1968 In both Europe and America Japanese imported cars and other goods were continuing to rise and trouble the governments of UK and USA as they worried about industries in their own countries being effected and jobs lost. In the spring of 1968 The Rev Martin Luther King was assassinated and Robert Kennedy was mortally wounded also the peace movement had continued to grow and more and more Americans were against the war in Vietnam, and once again more riots occurred throughout cities in America. The music scene was once again set by the "Beatles" and the "Rolling Stones" , and fashion flirted with see through blouses and midis and maxis skirts joined the Mini Skirt as part of the fashion trends. There is a Flu Pandemic in Hong Kong and the first Black power salute is seen on Television worldwide during an Olympics medal ceremony

Cost of Living 1968

How Much things cost in 1968
Yearly Inflation Rate USA 4.27%
Year End Close Dow Jones Industrial Average 943
Average Cost of new house $14,950.00
Average Income per year $7,850.00
Average Monthly Rent $130.00
Gas per Gallon 34 cents
Average Cost of a new car $2,822.00
Movie Ticket $1.50



What Events Happened in 1968

• Anti Vietnam War protests throughout the western world
• North Vietnam and Viet Cong troops launch the Tet offensive
• Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Leader of Negro Civil Rights Movement is killed by James Earl Ray which leads to Violence and Race Riots in US Cities
• Following the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968
• RMS Queen Elizabeth - retired from service
• Senator Robert Kennedy is assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles
• Earthquake in Sicily - 231 dead, 262 injured.
• Enoch Powell's delivers his "Rivers of Blood" anti immigration speech
• The Third Heart transplant is performed in South Africa By Dr Christian N Barnard
• London Bridge sold for 1 million. and later re-erected in Arizona.
• President Johnson announces on nationwide television he would not run for another term of office
• 50,000 people participated in " The Poor Peoples March " on Washington, D.C.
• Population in Europe reaches 455 million ( excluding USSR )
• The Kray twins, arrested for the murders of George Cornell and Jack 'The Hat' McVitie, members of the London underworld.
• Televisions installed increases 25 million US , 20.5 million Japan , 19 million Great Britain
• Alec Rose completes his single-handed 354-day round-the-world trip.
• Pierre Elliott Trudeau becomes the Prime Minister of Canada
• Student Occupation at Columbia University over Universities affiliation with the Institute for Defense Analyse
• Aristotle Onassis and Jacqueline Kennedy marry
• The Ferry "TEV Wahine" capsizes in Wellington Harbour, New Zealand
• Hong Kong Flu pandemic begins in Hong Kong.
• Black power salute is seen on Television worldwide after the gold and bronze medalists in Olympics show salute during medal ceremony in Mexico City, Mexico
• The Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia was to provide political liberalization but was crushed by Warsaw Pact countries
• The Soviet Union invades Czechoslovakia and arrests President Dubcek "Prague Spring"
• The Aswan Dam in Egypt is completed
• The Gateway Arch in St. Louis is dedicated
• Equatorial Gunea Gains Independence From Spain
• The Winter Olympic Games are held in Grenoble, France
• 800,000 teachers, workers and student protesters marched through the French capital during a one day general strike
  

Popular Culture 1968

• The first Big Mac goes on sale in McDonalds

Popular Films

• The Graduate
• Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
• Bonnie and Clyde
• Valley of the Dolls
• The Odd Couple
• Planet of the Apes
• Rosemary's Baby
  

Popular Musicians

• The Rolling Stones
• The Supremes
• The Beatles with " Hey Jude "
• Fleetwood Mac
• Aretha Franklin
• Gary Puckett and The Union Gap
• The Grateful Dead
• The Monkees
• Simon and Garfunkel " Mrs Robinson "
• The Beach Boys
• The Bee Gees
• The Jimi Hendrix Experience
• Cream
• The Doors " Hello I Love You "
• Pink Floyd
• Moody Blues
• Bobby Goldsboro " Honey "
• Marvin Gaye " I heard it through the Grapevine "
• David Bowie
  

Technology 1968

• Boeing 747 made its maiden flight.
• NASA launches Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission
• Apollo 8 orbits the Moon, becoming the first manned space mission to achieve the feat.
• Dr. Christian Barnard performs the first successful heart transplant.
• US Explodes experimental hydrogen Bomb.
• The Emergency 911 Telephone service is started in the USA which provides a single number for reporting emergencies and is manned 24 hrs per day 365 days per year
  ATM First Philadelphia Bank installs the first automated teller machine in the U.S.