April-July 1968 (Incomplete)
Sunday, March 31st, 1968: At the conclusion of a televised address on Vietnam, President Johnson stuns the nation when he declares that he “will not seek nor accept” his party’s nomination for President in 1968.
Tuesday, April 2nd, 1968: Vice President Nixon wins the Wisconsin primary overwhelmingly with 80% of the vote; organizers for Governor Reagan are only able to muster 10% of the vote, while the remaining votes are various write-ins for other candidates such as Governor Rockefeller.
Thursday, April 4th, 1968: Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. avoids another assassination attempt in Memphis, Tennessee after an unknown sniper fires upon him as he leaves his room at the Lorraine Motel. The bullet misses King’s head by inches, and King retreats to his room while the shooter flees. Hours later, with police on the scene investigating the shooting, King addresses the media, declaring “I do not fear death” and that “I will go on doing God’s work as I long as I live, be it a long or short time.”
Friday, April 5th, 1968: President Johnson calls Doctor King from the Oval Office to wish him well in the wake of the shooting. Johnson attempts to direct the conversation to “the good work” of his Vice President and intended successor Hubert Humphrey, but King does not take the bait and does not promise his endorsement. The icy conversation continues with King criticizing the President’s policies in Southeast Asia and repeatedly reminding Johnson that “our work is not done.” At the conclusion of the call, Johnson berates his staff for pressuring him to call “that insufferable radical.”
Saturday, April 6th, 1968: Former Vice President Richard Nixon, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, is shot by Sirhan Sirhan at an event for Jewish voters in Las Angeles, California. Nixon is rushed to Good Samaritan Hospital with two bullet wounds in the chest. His condition stabilizes after an emergency operation to remove the bullets. President Johnson assigns Secret Service protection to all major candidates as a result of the shooting.
Wednesday, April 10th, 1968: Sirhan Sirhan pleads guilty in a Las Angeles courtroom to attempting to assassinate former Vice President Nixon; a sentencing hearing is scheduled for later in May. Meanwhile, President Johnson and Vice President Humphrey meet privately in Washington to plot out the Vice President’s path to the White House. In order to cool down the war in Vietnam, Johnson agrees to slowly tapper off offensive actions against North Vietnam and instead focus on a more defensive strategy instead.
Thursday, April 11th, 1968: The Nixon campaign announces that the former Vice President will resume his campaign activities in the coming weeks, and will in the interim focus on his recovery. Returning to his New York residence, Nixon drafts a letter to Martin Luther King for the first time in a decade. The two had previously corresponded with frequency during his tenure as the Vice-President. In the letter, Nixon asks that the two meet to discuss the Civil Rights movement, and possible positions on the Vietnam War.
Saturday, April 13th, 1968: In a campaign appearance in Atlanta, Georgia, third party candidate and former Governor George Wallace declares it’s “time to shit or get off the pot” and advocates for an American ground campaign against North Vietnam to weaken their offensive capacity and support for Viet Cong rebels in the south.
Sunday, April 14th, 1968: In Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh authorizes a summer offensive against South Vietnam. The Viet Cong and the NVA will both, if the plan goes forward, strike in unison in an operation which they tentatively dub “Tet II.”
Monday, April 15th, 1968: Almost twenty days after announcing he would not seek another term in office, President Johnson collapses during a cabinet meeting. While at first reported as a possible heart attack, the episode is instead diagnosed as a case of severe exhaustion. Johnson returns to the White House later in the evening after being cleared by doctors. In the aftermath of this health scare, Johnson begins transferring some of the more minor day to day duties of the Presidency to Vice President Humphrey in order to better prepare him to assume the office.
Tuesday, April 16th, 1968: Doctor King replies to Nixon’s letter, urging him to embrace “a policy of peace” both at home and abroad. Specifically, King asks the Vice President to disavow the support of Senator Strom Thurmond (R-SC) and other segregationists.
Wednesday, April 17th, 1968: California Governor Ronald Reagan gathers a conclave of top advisers at his residence in Sacramento. Attending the meeting are longtime advisers and friends, including aide Mike Deaver, counsel Ed Meese, businessman and bundler Thomas C. Reed, Goldwater’s campaign manager and conservative activist F. Clifton White, communications director Lynn Nofzinger, and of course, his wife Nancy. It is decided that the Governor would continue his low-key “shadow” campaign. Though the Governor would not declare his candidacy officially, the campaign would run Reagan as a “favorite son” and allow supporters to place his name on the ballots in the Nebraska and Oregon primaries and organize on his behalf.
Thursday, April 18th, 1968: At a meeting with top aides and supporters including Patrick Buchanan, John Ehrlichman, H.R. Haldeman, John Mitchell, Robert Finch, and Murray Chottiner, Vice President Nixon firmly abandons the prospect of embracing what his campaign deemed “the southern strategy.” This decision is due in part to Nixon’s correspondence with Doctor King, which roused old, stinging memories of Nixon’s 1960 loss to JFK, which some believe was partly to blame due to Nixon’s bungled response to MLK’s arrest during the campaign. Determined to never be defeated again, Nixon decides to appease Doctor King rather than antagonize him (and black voters) by embracing the “southern strategy.”
Saturday, April 20th, 1968: The Beatle’s “Getting Better” from the Sargent Pepper’s album displaces Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” as the top song on the Billboard Hot 100, signaling that the Beatle’s turn towards experimental, psychedelic music remains popular among young audiences.
Sunday, April 21st, 1968: During an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” author and leftist intellectual Gore Vidal announces he will seek the Presidency on the Peace & Freedom Party ticket. The anti-war activist recently had completed a lecture tour that took him to several colleges in California, where he often roundly criticized President Johnson and Senator Kennedy.
Monday, April 22nd, 1968: Governor Wallace, seeing the growing divide in the GOP between the moderates and conservatives, narrows his choices for Vice President down to General Curtis LeMay, businessman Harland Sanders (of KFC fame), former Governor Orval Faubus, and Congressman John Ashbrook.
Tuesday, April 23rd, 1968: The Pennsylvania primaries are held; on the Republican side, Vice President Nixon sweeps the field with 60% of the vote, with the remaining forty percent of the vote being shared by Governor Rockefeller and write-in votes for former Governor Bill Scranton, who had sought the GOP nomination in 1964. On the Democratic side, Senator Eugene McCarthy garners 70% of the vote, with the remaining share being split between write-ins for Senator Kennedy and votes for President Johnson, who remains on the ballot.
Wednesday, April 24th, 1968: Students at Columbia University in New York City walk out of class and occupy the administrative buildings in protest of the war in Vietnam. The university will effectively be shut down for the next six day, which include mass “be-in” protests by students and an impromptu performance by the Grateful Dead among other things. The police will eventually clear out the demonstrators and restore order on April 30th.
Saturday, April 27th, 1968: Vice President Humphrey formally announces his intention to seek the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968 during a speech to supporters at the Shoreham Hotel in Washington.
Tuesday, April 30th, 1968: Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York officially announces his candidacy for President, though his campaign apparatus has been active for months. The announcement surprises few, as Rockefeller had openly telegraphed his ambitions to the voting public for months.
Friday, May 3rd, 1968: French police attempt to break up a meeting of student activists and radicals at the Sorbonne. A large riot erupts in response, and large crowds of students and anti-war demonstrators descend on the scene. Accounts vary as to the exact details, but at some point, the increasingly overwhelmed police open fire using live ammunition, killing 12 students. The incident sparks protests across France.
Saturday, May 4th, 1968: Major riots and street fighting break out in the Latin Quarter of Paris. Students attack police with cobblestones and petrol bombs. Police once again fire on students on three separate occasions. Over the weekend, 21 more students are killed and over 500 more are injured. A further eight police officers are killed and 43 injured. Many newspapers and national trade unions condemn the violence, many blaming the police for overreacting and using heavy handed tactics. Small scale rioting and sporadic acts of unrest continue across Paris over the following week.
Sunday, May 5th, 1968: The Washington DC primaries are held; the Democratic primary has no candidates on the ballot, and the delegates from the District are unbound to any candidate as a result. All the while on the Republican side, Vice President Nixon sweeps the district with 90% of the vote. The remaining 10% was cast for the unpledged option.
Monday, May 6th, 1968: Former Vice President Nixon resumes campaign activities, speaking to a large crowd in Cleveland, Ohio without notes. After the speech, Nixon is greeted with an extended standing ovation and chants of “Nixon Now!”
Tuesday, May 7th, 1968: The Indiana and Ohio primaries are held. On the Democratic side, Kennedy wins Indiana by a margin of 42%-31%-27% over the withdrawn President Johnson and Senator Eugene McCarthy respectively while favorite son Stephen Young wins Ohio. On the GOP side, Vice President Nixon carries Indiana unopposed while favorite son John Rhodes wins Ohio.
Wednesday, May 8th, 1968: The Eastern Bloc leaders (Walter Ulbricht of East Germany, Janos Kadar of Hungary, Wladyslaw Gomulka of Poland, and Todor Zhivkov of Bulgaria) gather in Moscow for a summit with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev; the General Secretary rails against the “counter-revolution” in Czechoslovakia and calls it “an immediate threat” to “the unity of the socialist sphere.”
Thursday, May 9th, 1968: French President Charles DeGaulle prohibits television broadcasts from covering the growing protests in Paris, leading to demonstrators to label him an “autocrat.”
Friday, May 10th, 1968: An American delegation led by Averell Harriman meets with the North Vietnamese Foreign Minister in the Hague to discuss the framework for future peace negotiations. The meeting was initially planned to take place in Paris, but moved at the last minute due to the growing unrest and rioting taking place in the French capital of Paris.
Saturday, May 11th, 1968: Trade unions in France call a general strike, and well over a million people march through the streets of Paris demonstrating against police within hours of the announcement. The police are much more restrained this time around.
Sunday, May 12th, 1968: At a large rally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Governor George Wallace unveils Congressman John Ashbrook (R-OH) as his running mate. Ashbrook, though initially hesitant, agreed to join the ticket after Vice President Nixon’s sweep of the primaries.
Saturday, May 25th, 1968: President Charles DeGaulle of France is shot and killed by an unknown sniper while entering the Palais Bourbon to address the National Assembly. The assassination sparks chaos in France, with thousands taking to the streets as President of the Senate Gaston Monnerville is sworn in as the 19th President of the French Republic. In a phone call to him later that day, President Johnson offers his condolences, while urging Monnerville to get the situation under control before the Soviet Union takes advantage.
Saturday, June 1st, 1968: Nixon reveals his "Swift Peace" strategy on how to tackle the war in Vietnam and promises a quick end to the war should he be elected. "Swift Peace", as Nixon puts it, would end the war within the year. The strategy calls for an immediate end to the draft, and gradual withdrawal of US forces currently deployed (albeit without a public timetable). On the flip side, Nixon suggests that a series of massive and overwhelming bombing campaigns may be necessary to force a ceasefire. Nixon declares his intention to seek peace without such campaigns, hoping that the threat alone could bring the North Vietnamese to the table. Nixon ends the speech declaring that: "it is time we (the United States) provide the means, not the men, for other free countries to project their destinies."
Monday, June 3rd, 1968: Valerie Solanas assassinates radical pop-artist Andy Warhol and art critic Mario Amaya at Warhol's famous studio, "The Factory". After a short standoff, Solanas commits suicide by cop. The shooting shocks New York City’s cultural elite, and fans flock to Warhol’s studio to leave tributes.
Tuesday, June 4th, 1968: The California, New Jersey, and South Dakota primaries are held. The Democratic primary in California is won by Senator Kennedy over Senator McCarthy by a vote of 46%-42%, while McCarthy wins New Jersey 36%-31%. South Dakota goes for Senator Kennedy by a margin of 50%, with the remaining vote share being split between votes for the (withdrawn) President Johnson and Senator McCarthy. On the Republican side, Governor Reagan wins California as a favorite son candidate unopposed. In South Dakota, Nixon wins unopposed while winning New Jersey 85%-15% over Governor Rockefeller. Senator Kennedy optimistically ends his speech by declaring "its off to Chicago, so lets win there!"