1968

Published on Thursday, January 17th 2008. Edited by Hex Padhenlit, Mount Laurel, United States.

Centuries: 19th century – 20th century – 21st century

Decades: 1930s 1940s 1950s – 1960s – 1970s 1980s 1990s

Years: 1965 1966 1967 – 1968 – 1969 1970 1971

Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.

Events of 1968

January

January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is elected leader of the Communist Party in Czechoslovakia.
January 8 – British Prime Minister Harold Wilson endorses the ‘I'm Backing Britain’ campaign for working an additional half hour each day without pay.
January 13 – Johnny Cash records Live at Folsom Prison.

January

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January 14 – Green Bay Packers win Super Bowl II.

January

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29 30 31

January 15 – An earthquake in Sicily kills 231 and injures 262.
January 17 – Lyndon B. Johnson calls for the non-conversion of the U.S. dollar.
January 19 – At a White House conference on crime, singer and actress Eartha Kitt denounces the Vietnam War directly to President Lyndon Johnson.
January 21 – Vietnam War: Battle of Khe Sanh begins – One of the most publicized and controversial battles of the war begins, ending on April 8.
January 21 – A U.S. B-52 Stratofortress crashes in Greenland, discharging 4 nuclear bombs.
January 22 – Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In debuts on NBC.
January 23 – North Korea seizes the USS Pueblo, claiming the ship violated its territorial waters while spying.
January 25 – The Israeli submarine INS Dakar sinks in the Mediterranean Sea, killing 69.

Jan.23 USS Pueblo

January 27 – A French submarine sinks in the Mediterranean Sea with 52 men.
January 30 – Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive begins, as Viet Cong forces launch a series of surprise attacks across South Vietnam.
January 31 – Viet Cong soldiers attack the United States Embassy in Saigon.
January 31 – Nauru president Hammer DeRoburt declares independence from Australia.

February

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

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26 27 28 29

Jan.30: Tet begins.

February 1 – Vietnam War: A Viet Cong officer is executed by Nguyen Ngoc Loan, a South Vietnamese National Police Chief. The event is photographed by Eddie Adams. The photo makes headlines around the world, eventually winning the 1969 Pulitzer Prize, and sways U.S. public opinion against the war.
February 6-February 18 – The 1968 Winter Olympics were held in Grenoble, France
February 8 – American civil rights movement: A civil rights protest staged at a white-only bowling alley in Orangeburg, South Carolina is broken-up by highway patrolmen, leading to the deaths of 3 college students.
February 11 – Border clashes take place between Israel and Jordan.
February 13 – Civil rights disturbances occur at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
February 17 – Administrative reform in Romania divides the country into 39 counties.
February 19 – The Florida Education Association (FEA) initiates a mass resignation of teachers to protest state funding of education. This is, in effect, the first statewide teachers' strike in the United States.
February 24 – Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive is halted – South Vietnam recaptures Hué.

March

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

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March 7 – Vietnam War: The First Battle of Saigon begins.
March 8 – First student protests in Poland’s 1968 political crisis.
March 12 – Mauritius achieves independence from British Rule.
March 12 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson edges out antiwar candidate Eugene J. McCarthy in the New Hampshire Democratic primary, a vote which highlights the deep divisions in the country, as well as the party, over Vietnam.
March 13 – First Rotaract club chartered in North Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.
March 14 – Nerve gas leaks from the U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground near Skull Valley, Utah.
March 15 – George Brown, British Foreign Secretary, resigns.
March 16 – Vietnam War: My Lai massacre – American troops kill scores of civilians.
March 16 – U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy (D-NY) enters the race for the Democratic Party presidential nomination.
March 17 – A demonstration in London’s Grosvenor Square against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War leads to violence – 91 people injured, 200 demonstrators arrested.
March 18 – Gold standard: The Congress of the United States repeals the requirement for a gold reserve to back U.S. currency.
March 19-March 23 – Afrocentrism, Black power: Students at Howard University in Washington, D.C., signal a new era of militant student activism on college campuses in the U.S. Students stage rallies, protests and a five-day sit-in, laying siege to the administration building, shutting down the university in protest over its ROTC program, and demanding a more Afrocentric curriculum.
March 21 – Vietnam War: In ongoing campus unrest, Howard University students protesting the Vietnam War, the ROTC program on campus and the draft, confront Gen. Lewis Hershey, then head of the U.S. Selective Service System, and as he attempts to deliver an address, shout him down with cries of “America is the Black man’s battleground!”
March 22 – Daniel Cohn-Bendit (“Danny The Red”) and seven other students occupy Administrative offices of the University of Nanterre, setting in motion a chain of events that will lead France to the brink of revolution in May.
March 27 – Russian space pioneer Yuri Gagarin is killed in a training flight crash.
March 31 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces he will not seek re-election.

April

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29 30

April 2 – Bombs placed by Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin explode at midnight in 2 department stores in Frankfurt-am-Main; they are later arrested and sentenced for arson.
April 4 – Martin Luther King, Jr. is shot dead at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Riots erupt in major American cities for several days afterward.
April 4 – Apollo Program: Apollo-Saturn mission 502 (Apollo 6) is launched, as the second and last unmanned test-flight of the Saturn V launch vehicle.
April 4 – La, la, la by Massiel (music and text by Manuel de la Calva and Ramón Arcusa) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1968 for Spain.
April 6 – Double explosion rocks Richmond, Indiana in downtown area. The explosion killed 41 people and injured more than 150.
April 6 – A shootout between Black Panthers and Oakland police results in several arrests and deaths, including 16-year-old Panther Bobby Hutton.
April 7 – Racing driver Jim Clark is killed in a Formula 2 race at Hockenheim.
April 10 – The ferry Wahine strikes a reef at the entrance to Wellington Harbour, New Zealand, with the loss of 53 lives, during Cyclone Giselle, which provided the windiest conditions ever recorded in New Zealand.
April 11 – German left-wing students blockade the Springer Press HQ in Berlin and many are arrested (one of them is Ulrike Meinhof).
April 11 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968.
April 20 – Pierre Elliott Trudeau becomes Canada’s 15th Prime Minister.
April 20 – English politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial Rivers of Blood Speech.
April 23 – President Mobutu releases captured mercenaries in Congo.
April 23 – Surgeons at the Hôpital de la Pitié, Paris, perform Europe’s first heart transplant, on Clovis Roblain.
April 23 – The United Methodist Church is created by the union of the former Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren churches.
April 23-April 30 – Vietnam War: Student protesters at Columbia University in New York City take over administration buildings and shut down the university. See main article Columbia University protests of 1968

May

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

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6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27 28 29 30 31

May – “May of 68” is a symbol of the resistance of that generation. Agitations and strikes in Paris lead many youth to believe that a revolution is starting. Student and worker strikes, sometimes referred to as the French May, nearly bring down the French government.
May 2 – The Israel Broadcasting Authority commences television broadcasts.
May 3 – Patrick Wall MP speech to Conservative Association at Leeds University stopped by large crowd and MP’s wife Sheila Wall knocked to ground and kicked in ensuing scuffles. Jack Straw Leeds Students President says “this manhandling is deplorable.”
May 14 – The Beatles announce the creation of Apple Records in a New York press conference
May 15 – An outbreak of severe thunderstorms produces tornadoes causing massive damage and heavy casualties in Charles City, Iowa, Oelwein, Iowa, and Jonesboro, Arkansas.
May 17 – The Catonsville Nine enter the Selective Service offices in Catonsville, Maryland, take dozens of selective service draft records, and burn them with napalm as a protest against the Vietnam War.
May 19 – General elections are held in Italy.
May 19 – Nigerian forces capture Port Harcourt and form a ring around Biafrans. This contributes to a humanitarian disaster as the surrounded population was already suffering with hunger and starvation.
May 22 – The U.S. nuclear-powered submarine Scorpion sinks with 99 men aboard, 400 miles southwest of the Azores.
May 29 – Soccer: Manchester United defeat SL Benfica 4–1 in the European Cup Final, becoming the first English team to do so, the game being 1–1 at FT, extra time strikes from Best,Kidd and Charlton (who had scored earlier) sealed the game.

June

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

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3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

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24 25 26 27 28 29 30

June 3 – Radical feminist Valerie Solanas shoots Andy Warhol as he enters his studio, wounding him.
June 4 – The Standard & Poor’s 500 index closes above 100 for the first time, closing at 100.38.
June 5 – U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy is shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California by Sirhan Sirhan. Kennedy dies from his injuries the next day.
June 8 – James Earl Ray is arrested for the murder of Martin Luther King Jr.
June 10 – Soccer: Italy beats Yugoslavia 2–0 in a replay to win the 1968 European Championship. The original final on June 8 ended 1–1.
June 20 – Austin Currie, Member of Parliament (MP) at Stormont in Northern Ireland, along with others, squats a house in Caledon to protest discrimination in housing allocations.
June 23 – A football stampede in Buenos Aires leaves 74 dead and 150 injured.
June 24 – Giorgio Rosa declares the independence of his Republic of Rose Island, an artificial island off Rimini, Italy. Italian troops demolish it not long after.

July

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

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22 23 24 25 26 27 28

29 30 31

July 1 – The Central Intelligence Agency’s Phoenix Program is officially established.
July 4 – Yachtsman Alec Rose, 59, receives a hero’s welcome as he sails into Portsmouth, England after his 354-day round-the-world trip.
July 15 – The soap opera One Life to Live premieres on ABC.
July 17 – Saddam Hussein becomes Vice Chairman of the Revolutionary Council in Iraq after a coup d'état.
July 23-July 28 – African-American militants led by Fred (Ahmed) Evans engage in a fierce gunfight with police in the Glenville Shootout of Cleveland, Ohio.
July 25 – Pope Paul VI publishes the encyclical entitled Humanae Vitae, condemning birth control. Many American Catholics defy it.
July 26 – Vietnam War: South Vietnamese opposition leader Truong Dinh Dzu is sentenced to 5 years hard labor, for advocating the formation of a coalition government as a way to move toward an end to the war.
July 29 – Arenal Volcano erupts in Costa Rica for the first time in centuries.

August

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

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19 20 21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30 31

August 5-August 8 – The Republican National Convention in Miami Beach, Florida nominates Richard Nixon for U.S. President and Spiro Agnew for Vice President.
August 11 – The last steam passenger train service runs in Britain. A selection of British Rail steam locomotives make the 120-mile journey from Liverpool to Carlisle and returns to Liverpool before having their fires dropped for the last time – this working was known as the Fifteen Guinea Special.
August 18 – Two charter buses push into the Hida River on national highway route 41 in Japan, in an accident caused by heavy rain. 104 killed.
August 20 – The Prague Spring of political liberalization ends, as 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 5,000 tanks invade Czechoslovakia.
August 21 – The Medal of Honour is posthumously awarded to James Anderson, Jr. — he is the first black U.S. Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honour.
August 24 – France explodes its first hydrogen bomb, thus becoming the world’s fifth nuclear power.
August 22-August 30 – Police clash with anti-war protesters in Chicago, Illinois, outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention, which nominates Hubert Humphrey for U.S. President, and Edmund Muskie for Vice President.

September

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

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23 24 25 26 27 28 29

September 6 – Swaziland becomes independent.
September 7 – 150 women protest against the Miss America Pageant, as exploitative of women. It is one of the first large demonstrations of Second Wave Feminism.
September 11 – French General René Cogny and 94 others die in a Air France Caravelle jetliner crash near Nice in the Mediterranean.
September 17 – The D'Oliveira Affair: The Marylebone Cricket Club tour of South Africa is cancelled when the South Africans refuse to accept the presence of Basil D'Oliveira, a Cape Coloured, in the side.
September 27 – Marcelo Caetano becomes prime minister of Portugal.
September 29 – A referendum in Greece gives more power to the military junta.

October

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

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28 29 30 31

October 2 – Tlatelolco massacre: A student demonstration ends in a bloodbath at La Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Tlatelolco, Mexico City, Mexico, 10 days before the inauguration of the 1968 Summer Olympics.
October 3 – In Peru, Juan Velasco Alvarado takes the power by a revolution.
October 5 – An illegal civil rights march in Derry, Northern Ireland, which included several Stormont and British MPs, is batoned off the streets by the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
October 8 – Vietnam War: Operation Sealords – United States and South Vietnamese forces launch a new operation in the Mekong Delta.
October 11 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission (Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele, Walter Cunningham). Mission goals include the first live television broadcast from orbit and testing the lunar module docking maneuver.
October 11 – In Panama, a military coup d'état, led by Col. Boris Martinez and Col. Omar Torrijos, overthrows the democratically-elected (but highly controversial) government of President Arnulfo Arias. Within a year, Torrijos will have ousted Martinez and taken charge as de facto Head of Government in Panama.
October 12-October 27 – The Games of the XIX Olympiad are held in Mexico City, Mexico.
October 12 – Equatorial Guinea receives its independence from Spain.
October 14 – Vietnam War: The United States Department of Defense announces that the United States Army and United States Marines will send about 24,000 troops back to Vietnam for involuntary second tours.
October 16 – In Mexico City, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, 2 African-Americans competing in the Olympic 200-meter run, raise their arms in a black power salute after winning the gold and bronze medals for 1st and 3rd place.
October 16 – Kingston, Jamaica is rocked by the Rodney Riots, provoked by the banning of Walter Rodney from the country.
October 20 – Aristotle Onassis and Jacqueline Kennedy marry on the Greek island of Skorpios
October 31 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in the Paris peace talks, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces to the nation that he has ordered a complete cessation of “all air, naval, and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam” effective November 1.

November

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

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4 5 6 7 8 9 10

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18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30

November 5 – U.S. presidential election, 1968: Republican challenger Richard M. Nixon defeats Vice President Hubert Humphrey and American Independent Party candidate George C. Wallace.
November 5 – Luis A. Ferre is elected Governor of Puerto Rico.
November 11 – Vietnam War: Operation Commando Hunt is initiated to interdict men and supplies on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, through Laos into South Vietnam. By the end of the operation, 3 million tons of bombs are dropped on Laos, slowing but not seriously disrupting trail operations.
November 11 – A second republic is declared in the Maldives
November 14 – Yale University announces it is going co-educational
November 17 – The Heidi game: NBC cuts off the final 1:05 of an Oakland Raiders-New York Jets football game to broadcast the pre-scheduled Heidi. Fans are unable to see Oakland (which had been trailing 32–29) score two late touchdowns to win 43–32; as a result, thousands of outraged football fans flood the NBC switchboards to protest.
November 22 – The White Album is released by The Beatles
November 26 – Vietnam War: United States Air Force First Lieutenant and Bell UH-1F helicopter pilot James P. Fleming rescues an Army Special Forces unit pinned down by Viet Cong fire, earning a Medal of Honour for his bravery.

December

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

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9 10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

23 24 25 26 27 28 29

30 31

December 9 – Douglas Engelbart publicly demonstrates his pioneering hypertext system, NLS, in San Francisco.
December 10 – Japan’s biggest heist, the still-unsolved “300 million yen robbery”, occurs in Tokyo
December 11 – The film Oliver!, based on the hit London and Broadway musical, opens in the U.S. after being released first in England. It will go on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.
December 13 – Brazilian president Artur da Costa e Silva decrees the AI-5 (or the fifth Institutional Act), which lasts until 1978 and marks the beginning of the hard times of Brazilian military dictatorship.
December 22 – David Eisenhower marries Julie Nixon, the daughter of U.S. President-elect Richard Nixon
December 22 – Mao Zedong advocates educated youth in urban China to be re-educated in the country. It marks the start of the “Up to the mountains and down to the villages” movement.
December 24 – Apollo Program: U.S. spacecraft Apollo 8 enters orbit around the Moon. Astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William A. Anders become the first humans to see the far side of the Moon and planet Earth as a whole. The crew also reads from Genesis.

Ongoing

Namibian War of Independence (1966–1978)
North Yemen Civil War (1962–1970)
Rhodesian Bush War (1964–1979)
Cultural Revolution (1966–1969)

Births

1968 in other calendars

Gregorian calendar 1968 MCMLXVIII

Ab urbe condita 2721

Armenian calendar 1417 ԹՎ ՌՆԺԷ

Bahá'í calendar 124 – 125

Berber calendar 2918

Buddhist calendar 2512

Burmese calendar 1330

Chinese calendar 4604/4664-12-2 (丁未年十二月初二日)

— to —

4605/4665-11-12 (戊申年十一月十二日)

Coptic calendar 1684 – 1685

Ethiopian calendar 1960 – 1961

Hebrew calendar 5728 – 5729

Hindu calendars

- Vikram Samvat 2023 – 2024

- Shaka Samvat 1890 – 1891

- Kali Yuga 5069 – 5070

Holocene calendar 11968

Iranian calendar 1346 – 1347

Islamic calendar 1387 – 1388

Japanese calendar Shōwa 43 (昭和43年)

Korean calendar 4301

Thai solar calendar 2511

January-February

January 2 – Cuba Gooding Jr., American actor
January 3 – Michael Schumacher, German Formula One driver
January 5 – Andrzej Gołota, Polish boxer
January 6 – John Singleton, American film director and writer
January 9 – Joey Lauren Adams, American actress
January 9 – Al Schnier, American rock guitarist
January 12 – Keith Anderson, American country music singer-songwriter
January 13 – Pat Onstad, Canadian footballer
January 14 – LL Cool J, American rapper and actor
January 15 – Chad Lowe, American actor
January 24 – Mary Lou Retton, American gymnast
January 26 – Novala Takemoto, Japanese author and fashion designer
January 27 – Mike Patton, American singer
January 28 – Sarah McLachlan, Canadian singer
January 29 – Edward Burns, American actor
January 29 – Sora Jung, Korean actress
February 1 – Lisa Marie Presley, American singer
February 1 – Mark Recchi, Canadian hockey player
February 3 – Vlade Divac, basketball player
February 5 – Roberto Alomar, baseball player
February 7 – Peter Bondra, Slovakian ice hockey player in the NHL
February 8 – Gary Coleman, American actor
February 10 – Atika Suri, Indonesian television newscaster
February 10 – Laurie Foell, New Zealand/Australian actress
February 13 – Kelly Hu, American actress and former fashion model
February 14 – Jules Asner, American model and television personality
February 14 – Nelson “Viscera” Frazier, Jr., American professional wrestler
February 18 – Dennis Satin, German film director
February 18 – Molly Ringwald, American actress, singer and dancer
February 22 – Brad Nowell, American musician (d. 1996)
February 22 – Jeri Ryan, American actress
February 22 – Delphine Boel, out-of-wedlock daughter of King Albert II of Belgium
February 25 – Sandrine Kiberlain, French actress
February 25 – Evridiki, Cypriot singer
February 27 – Matt Stairs, baseball player

March-April

March 1 – Kunjarani Devi, Indian weightlifter
March 1 – Kathryn Cressida, American actress
March 2 – Daniel Craig, British actor
March 4 – Patsy Kensit, British actress
March 4 – Giovanni Carrara, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player
March 6 – Moira Kelly, American actress
March 10 – Thio Li-ann, Singaporean law academic and Nominated Member of Parliament
March 11 – Lisa Loeb, American singer
March 14 – James Frain, British actor
March 15 – Kahimi Karie, Japanese singer
March 15 – Mark McGrath, American musician (Sugar Ray)
March 16 – Trevor Wilson, American basketball player
March 18 – Shinichiro Miki, Japanese seiyu (voice actor)
March 22 – Øystein Aarseth, Norwegian musician
March 23 – Mike Atherton, English cricketer
March 23 – Damon Albarn, English musician (Blur and Gorillaz)
March 23 – Mitch Cullin, American novelist
March 26 – Kenny Chesney, American musician
March 26 – James Iha, American musician (The Smashing Pumpkins)
March 28 – Iris Chang, American author (d. 2004)
March 28 – Nasser Hussain, English cricketer
March 29 – Lucy Lawless, New Zealand actress and singer
March 30 – Céline Dion, Canadian singer
April 1 – Andreas Schnaas, German director
April 1 – Julia Boutros, Lebanese singer
April 3 – Sebastian Bach, West Indian-born musician (Skid Row)
April 8 – Patricia Arquette, American actress
April 14 – Anthony Michael Hall, American actor and singer
April 15 – Stacey Williams, American model
April 18 – David Hewlett, English born Canadian actor
April 19 – Ashley Judd, American actress
April 20 – J. D. Roth, American television host
April 23 – Timothy McVeigh, American terrorist (d. 2001)
April 24 – Stacy Haiduk, American actress

May-June

May 1 – D'Arcy Wretzky, American musician
May 7 – Traci Lords, American actress
May 9 – Marie-José Perec, French athlete
May 12 – Tony Hawk, American skateboarder
May 16 – Chingmy Yau, Hong Kong actress
May 17 – Constance Menard, professional dressage rider
May 20 – Waisale Serevi, Fijian rugby player
May 21 – Julie Vega, Filipino child actress and singer (d. 1985)
May 26 – Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark
May 27 – Jeff Bagwell, baseball player
May 27 – Frank Thomas, baseball player
May 28 – Kylie Minogue, Australian actress and singer
June 1 – Jason Donovan, Australian actor and singer
June 2 – Beetlejuice, member of the Wack Pack from radio’s The Howard Stern Show
June 2 – John Culshaw, English comedian and impressionist
June 9 – Alexandr Konovalov, Russian lawyer and politician
June 10 – The D.O.C., rapper
June 13 – Denise Pearson, British singer Five Star
June 20 – Peter Paige, American actor
June 25 – Oleg Taktarov, Russian mixed martial artist
June 26 – Iwan Roberts, Welsh footballer
June 26 – Shannon Sharpe, American football player and commentator
June 28 – Adam Woodyatt, British actor
June 29 – Theoren Fleury, Canadian hockey player
June 30 – Philip Anselmo, American musician

July-August

July 5 – Ken Akamatsu, Japanese mangaka
July 7 – Jorja Fox, American actress
July 7 – Jeff VanderMeer, American writer
July 8 – Akio Suyama, Japanese seiyu (voice actor)
July 8 – Michael Weatherly, American actor
July 10 – Hassiba Boulmerka, Algerian athlete
July 15 – Stan Kirsch, American actor
July 16 – Robin Nixon, Producer.music.Art.
July 16 – Dhanraj Pillay, Indian field hockey player
July 16 – Barry Sanders, American football player
July 17 – Darren Day, actor and TV presenter
July 19 – Jim Norton, American comedian and radio personality (The Opie and Anthony Show)
July 22 – Rhys Ifans, Welsh actor
July 24 – Kristin Chenoweth, American soprano and actress
July 27 – Julian McMahon, Australian actor
July 30 – Robert Korzeniowski, Polish racewalker
August 1 – Dan Donegan, American musician (Disturbed)
August 3 – Rod Beck, American baseball player (d.2007)
August 5 – Colin McRae, Scottish rally car driver (d. 2007)
August 9 – Gillian Anderson, American actress
August 9 – James Roy, Australian author
August 9 – Eric Bana, Australian actor
August 10 – Greg Hawgood, Canadian ice hockey player
August 11 – Charlie Sexton, American guitarist, singer and songwriter
August 12 – Andras Jones, American actor
August 14 – Jason Leonard, English rugby player
August 14 – Darren Clarke, Northern Irish professional golfer
August 15 – Debra Messing, American actress
August 17 – Ed McCaffrey, American football player
August 17 – Bruno van Pottelsberghe, Belgian economist
August 24 – Tim Salmon, American baseball player
August 25 – Rachael Ray, American television chef and host
August 28 – Billy Boyd, Scottish actor
August 31 – Hideo Nomo, Japanese baseball player

September-October

September 1 – Mohamed Atta al Sayed, Egyptian terrorist
September 4 – Phill Lewis, American actor
September 4 – Mike Piazza, American baseball player
September 6 – Tommy Snider, American actor
September 7 – Marcel Desailly, French footballer
September 10 – Big Daddy Kane, hip-hop artist
September 11 – Kay Hanley, American musician
September 11 – Tetsuo Kurata, Japanese actor
September 18 – Toni Kukoč, Croatian basketball player
September 20 – Darrell Russell, race car driver (d. 2004)
September 20 – Phillipa Forrester, British TV presenter
September 20 – Leah Pinsent, Canadian actress
September 23 – Yvette Fielding, English television presenter
September 25 – Will Smith, American rapper and actor
September 26 – James Caviezel, American actor
September 28 – Naomi Watts, English-born actress
September 29 – Patrick Burns, American paranormal investigator and television personality
September 29 – Samir Soni, Indian film and TV actor
October 1 – Mark Durden-Smith, English television presenter
October 2 – Victoria Derbyshire, British radio presenter
October 3 – Paul Crichton, English footballer
October 7 – Thom Yorke, British singer/songwriter
October 8 – CL Smooth, American rapper
October 10 – Feridun Düzağaç, Turkish rock music artist singer and songwriter
October 10 – Bart Brentjens, Dutch mountainbiker
October 11 – Jane Krakowski, American actress
October 12 – Hugh Jackman, Australian actor
October 14 – Johnny Goudie, American musician
October 14 – Matthew Le Tissier, English footballer
October 15 – Didier Deschamps, French footballer
October 15 – Jyrki 69, Finnish singer
October 17 – Ziggy Marley, Jamaican musician and oldest son of Bob Marley
October 19 – Rodney Carrington, American stand-up comic and comic country musician
October 22 – Shaggy, Jamaican singer
October 24 – Sal the Stockbroker, American comedian and radio writer for The Howard Stern Show
October 29 – Tsunku, Japanese singer, music producer, and song composer
October 31 – Vanilla Ice, American rapper

November-December

November 3 – Debbie Rochon, Canadian actress
November 4 – Council Nedd II, American, Anglican bishop
November 4 – Daniel Landa, Czech composer, singer, actor and rallye racer.
November 4 – Lee Germon, New Zealand cricketer
November 8 – Parker Posey, American actress
November 8 – Zara Whites, Dutch actress
November 9 – Nazzareno Carusi, Italian pianist
November 10 – Steve Brookstein, British singer
November 10 – Petra Liebetanz, German-American photographer
November 11 – David L Cook, Christian music singer and comedian
November 12 – Sammy Sosa, Dominican Major League Baseball player
November 13 – Pat Hentgen, baseball player
November 14 – Serge Postigo, Canadian actor
November 15 – Jennifer Charles, American singer
November 15 – Ol' Dirty Bastard, American rapper (d. 2004)
November 18 – Barry Hunter, Northern Irish footballer and football manager
November 18 – Owen Wilson, American actor
November 20 – John Trobaugh, American artist and photographer
November 22 – Rasmus Lerdorf, Creator of PHP
November 23 – Hamid Hassani, Iranian scholar
November 25 – Jill Hennessy, Canadian actress
November 25 – Jacqueline Hennessy, Canadian actress and talk show host
November 27 – Michael Vartan, French actor
November 29 – Jonathan Knight, American singer
December 2 – Nate Mendel, member of the band, Foo Fighters
December 2 – Lucy Liu, American actress
December 5 – Margaret Cho, Korean-American actress and comedian
December 7 – Mark Geyer, Australian rugby league player
December 8 – Mike Mussina, baseball player
December 8 – Michael Cole, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) commentator
December 9 – Kurt Angle, American amateur and professional wrestler, 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist
December 17 – Paul Tracy, Canadian race car driver
December 18 – Rachel Griffiths, Australian actress

Unknown dates

George Henry Smyth, Irish artist
Andrei Ivanovitch, a famous international classical pianist

Deaths

January-March

January 7 – Gholamreza Takhti, The most famous wrestler in Iranian history (b. 1930)
January 15 – Bill Masterton, Canadian hockey player (b. 1938)
January 19 – Ray Harroun, American race car driver (b. 1879)
January 21 – Will Lang Jr., American journalist (b. 1914)
January 22 – Duke Kahanamoku, American swimmer (b. 1890)
January 26 – Merrill C. Meigs, American newspaper publisher and aviation promoter (b. 1883)
January 30 – Robert Wood Johnson, American business leader and philanthropist (b. 1893)
February 4 – Neal Cassady, American writer (b. 1926)
February 11 – Howard Lindsay, American playwright (b. 1888)
February 20 – Anthony Asquith, British director and writer (b. 1902)
February 21 – Howard Walter Florey, Australian-born pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (b. 1898)
February 22 – Peter Arno, American cartoonist (b. 1904)
February 27 – Frankie Lymon, American singer (b. 1942)
February 29 – Tore Ørjasæter, Norwegian poet (b. 1886)
March 16 – Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Italian composer (b. 1895)
March 16 – Leon Cadore, American baseball pitcher (b. 1890
March 20 – Charles Chaplin Jr., American actor (b. 1925)
March 23 – Edwin O'Connor, American novelist and Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (b. 1918)
March 27 – Yuri Gagarin, cosmonaut (b. 1934)
March 30 – Bobby Driscoll, American child actor (b. 1937)

April-June

April 1 – Lev Davidovich Landau, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)
April 4 – Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., American civil rights activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (assassinated) (b. 1929)
April 7 – Jimmy Clark, Scottish race car driver (b. 1936)
April 10 – Gustavs Celmins, Latvian politician (b. 1899)
April 14 – Al Benton, baseball player (b. 1911)
April 22 – Stephen H. Sholes, American record executive (b. 1911)
April 25 – John Tewksbury, American athlete (b. 1876)
May 7 – Mike Spence British race car driver (b. 1936)
May 9 – Mercedes de Acosta, American poet, playwright, costume designer, and socialite (b. 1893)
May 9 – Marion Lorne, American actress (b. 1883)
May 14 – Husband E. Kimmel, American admiral (b. 1882)
June 1 – Helen Keller, American spokeswoman for deaf and blind (b. 1880)
June 6 – Robert F. Kennedy, U.S. Senator and U.S. Attorney General (assassinated) (b. 1925)
June 14 – Salvatore Quasimodo, Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
June 15 – Sam Crawford, baseball player (b. 1880)
June 24 – Tony Hancock, British comedian (b. 1924)

July-December

July 18 – Corneille Heymans, Belgian physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)
July 23 – Henry Hallett Dale, English scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1875)
July 28 – Otto Hahn, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
July 31 – Jack Pizzey, incumbent Premier of Queensland, Australia (b. 1911)
August 19 – George Gamow, Ukrainian-born physicist (b. 1904)
August 27 – Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent (b. 1906)
August 29 – Ulysses S. Grant III, American soldier and planner (b. 1881)
September 8 – Luther Perkins, American guitarist (b. 1928)
September 12 – Tommy Armour, Scottish golfer (b. 1894)
October 2 – Marcel Duchamp, French artist (b. 1887)
October 9 – Pierre Mulele, Congolese revolutionary
October 13 – Bea Benaderet, American actress (b. 1906)
October 30 – Rose Wilder Lane, American author and reporter (b. 1886)
October 30 – Ramón Novarro, Mexican actor (b. 1899)
November 4 – Michel Kikoine, Belarusian painter (b. 1892)
November 6 – Charles Munch, French conductor and violinist (b. 1891)
November 25 – Upton Sinclair, American writer (b. 1878)
November 26 – Arnold Zweig, German writer (b. 1887)
December 2 – Adamson-Eric, Estonian artist (b. 1902)
December 10 – Karl Barth, German Protestant theologian (b. 1888)
December 10 – Thomas Merton, American author (b. 1915)
December 12 – Tallulah Bankhead, American actress (b. 1902)
December 19 – Norman Thomas, American politician (b. 1884)
December 20 – John Steinbeck, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
December 30 – Trygve Lie, first United Nations Secretary General (b. 1896)
December 30 – Vladimir Peter Tytla, American animator (b. 1904)
December 31 – George Lewis, American musician (b. 1900)

Unknown dates

Berthold Bartosch, Czech animator (b. 1893)
Jouett Shouse, American politician (b. 1879)
Ellsworth Johnson, American gangster (b. 1906)

Nobel prizes

Physics – Luis Walter Alvarez
Chemistry – Lars Onsager
Physiology or Medicine – Robert W. Holley, Har Gobind Khorana, Marshall W. Nirenberg
Literature – Yasunari Kawabata
Peace – René Cassin

Academy Awards

Best Picture: In the Heat of the Night, Walter Mirisch
Best Foreign Language Film: Closely Watched Trains, Czechoslovakia
Best Documentary Feature: The Anderson Platoon, Pierre Schoendoerffer
Best Director: Mike Nichols, The Graduate
Best Actor: Rod Steiger, In the Heat of the Night
Best Actress: Katharine Hepburn, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
Best Supporting Actor: George Kennedy, Cool Hand Luke
Best Supporting Actress: Estelle Parsons, Bonnie and Clyde
Best Original Screenplay: William Rose, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
Best Adapted Screenplay: Stirling Silliphant, In the Heat of the Night

Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968”