman Julián Javier followed with a base hit to left. Outfielder Willie Horton fielded the ball off the ground and then fired the ball towards home plate.


1968 World Series, Matchups, Game 5
Instead of sliding into home plate, Brock tried to bowl over Tiger catcher Bill Freehan. However, Freehan caught and held onto the ball while blocking the corner of the plate with his foot, and Brock was called out. This was the last time that the Cardinals threatened to score in the game.


1968 World Series, Matchups, Game 5
The Cardinals' starting pitcher Nelson Briles was taken out of the game in the seventh inning with one runner on base, and was replaced by closer reliever Joe Hoerner. The Tigers began a game-winning rally off Hoerner, with Al Kaline hitting a two-run single to give the Tigers a 4–3 lead. Norm Cash then knocked in an insurance run with a single.


1968 World Series, Matchups, Game 5
Jose Feliciano's unconventional pre-game singing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" aroused considerable controversy, with the Tigers and NBC receiving thousands of angry letters and telephone calls about the performance. Lolich also blamed Feliciano's unusually long rendition for causing him to get cold after his warm-ups and thus give up three early runs.


1968 World Series, Matchups, Game 6
Now needing two wins in St. Louis to win the World Series, Tiger manager Mayo Smith chose Denny McLain again as his starting pitcher, even though he had only two days' rest and had not been very successful in his two prior Series starts. Cardinals' manager Red Schoendienst stayed with his normal three-starter rotation, selecting Ray Washburn, who had won Game 3. The choice of McLain paid off for the Tigers, as he pitched a complete game in a 13–1 rout of the Cardinals.


1968 World Series, Matchups, Game 6
The Tigers went up 2–0 in the second inning on RBI hits by Willie Horton and Bill Freehan. In the third, the Tigers sent 15 batters to the plate and scored 10 runs off of three Cardinals pitchers. Jim Northrup's grand slam highlighted the inning. Al Kaline added a home run in the fifth inning. The Cardinals' lone run came off an RBI single by Julián Javier with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but that was all they could do against McLain.


1968 World Series, Matchups, Game 7
In a fitting end to this Series (and the final game of Roger Maris' career) the two teams' hottest pitchers, Mickey Lolich and Bob Gibson, squared off in what was almost a classic duel, until an infamous hit over the head of Curt Flood. Like McLain in Game 6, Lolich was starting on only two days' rest.


1968 World Series, Matchups, Game 7
Lolich and Gibson matched scoreless starts for six innings, but in the top of the seventh, Gibson surrendered two-out hits to Norm Cash and Willie Horton. Jim Northrup then hit a hard smash to deep center; Curt Flood, who won numerous Gold Glove awards in his career, misjudged it and briefly started in on the ball before turning around to go back. The ball one-hopped the warning track, two runs scored, Northrup wound up with a triple, and Lolich had all the runs he needed.


1968 World Series, Matchups, Game 7
Flood has been criticized by some who believe he would have caught the ball had his first steps been back instead of in. Jim Northrup said the hit was "40 feet over [Flood's] head. He never had a chance to catch it." However,  his teammate Denny McLain claimed in his 1975 book that "Flood blew it." Orlando Cepeda, in his 1998 autobiography Baby Bull, asserts that Flood would have caught the ball, had he not misjudged it.


1968 World Series, Matchups, Game 7
In the October 29, 1968, issue of The Sporting News, both Flood and manager Red Schoendienst indicated they would have expected the normally sure-handed outfielder to catch such a ball. By starting in, Flood had to both reverse direction and then regain his acceleration. He then slipped on the wet grass before recovering his speed, and by that time the ball was well beyond him. Bill Freehan then doubled in Northrup, and in the top of the ninth, Don Wert added an RBI single.


1968 World Series, Matchups, Game 7
The Cardinals got a run in the ninth on a Mike Shannon homer, but that was all as Lolich pitched his third complete game. The final out of the series was recorded when Bill Freehan caught a pop foul off the bat of Tim McCarver. Gibson struck out eight in the losing cause, giving him a record 35 strikeouts by one pitcher in a World Series, but Lolich was named World Series MVP. This is the last World Series game to date to feature complete games from both starting pitchers.


1968 World Series, Matchups, Game 7
Cardinals shortstop Dal Maxvill went hitless in 22 World Series at-bats, a record.


1968 World Series, Composite box
1968 World Series (4–3): Detroit Tigers (A.L.) over St. Louis Cardinals (N.L.)


1968 World Series, Quotes
He got him! Struck him out! A new World Series record of 17 strikeouts in one game.


1968 World Series, Quotes
McCarver pops up. Here's Freehan. Detroit's the new world champions!


1968 World Sportscar Championship
The 1968 World Sportscar Championship season was the 16th season of FIA World Sportscar Championship racing and featured the 1968 International Championship for Makes and the 1968 International Cup for GT Cars. The former was contested by Group 6 Sports Prototypes, Group 4 Sports Cars and Group 3 Grand Touring Cars and the later by Group 3 Grand Touring Cars only. The two titles were decided over a ten race series which ran from 3 February 1968 to 29 September 1968.


1968 World Sportscar Championship
The International Championship for Makes was won by Ford and the International Cup for GT Cars by Porsche.


1968 World Sportscar Championship, Schedule
† - These races were contested by Sports Prototypes and Sports Cars only. GT cars did not participate.


1968 World Sportscar Championship, Schedule
‡ - The 24 Hours of Le Mans was originally scheduled to be run 15 June and 16, but was delayed due to a workers strike in France.


1968 World Sportscar Championship, Manufacturers Championships, International Championship for Makes
Points were awarded for overall placings gained by the top 6 finishers from Groups 6, 4 & 3 at each round in the order of 9-6-4-3-2-1 †. Manufacturers were only given points for their highest finishing car; any other cars from that manufacturer were merely skipped in the points standings.


1968 World Sportscar Championship, Manufacturers Championships, International Championship for Makes
Cars from other than Groups 6, 4 & 3 were ignored in the awarding of points for the overall championship.


1968 World Sportscar Championship, Manufacturers Championships, International Championship for Makes
Only the best 5 round results for each make counted towards the championship, with any other points earned not included in the total. Relinquished points are shown within brackets.


1968 World Sportscar Championship, Manufacturers Championships, International Championship for Makes
† - Round 9 was awarded only half points due to its short distance.


1968 World Sportscar Championship, Manufacturers Championships, International Cup for GT Cars
Points were awarded for Group placings gained by the top six GT finishers at each round in the order of 9-6-4-3-2-1. Manufacturers were only given points for their highest finishing car; any other cars from that manufacturer were merely skipped in the points standings.


1968 World Sportscar Championship, Manufacturers Championships, International Cup for GT Cars
Only the best 5 round results for each make counted towards the title, with any other points earned not included in the total. Relinquished points are shown within brackets.


1968 World Sportscar Championship, Manufacturers Championships, International Cup for GT Cars
The GT class did not participate in Rounds 3 and 9.


1968 World Sportscar Championship, Car Details
The following models contributed to the nett points totals of their respective manufacturers.


1968 Wyoming Cowboys football team
The 1968 Wyoming Cowboys football team represented the University of Wyoming in the 1968 NCAA University Division football season. Led by seventh-year head coach Lloyd Eaton, they were members of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) and played their home games on campus at  War Memorial Stadium in Laramie.


1968 Wyoming Cowboys football team
The Cowboys had a record of 7–3, won a third consecutive WAC title, and outscored their opponents 242 to 118.


1968 Wyoming Cowboys football team, 1969 NFL/AFL Draft
Three Cowboys were selected in the 1969 NFL/AFL Draft, the third common draft, which lasted seventeen rounds (442 selections).


1968 Yale Bulldogs football team
The 1968 Yale Bulldogs football team represented Yale University in the 1968 NCAA University Division football season. The Bulldogs were led by fourth-year head coach Carmen Cozza, played their home games at the Yale Bowl and finished tied for first in the Ivy League season with a 6–0–1 record, 8–0–1 overall. The season is notable for the final game against rival Harvard, which ended in a tie and resulted in The Harvard Crimson's famous headline Harvard Beats Yale 29-29.


1968 Yale vs. Harvard football game
The 1968 Yale vs. Harvard football game was a college football game between the Yale Bulldogs and the Harvard Crimson, played on November 23, 1968. The game ended in a 29–29 tie after Harvard made what is considered a miraculous last-moment comeback, scoring 16 points in the final 42 seconds to tie the game against a highly touted Yale squad. The significance of the moral victory for Harvard inspired the next day's The Harvard Crimson student newspaper to print the famous headline "Harvard Beats Yale, 29–29". In 2010, ESPN ranked it No. 9 in its list of the top ten college football ties of all time.


1968 Yale vs. Harvard football game
Yale came into the game with a 16-game winning streak and its quarterback, Brian Dowling, had only lost one game when he was in the starting lineup since the sixth grade. Both schools entered the game with perfect 8–0 records. It was the first time both schools met when undefeated and untied since the 1909 season.


1968 Yale vs. Harvard football game
The tie left both teams 8–0–1 for the season. The famous headline was later used as the title for Harvard Beats Yale 29-29, a 2008 documentary about the game directed by Kevin Rafferty. Actor Tommy Lee Jones, who played on the offensive line for Harvard in the game, was interviewed for the documentary.


1968 Yale vs. Harvard football game
This game stands as the final tie in the Harvard–Yale series, as subsequent rule changes have eliminated ties from college football.


1968 Zambian general election
General elections were held in Zambia on 19 December 1968 to elect the National Assembly and President. The first post-independence polls saw incumbent Kenneth Kaunda retain his post as president, whilst his United National Independence Party, the only party to field candidates in all 105 constituencies, won 81 of the 105 seats in the National Assembly. Voter turnout was 82.5% in the parliamentary election, but 87.1% in the presidential election.


1968 Zambian general election
The only other contestants in the National Assembly elections were the Zambian African National Congress (73 candidates), and three independents. The United Party, which had been established in 1966, was banned in 1968, with many of its members absorbed by the ZANC. The election campaign was marred by violence, with UNIP members in Northern and Luapula Provinces blocking ZANC candidates from lodging nomination papers, resulting in 30 UNIP candidates running unopposed. Nevertheless, the election saw a swing towards the ZANC; four ministers lost their seats.


1968 Zambian general election
In 1972, the Kaunda government announced its intention to make UNIP the only legally permitted party in the country. This was formalised with a new constitution that was promulgated in August 1973. As a result, the 1968 elections were the last multiparty elections held in Zambia until 1991.


1968 Zambian general election, Electoral System
Of the 110 members of the National Assembly, 105 were elected by the first-past-the-post system in single-member constituencies, with a further five appointed by the President.


1968 Zambian general election, Electoral System
The President was elected using a quasi-direct first-past-the-post system: candidates for the National Assembly declared whom they endorse for president when they lodged their nomination papers, and those who failed to do so were disqualified. Voters gave only one vote, so that voting for a parliamentary candidate automatically meant also voting for the presidential candidate to which the MP was pledged. In constituencies where only one parliamentary candidate, all registered voters were "counted" as having voted for the MP's pledged Presidential candidate despite the fact no actual voting took place, effectively disenfranchising them in the Presidential Election.


1968 elections in India, Legislative Assembly elections, Haryana
Elections were held in 1968 in Haryana State for the Haryana Legislative Assembly


1968 in Afghanistan
The following lists events that happened during 1968 in Afghanistan.


1968 in Afghanistan
In domestic affairs the year is marked by a thorough overhaul of the judicial system by the new Supreme Court; this involves reorganizing the powers and functions of the lower courts in line with the requirements of the constitution. In economic affairs the policies laid down in 1967 for encouraging investors in the private sector by substantial inducements - tax holidays, free import of capital goods, and protective tariffs – are continued. Government investment is again directed to the completion of projects begun under the second development plan and to the encouragement of heavy industry. The emphasis is again on consolidation rather than on beginning new projects, and on the gradual replacement of foreign aid by increased exploitation of national resources.


1968 in Afghanistan, End of January 1968
The Soviet Premier, Alexei Kosygin, visits Kabul. The visit is brief, and appears to imply no more than a continuation of the already substantial Soviet aid to heavy industry and communications.


1968 in Afghanistan, May 7–11, 1968
French Prime Minister Georges Pompidou pays a visit to Afghanistan.


1968 in Australia
The following lists events that happened during 1968 in Australia.


1968 in Australian literature
This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1968.


1968 in Australian literature, Births
A list, ordered by date of birth (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of births in 1968 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of death.


1968 in Australian literature, Deaths
A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1968 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.


1968 in Australian soccer
The 1968 season was the 85th season of competitive association football in Australia.


1968 in Australian soccer, Cup competitions, Australia Cup
The competition began on 29 March 1968. Nineteen clubs had entered the competition with the final two clubs Sydney Hakoah and Melbourne Hakoah qualifying for the Final. Sydney Hakoah won 6–1 on aggregate over Melbourne Hakoah.


1968 in Belgian television
This is a list of Belgian television related events from 1968.


1968 in Brazilian football
The following article presents a summary of the 1968 football (soccer) season in Brazil, which was the 67th season of competitive football in the country.


1968 in Brazilian football, Taça Brasil
Botafogo declared as the Taça Brasil champions by aggregate score of 6-2.


1968 in Brazilian football, Brazil national team
The following table lists all the games played by the Brazil national football team in official competitions and friendly matches during 1968.


1968 in Brazilian television
This is a list of Brazilian television related events from 1968.


1968 in British music
This is a summary of 1968 in music in the United Kingdom.


1968 in British radio
This is a list of events in British radio during 1968.


1968 in British television
This is a list of British television related events from 1968.


1968 in Canadian television
The following is a list of events affecting Canadian television in 1968. Events listed include television show debuts, finales, cancellations, and channel launches, closures and rebrandings.


1968 in Cape Verde
The following lists events that happened during 1968 in Cape Verde.


1968 in Chile
The following lists events that happened during 1968 in Chile.


1968 in Croatian television
This is a list of Croatian television related events from 1968.


1968 in Croatian television, Deaths
This Croatian television-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .


1968 in Danish television
This is a list of Danish television related events from 1968.


1968 in Dutch television
This is a list of Dutch television related events from 1968.


1968 in Estonia
This article lists events that occurred during 1968 in Estonia.


1968 in Estonian television
This is a list of Estonian television related events from 1968.


1968 in Iceland
The following lists events that happened in 1968 in Iceland.


1968 in India
Events in the year 1968 in the Federal Republic of India.


1968 in India, Events
India will not sign the NPT said PM Indira Gandhi in Rae Bareilly.


1968 in Irish television
The following is a list of events relating to television in Ireland from 1968.


1968 in Israel, Events, Israeli–Palestinian conflict
The most prominent events related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict which occurred during 1968 include:


1968 in Israel, Events, Israeli–Palestinian conflict
The most prominent Israeli military counter-terrorism operations (military campaigns and military operations) carried out against Palestinian militants during 1968 include:


1968 in Israel, Events, Israeli–Palestinian conflict
The most prominent Palestinian terror attacks committed against Israelis during 1968 include:


1968 in Italian television
This is a list of Italian television related events from 1968.


1968 in Laos
The following lists events that happened during 1968 in Laos.


1968 in Luxembourg
The following lists events that happened during 1968 in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.


1968 in Malaysia
This article lists important figures and events in Malaysian public affairs during the year 1968, together with births and deaths of notable Malaysians.


1968 in Michigan
The Associated Press (AP) surveyed newspaper editors and broadcasters and determined the top 10 stories in Michigan for 1968 as follows:


1968 in Michigan
The AP also selected the state's top 10 sports stories as follows:


1968 in Michigan, Population
In the 1960 United States Census, Michigan was recorded as having a population of 7,823,194 persons, ranking as the seventh most populous state in the country. By 1970, the state's population had grown 13.4% to 8,875,083 persons.


1968 in Michigan, Population, Cities
The following is a list of cities in Michigan with a population of at least 60,000 based on 1960 U.S. Census data. Historic census data from 1950 and 1970 is included to reflect trends in population increases or decreases. Cities that are part of the Detroit metropolitan area are shaded in tan.


1968 in Michigan, Population, Counties
The following is a list of counties in Michigan with populations of at least 100,000 based on 1960 U.S. Census data. Historic census data from 1950 and 1970 are included to reflect trends in population increases or decreases. Counties that are part of the Detroit metropolitan area are shaded in tan.


1968 in New Zealand
The following lists events that happened during 1968 in New Zealand.


1968 in New Zealand, Incumbents, Government
The 35th Parliament of New Zealand continued, with the National government in power.


1968 in New Zealand, Arts and literature, Music, New Zealand Music Awards
Loxene Golden Disc Allison Durbin – I Have Loved Me A Man


1968 in New Zealand, Arts and literature, Radio and television
See 1968 in television, List of TVNZ television programming, Category:Television in New Zealand, Category:New Zealand television shows, Public broadcasting in New Zealand


1968 in New Zealand, Arts and literature, Film
See : Category:1968 film awards, 1968 in film, List of New Zealand feature films, Cinema of New Zealand, Category:1968 films


1968 in Norwegian football
The 1968 season was the 63rd season of competitive football in Norway.


1968 in Norwegian music
The following is a list of notable events and releases of the year 1968 in Norwegian music.


1968 in Norwegian television
This is a list of Norwegian television related events from 1968.


1968 in Norwegian television, Deaths
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1968 in Portugal, Arts and entertainment
Portugal participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 1968, with Carlos Mendes and the song "Verão".


1968 in Portugal, Sport
In association football, for the first-tier league seasons, see 1967–68 Primeira Divisão and 1968–69 Primeira Divisão; for the Taça de Portugal seasons, see 1967–68 Taça de Portugal and 1968–69 Taça de Portugal.


1968 in Portuguese television
This is a list of Portuguese television related events from 1968.


1968 in Portuguese television, Deaths
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1968 in Scottish television
This is a list of events in Scottish television from 1968.


1968 in Singapore
The following lists events that happened during 1968 in Singapore.


1968 in South Africa
The following lists events that happened during 1968 in South Africa.


1968 in Spanish television
This is a list of Spanish television related events from 1968.


1968 in Swedish television
This is a list of Swedish television related events from 1968.


1968 in Taiwan
Events in the year 1968 in Taiwan, Republic of China. This year is numbered Minguo 57 according to the official Republic of China calendar.


1968 in Thailand
The year 1968 was the 187th year of the Rattanakosin Kingdom of Thailand. It was the 23rd year in the reign of King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), and is reckoned as year 2511 in the Buddhist Era.


1968 in Thailand, Incumbents
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1968 in Wales
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1968 to Wales and its people.


1968 in anime, Births
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1968 in anime, Births
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1968 in architecture
The year 1968 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.


1968 in association football
The following are the association football (soccer) events of the year 1968 throughout the world.


1968 in baseball
The following are the baseball events of the year 1968  throughout the world.


1968 in baseball, The Year of the Pitcher
In Major League Baseball, the trend throughout the 1960s was of increased pitching dominance. After the record home run year by Roger Maris in 1961, the major leagues increased the size of the strike zone from the top of the batter's shoulders to the bottom of his knees. A significant "power shortage" culminated in 1968, with far fewer runs scored than in the early 1960s.


1968 in baseball, The Year of the Pitcher
Pitchers including Bob Gibson of the St. Louis Cardinals and Denny McLain of the Detroit Tigers dominated hitters, producing 339 shutouts in 1968, almost double the number of shutouts thrown in 1962. Individually, Gibson set a modern earned run average record of 1.12, the lowest in 54 years, and set a World Series record of 17 strikeouts in Game 1. McLain won 31 regular season games, the only player to reach the 30 win milestone since Dizzy Dean in 1934. Mickey Lolich won three complete games in the World Series, the last player as of 2015 to do so.


1968 in baseball, The Year of the Pitcher
Luis Tiant of the Cleveland Indians had the American League's lowest ERA at 1.60 and allowed a batting average of only .168, a major league record. Don Drysdale of the Los Angeles Dodgers threw a record 58 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings, and Catfish Hunter of the Oakland Athletics was the first American League pitcher to record a perfect game since Don Larsen in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series.


1968 in baseball, The Year of the Pitcher
Hitting was anemic as Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox would be the only American League hitter to finish the season with a batting average higher than .300. Yastrzemski's batting average of .301 was the lowest batting average of any league batting champion. The American League's collective slugging average of .340 remains the lowest since 1915 (when the game was still in the so-called dead-ball era), while the collective batting average of .231 is the all-time lowest.


1968 in baseball, The Year of the Pitcher
As a result of the dropping offensive statistics, Major League Baseball Rules Committee took steps to reduce the advantage held by pitchers by lowering the height of the pitchers mound from 15 inches to 10 inches, and by reducing the size of the strike zone for the 1969 season. 1969 batting averages climbed back to their historical averages and never again would pitching have as large a statistical average over batting in the major leagues.


1968 in baseball, The Year of the Pitcher
1968 was the final year when baseball had no divisions within the two leagues, with the only post-season competition being the World Series itself. Four expansion teams would join baseball for the season following in 1969. This was also the first season that the Athletics franchise played in Oakland, California, after their departure from Kansas City, Missouri.


1968 in comics
Notable events of 1968 in comics. See also List of years in comics. See also:1968 in comics,1969 in comics,1960s in comics and thelist of years in comics


1968 in country music
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in 1968.


1968 in film
The year 1968 in film involved some significant events, with the release of Stanley Kubrick's cinematic masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey, as well as two highly successful musical films, Funny Girl and Oliver!, the former earning Barbra Striesand the Academy Award for Best Actress (an honour she shared with Katharine Hepburn for her role in The Lion in Winter) and the latter winning both the Best Picture and Best Director awards.


1968 in film, Top-grossing films (U.S.)
The top ten 1968 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:


1968 in film, Awards
Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival): canceled due to events of May 1968


1968 in fine arts of the Soviet Union
The year 1968 was marked by many events that left an imprint on the history of Soviet and Russian Fine Arts.


1968 in jazz
This is a timeline documenting events of Jazz in the year 1968.


1968 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1968.


1968 in motorsport
The following is an overview of the events of 1968 in motorsport including the major racing events, motorsport venues that were opened and closed during a year, championships and non-championship events that were established and disestablished in a year, and births and deaths of racing drivers and other motorsport people.


1968 in motorsport, Annual events
The calendar includes only annual major non-championship events or annual events that had significance separate from the championship. For the dates of the championship events see related season articles.


1968 in music
List of notable events in music that took place in the year 1968.


1968 in music, Albums released
In the US, 6,540 pop singles and 4,057 albums were released.


1968 in music, Biggest hit singles
The following songs achieved the highest in the charts of 1968.


1968 in paleontology
Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 1968.


1968 in paleontology, Dinosaurs, Newly named birds
An Aegothelidae, type sp M. novaezealandiae, jr syn of Aegotheles.


1968 in philosophy, Births
Death years link to the corresponding '[year] in philosophy' article


1968 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).


1968 in poetry, Works published in English
Listed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:


1968 in poetry, Works published in other languages
Listed by language and often by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:


1968 in poetry, Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


1968 in professional wrestling
1968 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.


1968 in radio
The year 1968 saw a number of significant events in radio broadcasting history.


1968 in rail transport
This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1968.


1968 in science
The year 1968 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.


1968 in spaceflight
The United States National Space Science Data Center catalogued 157 spacecraft placed into orbit by launches which occurred in 1968. The first crewed Apollo missions occurred in 1968. It was also the year in which Earth lifeforms first left low Earth orbit, during the successful Zond 5 mission, and the year that humans first left low Earth orbit, during the successful Apollo 8 mission.


1968 in sports
1968 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.


1968 in sports, American football
O. J. Simpson, running back for the USC Trojans, was the overwhelming choice for the Heisman Trophy, with 2,853 points. Second was Leroy Keyes, running back for Purdue, with 1,103 points, followed by Terry Hanratty (QB-Notre Dame), Ted Kwalick (TE-Penn State) and Ted Hendricks (DE-Miami).


1968 in television
The year 1968 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events in 1968.


1968 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
The following lists events that happened during 1968 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.


1968 in the Philippines
1968 in the Philippines details events of note that happened in the Philippines in 1968.


1968 in the United States
1968 in the United States was marked by several major historical events. It is often considered to be one of the most turbulent and traumatic years of the 20th century in the United States.


1968 in the United States
The year began with relative peace until January 21 when the North Vietnamese Army PAVN attacked the Marine base at Khe Sanh Combat Base Quang Tri Province, Vietnam. This was the beginning of the Battle of Khe Sanh and the attack focused US command on Khe Sanh near the DMZ. The initial attack was followed by the North Vietnamese country-wide launch of the Tet Offensive on January 30, 1968, resulting in a South Vietnamese-US victory, eliminating the Viet Cong as an effective fighting force.


1968 in the United States
The attack included a North Vietnamese assassination attempt on South Vietnam's president Nguyễn Văn Thiệu which failed. North Vietnam premised the attack on a South Vietnamese uprising against South Vietnam and US forces but this uprising did not occur as the South Vietnamese populace did not rally to the North. Also, on January 23 the North Korean government seized USS Pueblo and its crew of eighty-three in an attempt to divert attention from a failed January 21 assassination attempt on South Korean President Park Chung-hee known as the Blue House raid. In Greenland a B-52 bomber on a Cold War mission known as Operation Chrome Dome crashed with four nuclear bombs on board. One airman was killed. The cleanup operation was informally known as Operation Freezelove, a play on words on the movie Dr. Strangelove.


1968 in the United States
Four to six thousand citizens of the city of Huế, Vietnam, deemed political enemies, were either clubbed to death or buried alive by the North Vietnamese Army. This was known as the Massacre at Hue.


1968 in the United States
The year also saw the highest level of US troop commitment when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed legislation that increased the maximum number of United States troops active on the ground to five hundred and forty-nine thousand and five hundred (549,500). This did not count US forces in the South China Sea, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, North Vietnam, and China with reserves in the Philippines, Okinawa, Japan, Korea, Guam, Hawaii, the United States, and worldwide totaling over three million (3,000,000). South Vietnam in the same year fielded a total force of eight hundred and twenty thousand troops (820,000).


1968 in the United States
It was also the most expensive year of the war, with a cost of $77.4 billion. The support of the United States for South Vietnam was at its peak. Antiwar sentiment continued to grow as an increasing number of Americans questioned United States involvement in Vietnam, as the United States was drafting young men to fight for South Vietnam while South Vietnam did not have a draft for its own citizens; however, the war continued despite changing US public opinion.


1968 in the United States
North Vietnam benefited politically from the Tet Offensive when Walter Cronkite, a respected television newscaster, swayed many Americans and President Johnson, by giving his personal opinion on a national prime time editorial: "It is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could." This may have marked a transition in journalism where a news reporter became a news and policy maker.


1968 in the United States
President Johnson cited Walter Cronkite's changed opinion as a factor as well as Johnson's poor New Hampshire primary numbers in his decision to stop seeking reelection, stating to his advisers: "If I have lost Cronkite I have lost middle America." President Johnson later died on January 22, 1973, at age 64 from heart problems.


1968 in the United States
On April 4, civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. The United States erupted in violent riots, the most severe of which occurred in Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Baltimore. Extensive areas of these and many other cities were looted, burned, and destroyed by the rioters and more than 40 people were killed during the month of protest, which led to greater racial tensions between Americans. Despite this, a landmark piece of legislation, the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which was President John F. Kennedy's legacy, was passed by the expertise of President Johnson in April. This legislation was passed with bipartisan Congressional support and effectively prohibited housing discrimination based on race.


1968 in the United States
The 1968 United States Presidential election became a referendum on the Vietnam War. A peace candidate had previously emerged in the Democratic Party when Senator Eugene McCarthy challenged the Vietnam War policies of President Johnson, who had refused to seek or accept another nomination for president and had endorsed his vice president, Hubert Humphrey, for the Democratic Presidential nomination. Senator McCarthy's support came primarily from young people, most of whom were subject to the draft or were in deferred status.


1968 in the United States
This divided the country by age as older citizens, a so-called silent majority, tended to support or not actively oppose government policies. This division of the populace encouraged Senator Robert F. Kennedy to seek the Democratic Presidential nomination. Senator Kennedy was assassinated after winning the California primary and defeating Senator Eugene McCarthy. The assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in June led to uncertainty in the race for the Democratic nomination for the presidency.


1968 in the United States
After Vice President Humphrey won the Democratic nomination at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, another wave of violent protests emerged, this time between the mostly young antiwar demonstrators and police. The uncertainty within the Democratic Party benefited Richard Nixon, a Republican and former vice president, as he successfully won the presidential race by appealing to the "Silent Majority" under the promise "Peace with Honor". Nixon, a staunch anti-communist, had gained the voters' trust. A particularly strong showing by segregationist George Wallace of the American Independent Party in 1968's presidential election highlighted the strong element of racial division that continued to persist across the country.


1968 in the United States
In popular culture, 2001: A Space Odyssey was the most profitable film of the year, earning $56.7 million, while Oliver! won the Academy Award for Best Picture. "Hey Jude" by the Beatles was the hottest single of 1968 in the U.S. according to Billboard, demonstrating the continued popularity of bands associated with the British Invasion that began in 1964.


1968 in the Vietnam War
The year 1968 saw major developments in the Vietnam War. The military operations started with an attack on a US base by the North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and the Viet Cong (VC) on January 1, ending a truce declared by the Pope and agreed upon by all sides. At the end of January, the PAVN and VC launched the Tet Offensive.


1968 in the Vietnam War
Hanoi erred monumentally in its certainty that the offensive would trigger a supportive uprising of the population. PAVN/VC troops throughout the South, from Hue to the Mekong Delta, attacked in force for the first time in the war, but to devastating cost as the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) and American troops killed close to 37,000 of the ill-supported enemy in less than a month for losses of 3,700 and 7,600 respectively. These reversals on the battlefield (the VC would never again fight effectively as a cohesive force) failed to register on the American home front, however and fueled what would ultimately prove to be a propaganda victory for Hanoi.


1968 in the Vietnam War
U.S. troop numbers peaked in 1968 with President Johnson approving an increased maximum number of U.S. troops in Vietnam at 549,500. The year was the most expensive in the Vietnam War with the American spending US$77.4 billion (US$ 576 billion in 2021) on the war. The year also became the deadliest of the Vietnam War for America and its allies with 27,915 ARVN soldiers killed and the Americans suffering 16,592 killed compared to around two hundred thousand PAVN/VC killed. The deadliest  day of the Vietnam War for the U.S. was 31 January at the start of the Tet Offensive when 246 Americans were killed in action.


1968 in the Vietnam War, January
The PAVN violated a New Year's truce. In the New Year's Day Battle of 1968 among the Americans fighting were future writer Larry Heinemann and future film director Oliver Stone.


1968 in the Vietnam War, January
In Newsweek magazine Robert Komer touted the early success of the Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support (CORDS) pacification program he led. He said that "only one South Vietnamese in six now lives under VC [Viet Cong] control."


1968 in the Vietnam War, January
Elements of the 12th Cavalry Regiment engaged a unit from the PAVN 2nd Division in a four-hour-long battle 5 km south of Firebase Ross resulting in 3 U.S. and 39 PAVN killed.


1968 in the Vietnam War, January
The VC launched more than 50 122mm rockets at Da Nang Air Base destroying a United States Marine Corps (USMC) F-4B and two United States Air Force (USAF) aircraft and damaging 17 others.


1968 in the Vietnam War, January
The PAVN 3rd Regiment, 2nd Division attacked four U.S. firebases in the Quế Sơn Valley southwest of Hội An, launching ground attacks against Landing Zone Leslie and Firebase Ross. Leslie was occupied by D Company and a platoon from A Company, 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry. The PAVN penetrated the base, attacking bunkers with flamethrowers and satchel charges before being pushed out in the afternoon. Losses were 15 U.S and 63 PAVN. The PAVN emplaced heavy machine guns around Leslie and over a nine-day period shot down seven 1st Cavalry Division helicopters and damaged a further 26. At Ross the attack was repulsed with losses of 18 U.S. and 331 PAVN killed.


1968 in the Vietnam War, January
A unit of the U.S. 4th Infantry Division operating in Đắk Tô District captured a classified five-page North Vietnamese document, titled "Urgent Combat Order No. 1", that described the strategy for a series of attacks to take place in Pleiku in conjunction with the upcoming Tết holiday.


1968 in the Vietnam War, January
A PAVN rocket and mortar attack on Ban Me Thuot East Airfield destroyed two UH-1s and severely damaged three others.


1968 in the Vietnam War, January
The "Boston Five" Michael Ferber, Dr. Benjamin Spock, William Sloan Coffin, Mitchell Goodman and Marcus Raskin were indicted by a Grand jury in Boston on charges of conspiring to counsel young men to violate draft laws.


1968 in the Vietnam War, January
A CH-53A of HMH-463 crashed in the Hải Lăng Forest south of Đông Hà Combat Base, killing all 46 personnel on board


1968 in the Vietnam War, January
At a meeting with Commander of the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) General William Westmoreland, II Field Force, Vietnam commander Major General Frederick C. Weyand showed Westmoreland that PAVN/VC main force units in the III Corps area were moving in from the Cambodian border towards Saigon. Weyand received permission from Westmoreland to cancel scheduled operations near the border and shift his forces back towards Saigon.


1968 in the Vietnam War, January
VC sappers penetrate the perimeter of Kontum Airfield and destroyed several helicopters with Satchel charges, killing 7 Americans and wounding 25. An estimated 16 VC were killed in the attack.


1968 in the Vietnam War, January
The Kampuchean Revolutionary Army was established by the orders of Pol Pot, the leader of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK).


1968 in the Vietnam War, January
President Lyndon Johnson nominates Clark Clifford to succeed Robert McNamara as United States Secretary of Defense.


1968 in the Vietnam War, January
At a White House luncheon with First Lady Lady Bird Johnson in a discussion about juvenile delinquency, singer Eartha Kitt said "You send the best of this country off to be shot and maimed. They rebel in the street. They will take pot ... and they will get high. They don't want to go to school because they're going to be snatched off from their mothers to be shot in Vietnam." Her remarks caused Mrs. Johnson to burst into tears and led to Kitt being blacklisted and investigated by the CIA, effectively ending her career.


1968 in the Vietnam War, January
In the first two weeks of 1968, PAVN/VC forces shelled 49 district and provincial capitals in South Vietnam and temporarily occupied two of them. General Westmoreland described the fighting to Time magazine "as the most intense of the entire war." MACV claimed that 5,000 PAVN/VC had been killed.


1968 in the Vietnam War, January
Ron Kovic serving with the 1st Amphibian Tractor Battalion, 3rd Marine Division was shot and paralysed during a battle with the PAVN in the vicinity of the village of My Loc, in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).


1968 in the Vietnam War, January
Operation McLain a security operation conducted by the U.S. 3rd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division and ARVN 44th Regiment, 23rd Division in Bình Thuận Province commences. The operation results in 1,042 VC and 69 U.S. killed.


1968 in the Vietnam War, January
North Korean commandos carry out the Blue House raid, the most significant escalation in the low-intensity conflict that had been underway in South Korea since October 1966. The attack raised the possibility that the South Korean Government might want to withdraw some of their forces in South Vietnam for homeland defense, requiring their replacement by already overstretched American forces.


1968 in the Vietnam War, January
Operation Jeb Stuart was planned as an operation by the 1st Cavalry Division to attack PAVN base areas in I Corps, but instead saw the division supporting other Allied forces during the Tet Offensive.


1968 in the Vietnam War, January
The long and bloody Battle of Khe Sanh began with an assault by the PAVN on Khe Sanh Combat Base in northwestern Quảng Trị Province. The combatants were elements of the U.S. III Marine Amphibious Force (III MAF) and the ARVN against two to three PAVN division-size elements. PAVN General Võ Nguyên Giáp later claimed that his objective was to create a diversion to draw U.S. forces away from the populated areas of South Vietnam. Khe Sanh diverted 30,000 US troops away from the cities that would be the main targets of the Tet Offensive. The USAF began Operation Niagara to provide continuous air support during the siege.


1968 in the Vietnam War, January
Operation Lancaster II a security operation to keep Route 9 open to Ca Lu Combat Base in northern Quảng Trị Province commences. By the end of the operation the Marines had lost 359 killed; PAVN fatalities were estimated to be in excess of 1,800.


1968 in the Vietnam War, January
The Battle of Ban Houei Sane began on the night of 23 January, when the 24th Regiment of the PAVN 304th Division overran the small Royal Lao Army (RLA) outpost at Ban Houei Sane. The PAVN lost 29 killed, while RLA losses are unknown. The RLA survivors fled across the border to Lang Vei Special Forces Camp.


1968 in the Vietnam War, January
Operation Coronado X conducted by the U.S. Mobile Riverine Force (MRF) and the ARVN, was originally planned as a sweep of western Dinh Tuong Province and eastern Kien Phong Province, however with the outbreak of the Tet Offensive on 31 January 1968 it instead became the MRF reaction to eject VC forces from Mỹ Tho and Vĩnh Long. The operation resulted in 269 VC killed for the loss of 12 U.S. killed.


1968 in the Vietnam War, January
Operation Coburg was an Australian military action that saw heavy fighting between the 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF) and PAVN and VC forces during the wider fighting around Long Binh and Biên Hòa.


1968 in the Vietnam War, January
In Time magazine, General Westmoreland said, "the Communists seem to have run temporarily out of steam."


1968 in the Vietnam War, January
Two companies of the PAVN 408th Sapper Battalion attacked Camp Holloway destroying five UH-1 helicopters and an ammunition storage area.


1968 in the Vietnam War, January
General Westmoreland in his annual report said "In many areas the enemy has been driven away from the population centers; in others he has been compelled to disperse and evade contact thus nullifying much of his potential. The year ended with the enemy increasingly resorting to desperation tactics in attempting to achieve military/psychological victory; and he has experienced only failure in those attempts."


1968 in the Vietnam War, January
Operation Igloo White was a covert U.S. military electronic warfare operation carried out by the USAF 553d Reconnaissance Wing and the United States Navy VO-67 squadron to detect and interdict the Ho Chi Minh Trail.


1968 in the Vietnam War, January, Tet Offensive
At half-past midnight on Wednesday morning the PAVN launch the Tet Offensive at Nha Trang. At 2:45 that morning the US Embassy in Saigon is attacked, the VC fail to enter the Embassy building and 18 are killed and one captured, U.S. losses are five killed.


1968 in the Vietnam War, January, Tet Offensive
The VC fired rockets at Da Nang Air Base and then at 02:30 on 30 January they launched a sapper and mortar attack on the south of the base killing four Marines. At 03:30 a renewed rocket attack on the base began with 55 122mm rockets hitting within 20 minutes killing three Marines and wounding 11 and destroying five aircraft and damaging a further 14.


1968 in the Vietnam War, January, Tet Offensive
The PAVN 406th Sapper Battalion and a company from the VC 304th Local Force Battalion attacked Kontum Airfield but were forced back by U.S. helicopter gunships and armor. The PAVN renewed their attack but failed to penetrate the airfield defenses. On 31 January, Company D, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment was landed at the airfield and the next day two companies from the 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment were flown into the airfield securing its northern perimeter. By 4 February the city had been secured and normal operations resumed at the airfield.