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  • Timor-Leste
    1968
    Xanana Gusmão

    National Service

    Timor-Leste
    1968

    In 1968 Gusmão was recruited by the Portuguese Army for national service.He served for three years, rising to the rank of corporal.




  • Prague, Czechslovak
    1968
    Josip Broz Tito

    Tito offered to fly to Prague

    Prague, Czechslovak
    1968

    In 1968, Tito offered to fly to Prague on three hours notice, if Czechoslovak leader Alexander Dubček needed help in facing down the Soviets.




  • Christmas Island
    1968
    Christmas Island

    Retitling The Official Secretary

    Christmas Island
    1968

    In 1968, the official secretary was retitled an administrator.




  • U.S.1
    1968
    Visa Inc.

    Manager at the National Bank of Commerce , Dee Hock, was asked to supervise that bank's launch of its own licensed version of BankAmericard in the Pacific Northwest market

    U.S.1
    1968

    In 1968, a manager at the National Bank of Commerce (later Rainier Bancorp), Dee Hock, was asked to supervise that bank's launch of its own licensed version of BankAmericard in the Pacific Northwest market. Although Bank of America had cultivated the public image that BankAmericard's troubled startup issues were now safely in the past, Hock realized that the BankAmericard licensee program itself was in terrible disarray because it had developed and grown very rapidly in an ad hoc fashion. For example, "interchange" transaction issues between banks were becoming a very serious problem, which had not been seen before when Bank of America was the sole issuer of BankAmericards.




  • Canada
    1968
    Visa Inc.

    Alliance of banks issued credit cards under the Chargex name

    Canada
    1968

    In Canada, an alliance of banks (including Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Royal Bank of Canada, Banque Canadienne Nationale and Bank of Nova Scotia) issued credit cards under the Chargex name from 1968 to 1977.




  • U.S.
    1968
    Microprocessor

    The Central Air Data Computer

    U.S.
    1968

    In 1968, Garrett AiResearch (who employed designers Ray Holt and Steve Geller) was invited to produce a digital computer to compete with electromechanical systems then under development for the main flight control computer in the US Navy's new F-14 Tomcat fighter.




  • Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S.
    1968
    Microprocessor

    The First Use of The Term "microprocessor"

    Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S.
    1968

    The first use of the term "microprocessor" is attributed to Viatron Computer Systems describing the custom integrated circuit used in their System 21 small computer system announced in 1968.


  • Florida, U.S.
    1968
    Juan Trippe

    Trippe gave up the Presidency

    Florida, U.S.
    1968

    Trippe gave up the presidency of the airline in 1968. He continued to attend meetings of the board of directors and maintained an office in the company's Park Avenue office building.


  • Serbia
    1968
    Slobodan Milošević

    Milošević got a job at the Tehnogas company

    Serbia
    1968

    In 1968, Milošević got a job at the Tehnogas company, where Stambolić was working.


  • U.S.
    1968
    Virtual reality

    The first head-mounted display System

    U.S.
    1968

    In 1968, Ivan Sutherland, with the help of his students including Bob Sproull, created what was widely considered to be the first head-mounted display system for use in immersive simulation applications. It was primitive both in terms of user interface and visual realism, and the HMD to be worn by the user was so heavy that it had to be suspended from the ceiling. The graphics comprising the virtual environment were simple wire-frame model rooms. The formidable appearance of the device inspired its name, The Sword of Damocles.


  • Russia (Then: Soviet Union)
    1968
    Computer animation

    Nikolai Konstantinov

    Russia (Then: Soviet Union)
    1968

    In 1968 a group of Soviet physicists and mathematicians with N.Konstantinov as its head created a mathematical model for the motion of a cat. On a BESM-4 computer, they devised a program for solving the ordinary differential equations for this model. The Computer printed hundreds of frames on paper using alphabet symbols that were later filmed in sequence thus creating the first computer animation of a character, a walking cat.


  • Oxford, England, United Kingdom
    1968
    Computer animation

    The Atlas Computer Laboratory

    Oxford, England, United Kingdom
    1968

    The Atlas Computer Laboratory near Oxford was for many years a major facility for computer animation in Britain. The first entertainment cartoon made was The Flexipede, by Tony Pritchett, which was first shown publicly at the Cybernetic Serendipity exhibition in 1968.


  • Los Angeles, California, U.S.
    1968
    Howard Hughes: The Aviator

    Movie obsession

    Los Angeles, California, U.S.
    1968

    Another time, he became obsessed with the 1968 film Ice Station Zebra and had it run on a continuous loop in his home. According to his aides, he watched it 150 times. Feeling guilty about the commercial, critical, and literal toxicity of his film The Conqueror, he bought every copy of the film for $12 million, watching the film on repeat. Paramount Pictures acquired the rights of the film in 1979, 3 years after his death.


  • U.S.
    1968
    Computer animation

    Evans & Sutherland

    U.S.
    1968

    In 1968, Ivan Sutherland teamed up with David Evans to found the company Evans & Sutherland—both were professors in the Computer Science Department at the University of Utah, and the company was formed to produce new hardware designed to run the systems being developed in the University. Many such algorithms have later resulted in the generation of significant hardware implementation, including the Geometry Engine, the Head-mounted display, the Frame buffer, and Flight simulators.


  • Seattle, Washington, U.S.
    1968
    Ted Bundy

    Ted dropped out of college

    Seattle, Washington, U.S.
    1968

    In early 1968 Ted dropped out of college and worked at a series of minimum-wage jobs. He also volunteered at the Seattle office of Nelson Rockefeller's presidential campaign and became Arthur Fletcher's driver and bodyguard during Fletcher's campaign for Lieutenant Governor of Washington State.


  • United Arab Emirates
    Monday Jan 8, 1968
    Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan

    The UK's Foreign Office Minister's Visit

    United Arab Emirates
    Monday Jan 8, 1968

    Between 8–11 January 1968, the UK's Foreign Office Minister Goronwy Roberts visited the Trucial States and announced to its shocked rulers that the United Kingdom would abrogate its treaties with them and intended to withdraw from the area.


  • France
    1968
    Charles de Gaulle

    De Gaulle refused to devalue the France

    France
    1968

    In 1968, shortly before leaving office, de Gaulle refused to devalue the Franc on grounds of national prestige, but upon taking over Pompidou reversed the decision almost straight away.


  • England, United Kingdom
    1968
    Edward VIII

    The last royal ceremony the Duke attended

    England, United Kingdom
    1968

    The last royal ceremony the Duke attended was the funeral of Princess Marina in 1968.


  • Thule Air Base (formerly Pituffik), Greenland
    Sunday Jan 21, 1968
    Atomic Bomb

    1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash

    Thule Air Base (formerly Pituffik), Greenland
    Sunday Jan 21, 1968

    January 21, 1968: the 1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash involved a United States Air Force (USAF) B-52 bomber. The aircraft was carrying four hydrogen bombs when a cabin fire forced the crew to abandon the aircraft. Six crew members ejected safely, but one who did not have an ejection seat was killed while trying to bail out. The bomber crashed onto sea ice in Greenland, causing the nuclear payload to rupture and disperse, which resulted in widespread radioactive contamination.


  • U.S.
    1968
    Donald Trump

    Eligible to serve

    U.S.
    1968

    In 1966, he was deemed fit for military service based upon a medical examination, and in July 1968 a local draft board classified him as eligible to serve.


  • New York, U.S.
    1968
    Donald Trump

    Trump began his career

    New York, U.S.
    1968

    Trump began his career in 1968 at his father Fred's real estate development company, E. Trump & Son, which owned middle-class rental housing in New York City's outer boroughs.


  • South Vietnam
    Tuesday Jan 30, 1968
    Vietnam War

    The Tet Offensive

    South Vietnam
    Tuesday Jan 30, 1968

    The Tet Offensive began on 30 January 1968, as over 100 cities were attacked by over 85,000 enemy troops, including assaults on key military installations, headquarters, and government buildings and offices, including the U.S. Embassy in Saigon.


  • Vietnam
    Wednesday Jan 31, 1968
    Ho Chi Minh

    Tet Offensive

    Vietnam
    Wednesday Jan 31, 1968

    With Hồ Chí Min's permission, the Việt Cộng planned a massive Tet Offensive that would commence on 31 January 1968, with the aim of taking much of the South by force and administering a heavy blow to the American military. The offensive was executed at great cost and with heavy casualties on Việt Cộng's political branches and armed forces.


  • New Delhi, India
    Wednesday Jan 31, 1968
    United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

    New Delhi Conference

    New Delhi, India
    Wednesday Jan 31, 1968

    The New Delhi Conference, held in February and March 1968, was a forum that allowed developing countries to reach an agreement on the basic principles of their development policies. The conference in New Delhi was an opportunity for schemes to be finally approved. The conference provided a major impetus in persuading the North to follow up UNCTAD I resolutions, in establishing generalized preferences. The target for private and official flows to LDCs was raised to 1% of the North's GNP, but the developed countries failed to commit themselves to achieve the target by a specific date. This has proven a continuing point of debate at UNCTAD conferences. The conference led to the International Sugar Agreement, which seeks to stabilize world sugar prices.


  • El Segundo, California, U.S.
    Monday Feb 12, 1968
    Chris McCandless: Into the Wild

    Birth

    El Segundo, California, U.S.
    Monday Feb 12, 1968

    Christopher Johnson McCandless was born in El Segundo, California. He was the first child of Wilhelmina "Billie" McCandless (née Johnson) and Walter "Walt" McCandless. The couple subsequently had one more child, a daughter named Carine. McCandless also had six half-siblings from Walt McCandless' first marriage, who lived with their mother in California. Author Jon Krakauer later speculated that Walt's transition between these two marriages may have deeply affected and profoundly shaped McCandless' world-view.


  • United Arab Emirates
    Sunday Feb 18, 1968
    Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan

    The Important Meeting

    United Arab Emirates
    Sunday Feb 18, 1968

    In a seminal meeting on 18 February 1968 at a desert highland on the border between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum of Dubai shook hands on the principle of founding a Federation and attempting to invite other trucial rulers to join in order that a viable nation be formed in the wake of the British withdrawal.


  • Quebec, Canada
    Sunday Mar 24, 1968
    Celine Dion

    Dion birth

    Quebec, Canada
    Sunday Mar 24, 1968

    Dion was born in Charlemagne, Quebec, on March 30, 1968, 24 kilometers northeast of Montreal, the youngest of 14 children of Thérèse, a homemaker, and Adhémar Dion, a butcher, both of French-Canadian descent.


  • United Kingdom
    Thursday Mar 28, 1968
    James Bond

    Colonel Sun was published

    United Kingdom
    Thursday Mar 28, 1968

    After Fleming's death a continuation novel, Colonel Sun, was written by Kingsley Amis (as Robert Markham) and published in 1968.


  • Tokyo, Japan
    Apr, 1968
    Sony Corporation

    Introduced The Trinitron brand

    Tokyo, Japan
    Apr, 1968

    In 1968, Sony introduced the Trinitron brand name for its lines of aperture grille cathode ray tube televisions and (later) computer monitors. Sony stopped production of Trinitron for most markets, but continued producing sets for markets such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and China. Sony discontinued its series of Trinitron computer monitors in 2005. The company discontinued the last Trinitron-based television set in the US in early 2007. The end of Trinitron marked the end of Sony's analog television sets and monitors.


  • Washington D.C., U.S.
    Monday Apr 1, 1968
    World Bank

    Robert McNamara became President of the World Bank

    Washington D.C., U.S.
    Monday Apr 1, 1968

    Robert McNamara became President of the World Bank.


  • Washington D.C., U.S.
    Thursday Apr 4, 1968
    Martin Luther King

    Assassination

    Washington D.C., U.S.
    Thursday Apr 4, 1968

    The plan to set up a shantytown in Washington, D.C., was carried out soon after the April 4 assassination. Criticism of King's plan was subdued in the wake of his death, and the SCLC received an unprecedented wave of donations for the purpose of carrying it out. The campaign officially began in Memphis, on May 2, at the hotel where King was murdered.


  • U.S.
    Monday Apr 22, 1968
    Jeff Bezos

    Divorce of his Parents

    U.S.
    Monday Apr 22, 1968

    After Jacklyn divorced Ted, she married Cuban immigrant Miguel "Mike" Bezos in April 1968.


  • Texas, U.S.
    May, 1968
    George W. Bush

    Military Career

    Texas, U.S.
    May, 1968

    In May 1968, Bush was commissioned into the Texas Air National Guard.


  • Paris, France
    Friday May 10, 1968
    Vietnam War

    Peace Talks began

    Paris, France
    Friday May 10, 1968

    On 10 May 1968, peace talks began between the United States and North Vietnam in Paris. Negotiations stagnated for five months, until Johnson gave orders to halt the bombing of North Vietnam. At the same time, Hanoi realized it could not achieve a "total victory" and employed a strategy known as "talking while fighting, fighting while talking", in which military offensives would occur concurrently with negotiations.


  • France
    May, 1968
    Charles de Gaulle

    The mass demonstrations challenged De Gaulle's legitimacy

    France
    May, 1968

    The mass demonstrations and strikes in France in May 1968 severely challenged De Gaulle's legitimacy.


  • San Diego, California, U.S.
    Sunday May 12, 1968
    Tony Hawk

    Birth

    San Diego, California, U.S.
    Sunday May 12, 1968

    Tony Hawk was born on May 12, 1968, in San Diego, California to Nancy and Frank Peter Rupert Hawk, and was raised in San Diego. He has two older sisters, Pat and Lenore, and an older brother, Steve.


  • Syracuse, New York, U.S.
    1968
    Joe Biden

    Biden earned a Juris Doctor from Syracuse University College of Law

    Syracuse, New York, U.S.
    1968

    In 1968, Biden earned a Juris Doctor from Syracuse University College of Law, ranked 76th in his class of 85, and was admitted to the Delaware bar in 1969. While in school, he received student draft deferments,[28] and afterward was classified as unavailable for military service due to asthma.


  • Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, U.S.
    May, 1968
    Donald Trump

    Graduation

    Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, U.S.
    May, 1968

    While at Wharton, he worked at the family business, Elizabeth Trump & Son, graduating in May 1968 with a B.S. in economics.


  • France
    Wednesday May 29, 1968
    Charles de Gaulle

    De Gaulle disappeared

    France
    Wednesday May 29, 1968

    On 29 May, De Gaulle disappeared without notifying Prime Minister Pompidou or anyone else in the government, stunning the country.


  • Paris, France
    Thursday May 30, 1968
    Charles de Gaulle

    Pompidou persuaded De Gaulle to dissolve parliament

    Paris, France
    Thursday May 30, 1968

    On 30 May, Pompidou persuaded him to dissolve parliament (in which the government had all but lost its majority in the March 1967 elections) and hold new elections instead.


  • France
    Jun, 1968
    Charles de Gaulle

    Gaullists achieved major success

    France
    Jun, 1968

    Elections were a major success for the Gaullists and their allies; when shown the specter of revolution or civil war, the majority of the country rallied to him.


  • U.S.
    Wednesday Jun 19, 1968
    Juneteenth

    Ralph Abernathy made June 19 the "Solidarity Day of the Poor People’s Campaign"

    U.S.
    Wednesday Jun 19, 1968

    It soon saw a revival as black people began tying their struggle to that of ending slavery. In Atlanta, some campaigners for equality wore Juneteenth buttons. During the 1968 Poor People's Campaign to Washington, DC, called by Rev. Ralph Abernathy, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference made June 19 the "Solidarity Day of the Poor People’s Campaign".


  • U.S.
    Friday Jun 28, 1968
    Memorial day

    Three-day weekend

    U.S.
    Friday Jun 28, 1968

    On June 28, 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which moved four holidays, including Memorial Day, from their traditional dates to a specified Monday in order to create a convenient three-day weekend. The change moved Memorial Day from its traditional May 30 date to the last Monday in May. The law took effect at the federal level in 1971. After some initial confusion and unwillingness to comply, all 50 states adopted Congress's change of date within a few years.


  • Worldwide
    Jul, 1968
    Computer animation

    Cybernetic Serendipity

    Worldwide
    Jul, 1968

    In July 1968, the art journal Studio International published a special issue titled Cybernetic Serendipity - The Computer and the Arts, which cataloged a comprehensive collection of items and examples of work being done in the field of computer art in organizations all over the world and shown in exhibitions in London, UK, San Francisco, CA. and Washington, DC. This marked a milestone in the development of the medium and was considered by many to be of widespread influence and inspiration. Apart from all the examples mentioned above, two other particularly well known iconic images from this include Chaos to Order by Charles Csuri (often referred to as the Hummingbird), created at Ohio State University in 1967, and Running Cola is Africa by Masao Komura and Koji Fujino created at the Computer Technique Group, Japan, also in 1967.


  • Mexico
    Aug, 1968
    Frank Sinatra

    3rd Divorce

    Mexico
    Aug, 1968

    It was a short marriage that ended with divorce in Mexico in August 1968, but They remained close friends for life.


  • Sydney, Australia
    1968
    KFC

    First in Australia

    Sydney, Australia
    1968

    The first Australian KFC was opened in 1968 in Guildford, a suburb of Sydney. Now, there exist more than 640 outlets in Australia.


  • Miami, Florida, U.S.
    Aug, 1968
    Ted Bundy

    Bundy attended the 1968 Republican National Convention

    Miami, Florida, U.S.
    Aug, 1968

    In August, Bundy attended the 1968 Republican National Convention in Miami as a Rockefeller delegate.


  • Oslo Domkirke, Karl Johans gate, Oslo, Norway
    Thursday Aug 29, 1968
    Harald V

    Marriage

    Oslo Domkirke, Karl Johans gate, Oslo, Norway
    Thursday Aug 29, 1968

    Harald married a commoner, Sonja Haraldsen, at Oslo Domkirke in Oslo on 29 August 1968. The pair had dated for nine years and were only allowed to marry when Harald gave his father the ultimatum that if he was not allowed to marry Sonja he would not marry at all, which would have ended the reign of his family and the Norwegian monarchy, as Harald was the sole heir to the throne.


  • Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.
    1968
    Joe Biden

    Biden clerked at a Wilmington law firm headed by prominent local Republican William Prickett

    Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.
    1968

    In 1968, Biden clerked at a Wilmington law firm headed by prominent local Republican William Prickett and, he later said, "thought of myself as a Republican".


  • Delaware, U.S.
    1968
    Joe Biden

    Biden disliked incumbent Democratic Delaware governor Charles L. Terry's conservative racial politics

    Delaware, U.S.
    1968

    Biden disliked incumbent Democratic Delaware governor Charles L. Terry's conservative racial politics and supported a more liberal Republican, Russell W. Peterson, who defeated Terry in 1968. Biden was recruited by local Republicans but registered as an Independent because of his distaste for Republican presidential candidate Richard Nixon.


  • Brunkebergstorg, Stockholm, Sweden
    1968
    Nobel Prize

    Sveriges Riksbank Donation

    Brunkebergstorg, Stockholm, Sweden
    1968

    In 1968, Sweden's central bank Sveriges Riksbank celebrated its 300th anniversary by donating a large sum of money to the Nobel Foundation to be used to set up a prize in honour of Alfred Nobel.


  • Stockholm, Sweden
    Wednesday Oct 16, 1968
    Yasunari Kawabata

    Nobel Prize

    Stockholm, Sweden
    Wednesday Oct 16, 1968

    On 16 October 1968, Kawabata was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, the first Japanese person to receive such a distinction. In awarding the prize "for his narrative mastery, which with great sensibility expresses the essence of the Japanese mind", the Nobel Committee cited three of his novels, Snow Country, Thousand Cranes, and The Old Capital.


  • California, United States
    1968
    River Phoenix

    Phoenix's mother met John Lee

    California, United States
    1968

    In 1968, Phoenix's mother traveled across the United States. While hitchhiking in California she met John Lee Bottom.


  • U.S.
    Oct, 1968
    Donald Trump

    Classified 1-Y

    U.S.
    Oct, 1968

    In October 1968, he was medically deferred and classified 1-Y (unqualified for duty except in the case of a national emergency).


  • U.S.
    Tuesday Nov 5, 1968
    Richard Nixon

    Winning The 1968 United States Presidential Election

    U.S.
    Tuesday Nov 5, 1968

    At the end of 1967, Nixon told his family he planned to run for president a second time. Although Pat Nixon did not always enjoy public life (for example, she had been embarrassed by the need to reveal how little the family owned in the Checkers speech), she was supportive of her husband's ambitions. Nixon believed that with the Democrats torn over the issue of the Vietnam War, a Republican had a good chance of winning, although he expected the election to be as close as in 1960.In a three-way race between Nixon, Humphrey, and American Independent Party candidate former Alabama Governor George Wallace, Nixon defeated Humphrey by nearly 500,000 votes (seven-tenths of a percentage point), with 301 electoral votes to 191 for Humphrey and 46 for Wallace.


  • U.S.
    1968
    Xerox

    C. Peter McColough became Xerox's CEO

    U.S.
    1968

    In 1968, C. Peter McColough, a longtime executive of Haloid and Xerox, became Xerox's CEO.


  • Houston, Texas, U.S.
    1968
    Jeff Bezos

    Raising

    Houston, Texas, U.S.
    1968

    The family moved to Houston, Texas, where Mike worked as an engineer for Exxon after he received a degree from the University of New Mexico.


  • Rochester, New York, U.S.
    1968
    Xerox

    Xerox Tower

    Rochester, New York, U.S.
    1968

    The company consolidated its headquarters at Xerox Square in downtown Rochester, New York, with its 30-story Xerox Tower.


  • U.S.
    1968
    Audrey Hepburn

    14-year marriage ends

    U.S.
    1968

    Despite the insistence from gossip columns that their marriage would not last, Hepburn claimed that she and Ferrer were inseparable and happy together, though she admitted that he had a bad temper. Ferrer was rumored to be too controlling, and had been referred to by others as being her "Svengali" – an accusation that Hepburn laughed off. William Holden was quoted as saying, "I think Audrey allows Mel to think he influences her." After a 14-year marriage, the couple divorced in 1968.


  • Amsterdam, Netherlands
    Monday Dec 2, 1968
    Johan Cruyff

    Marriage

    Amsterdam, Netherlands
    Monday Dec 2, 1968

    Cruyff and Danny Coster getting married on 2 December 1968


  • Washington D.C., U.S.
    1968
    Jimmy Hoffa

    Hoffa's Influence and Control After 1967

    Washington D.C., U.S.
    1968

    Despite this, Fitzsimmons soon distanced himself from Hoffa's influence and control after 1967, to Hoffa's displeasure. Fitzsimmons also decentralized power somewhat within the IBT's administration structure, foregoing much of the control Hoffa took advantage of as union president.


  • USA
    Wednesday Dec 18, 1968
    Steven Spielberg

    The Opportunity

    USA
    Wednesday Dec 18, 1968

    While still a student, he was offered a small unpaid intern job at Universal Studios with the editing department. He was later given the opportunity to make a short film for theatrical release, the 26-minute, 35 mm, Amblin', which he wrote and directed. Studio vice president Sidney Sheinberg was impressed by the film, which had won a number of awards, and offered Spielberg a seven-year directing contract. It made him the youngest director ever to be signed for a long-term deal with a major Hollywood studio. He subsequently dropped out of college to begin professionally directing TV productions with Universal.


  • U.S.
    1968
    Jeff Bezos

    Adoption

    U.S.
    1968

    Shortly after the wedding of his mother, Mike adopted four-year-old Jorgensen, whose surname was then changed to Bezos.


  • Washington D.C., U.S.
    Monday Dec 23, 1968
    Neil Armstrong

    Slayton offered Armstrong the Post of Commander of Apollo 11

    Washington D.C., U.S.
    Monday Dec 23, 1968

    After Armstrong served as backup commander for Apollo 8, Slayton offered him the post of commander of Apollo 11 on December 23, 1968, as Apollo 8 orbited the Moon.


  • Vietnam
    1968
    Vietnam War

    Military Deaths In 1968

    Vietnam
    1968

    In 1968, 16,899 Americans and 27,915 Vietnamese were killed.


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