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Articles on 1968

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President Richard Nixon, left, and President Donald Trump, right. AP//Frank C. Curtin; REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Trump’s bad Nixon imitation may cost him the presidency

President Trump solicited foreign help for his presidential campaign. So did presidential candidate Richard Nixon. The difference, writes scholar Ken Hughes, is that Nixon was more skilled at it.
‘Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!’ was a funky, lighthearted alternative to the action cartoons that, for years, had dominated Saturday morning lineups. GeekDad

The strange connection between Bobby Kennedy’s death and Scooby-Doo

Demands for regulation of media violence reached a fever pitch after RFK’s assassination, and networks scrambled to insert more kid-friendly fare into their lineups. Enter: the Mystery Machine.
College yearbook editors in the 1960s juxtaposed pictures of traditional campus activities, such as Greek Life, alongside images of protests and marches. The Kentuckian, 1968

Beyond blackface: How college yearbooks captured protest and change

Recent blackface scandals that involve college yearbooks have overshadowed how yearbooks also chronicled important turning points in the history of US higher education, a historian argues.
Protesters fill the streets outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. AP Photo

How the ‘Heat and Light’ of 1968 still influence today: 3 essential reads

This year, The Conversation celebrated the 50th anniversary of 1968 with its first podcast, ‘Heat and Light.’ These are some of the most interesting stories we uncovered – ones that still resonate in 2018.
The Supremes, with their polished performances and family-friendly lyrics, helped to bridge a cultural divide and temper racial tensions. AP Photo/Frings

The soundtrack of the Sixties demanded respect, justice and equality

Fifty years ago, Sly and the Family Stone sang ‘We got to live together, I am no better and neither are you.’ The words ring just as true today.

The Left’s Gift to Nixon

The Left’s Gift to Nixon
1968 is often remembered as a time when protest galvanized the left. But it was also the year that Richard Nixon won the White House — which Republicans would control for most of the next two decades.

Why God Votes Republican

In 1968 the Protestant Left lost its political clout over their opposition to the Vietnam War – and opened the door for the rise of the modern Religious Right.

The Mother of All Demos

The Mother of All Demos
In 1968 computers were the size of a room. But after the founding of Intel and the introduction of the mouse that year they would eventually fit in a pocket – and change the Silicon Valley forever.
A Detroit police officer makes an arrest during the riots of 1967. AP Photo/File

Detroit is Burning

Detroit is Burning
In 1967 race riots nearly tore Detroit apart. The next year, the Kerner Commission, appointed by president Lyndon Johnson, placed the blame on the way the police and had handled the response.

An Interracial Kiss – on Another Planet

An Interracial Kiss – on Another Planet CC BY-ND33.8 MB (download)
In 1968, the idea of romance between the races was still a controversial proposition. That made it all the more revolutionary when an episode of Star Trek featured a kiss between black and white characters, the first interracial kiss on American TV.
Nervous about how southern television viewers would react, NBC executives closely monitored the filming of the kiss between Nichelle Nichols and William Shatner. U.S. Air Force

TV’s first interracial kiss launched a lifelong career in activism

The career arc of Nichelle Nichols – the first black woman to have a continuing co-starring role on TV – shows how diverse casting can have as much of an impact off the screen as it does on it.

Fear of a Non-Nuclear Family

Fear of a Non-Nuclear Family CC BY-ND38.2 MB (download)
In 1968 the idea of the ideal American family was the father as breadwinner, stay-at-home mom, two kids and a white picket fence. But the women's movement and other forces were beginning to change this – and inspire a conservative backlash that persists to this day.
The poor treatment of Vietnam War veterans, many of whom had PTSD, angered Natasha Zaretsky’s Midwestern students. REUTERS/Mike Theiler

Red-state politics in and out of the college classroom

A scholar raised by leftist San Francisco parents in the 1970s ends up teaching in the heartland, where her students represent a very different kind of politics. What she learns from them is profound.

Revolution Starts on Campus

Revolution Starts on Campus CC BY-ND47 MB (download)
Fifty years ago, students rose up against authoritarian governments, racial inequality and, most passionately, the war in Vietnam. Two historians reflect on those momentous days in 1968 – and discuss what current movements learn from them.
Black power militant H. Rap Brown and Stokely Carmichael (right) appeared at a sit-in protest at Columbia University in New York City on April 26, 1968. AP

1968 protests at Columbia University called attention to ‘Gym Crow’ and got worldwide attention

The 1968 protests at Columbia University led the institution to abandon a gym project that residents considered racist and cut off its defense work – and generated worldwide attention in the process.

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