1968: The Year That Changed America

The Historical Context and Character of 1968

• The Difference Between the 1960s and Contemporary Society:

  • The primary differentiator identified is the draft, which fundamentally changed the relationship between the individual and the state.
  • During the $1960s$, the country possessed a more robust shared conscience compared to the present.
  • The era was characterized by an openness to outsiders and their ideas.

• The Significance of 1968:

  • Tom Brokaw suggests that $1968$ was arguably the worst and most historic year in the history of the United States.
  • It was a pivotal, turbulent time that represented the culmination of sexual, civil rights, and anti-war revolutions.
  • Historic forces were unleashed, including race riots, assassinations, the Vietnam War, and lunar exploration.

• The Precursor to 1968:

  • The turbulence of $1968$ did not happen overnight; it was preceded by the Kennedy assassination, which served as an explosive start to a decade of violent upheaval.
  • Social rules were being distorted, embodied by the mantra "Turn on. Tune in. Drop out."
  • A massive generation gap emerged, where rebellion became seen as a birthright and the "establishment" (often represented by the concept of "Plastics") was openly mocked.

The Vietnam War and the Tet Offensive

• The Tactical and Psychological Turning Point:

  • In the first month of $1968$, the North Vietnamese launched the Tet Offensive, an audacious attack targeting major cities in South Vietnam.
  • This offensive reached the grounds of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, where CIA agents and MPs were forced to engage snipers within the embassy grounds.

• Public Perception and Media Impact:

  • The imagery of street fighting around the embassy contradicted government claims of progress.
  • The military requested an additional $200,000$ troops on top of the $500,000$ already deployed.
  • Walter Cronkite, the CBS News anchor, traveled to Vietnam during the offensive and concluded the war was unwinnable, describing it as a "stalemate."
  • President Lyndon Johnson reportedly stated, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America."

The Draft and Domestic Resistance

• Serving the Country vs. Resisting the Call:

  • Future senators such as John McCain, Chuck Hagel, and Jim Webb were serving in the military during this time.
  • For many, the call to serve arrived via a draft notice. Singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie mocked the experience in his $18$-minute anti-war song, "Alice's Restaurant," specifically highlighting the "Group W" bench at the draft board.

• Bruce Springsteen's Experience:

  • Springsteen registered for the draft at age $18$ in New Jersey but failed his physical exam.
  • He described himself as a "full hippie" regarding consciousness raising but remained rooted in his small town, never engaging in drug use.

• Strategies for Draft Evasion:

  • Students at the University of Wisconsin and other campuses discussed methods to fake medical conditions, such as rolling peanut butter into balls and swallowing them to mimic the appearance of an ulcer on medical scans.

Personal Narratives: Nelly Harness and Tom Coakley

• Nelly Harness (Copeland):

  • A $22$-year-old Army nurse stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, who volunteered for Vietnam after the Tet Offensive.
  • She served in a surgical hospital, treating both soldiers and civilians.
  • She recalls a specific soldier, Richard Burns, whom she saw die in triage. This moment, where she broke protocol by reading his name tag, personalized the war's tragedy for her.

• Tom Coakley:

  • A varsity hockey star who joined the Army after graduating. He was caught in an ambush in Vietnam, resulting in a blast that necessitated the amputation of his left leg below the knee.
  • He met Nelly Harness at Walter Reed Hospital, where she was the nurse in charge of the ward.
  • The two married and later dedicated their lives to helping veterans—Nelly as a trauma counselor and Tom working with amputees.

The Controversy of Draft Evasion and Exile

• Migration to Canada:

  • Thousands of young men moved to Canada to avoid the draft. Jeffrey House, an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin, chose exile because he viewed the war as criminal.
  • House became a successful attorney in Toronto and now represents contemporary U.S. service members seeking asylum to avoid the Iraq War, such as Army Sergeant Phil McDonald.

• Personal Loss of Tom Brokaw:

  • Brokaw's close friend, Marine Captain Gene Kimmel, was killed at age $30$ on a combat flight in October $1968$.
  • This personal tragedy highlighted the divide between the "America" of the grieving families and the "America" of the anti-war resistance.

Counterculture, Drugs, and Cultural San Francisco

• Haight-Ashbury and the Hippie Movement:

  • The intersection of 8th and Ashbury in San Francisco was the center of the counterculture universe.
  • It was characterized by tie-dyed shirts, love beads, and the open use of marijuana (estimated at one ton per week in the city) and LSD.
  • Stuart Brand created the "Whole Earth Catalog" for communal living, and Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters explored the "edges" of reality through drugs and communal activities.

• The Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic:

  • Dr. David Smith operated the clinic to treat "freak outs" from LSD and medical issues like gonorrhea.
  • Musicians like Janis Joplin supported the clinic. Dr. Smith notes the destructive nature of drugs on talent, citing Joplin (who switched from Southern Comfort to heroin), Jimi Hendrix, and Jim Morrison.

Media, Satire, and Censorship: The Smothers Brothers

• Provocative Variety Television:

  • The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour used satirical humor to ridicule politicians and the Vietnam War, reaching an audience of over $20,000,000$.
  • They faced heavy censorship from network officials who cut material and threatened cancellation.

• Legacy and Comparison with Contemporary Media:

  • Jon Stewart (The Daily Show) identifies the Smothers Brothers as his professional genealogy.
  • Discussion notes that while the Smothers Brothers had a larger audience ($30,000,000$ vs. Stewart's $1,400,000$), modern coverage of war (like Iraq) is often perceived as more sanitized and filled with misinformation compared to the visceral images transmitted from Vietnam.

The 1968 Political Campaigns

• Eugene McCarthy:

  • The "Clean for Jean" movement saw students cut their hair to support the anti-war senator. McCarthy stunned the establishment by coming within $8$ points of defeating LBJ in the New Hampshire primary.

• Robert F. Kennedy:

  • Joined the race after the New Hampshire primary, championing the poor, minorities, and anti-war interests. He worked closely with Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta to support farm workers.

• Richard Nixon:

  • Appealed to the "silent majority"—voters fed up with social unrest and riots.

• George Wallace:

  • Ran as an independent, populist firebrand. He appealed to white blue-collar workers and used racial prejudice for political leverage.
  • Aide Tom Turnipseed recalls the vitriol of Wallace supporters, including one who suggested killing black people upon Wallace's election.

Race Relations and the Civil Rights Struggle

• The Orangeburg Massacre (February 8, 1968):

  • Black students at South Carolina State clashed with police while trying to desegregate a bowling alley.
  • Authorities targeted activist Cleveland Sellers as a "fall guy."
  • During a bonfire rally, police fired into the crowd, killing $3$ and wounding $27$. Cleveland Sellers was injured and later served a year of hard labor.
  • Sellers' son, Bakari Sellers, was later elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives at age $22$.

• The Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (April 4, 1968):

  • Killed at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, while supporting striking sanitation workers.
  • His death sparked riots in more than $100$ cities.
  • Robert Kennedy delivered a famous impromptu speech in an Indianapolis ghetto, calling for compassion and mentioning the assassination of his own brother to calm the crowd.

Campus Radicalism: Columbia University

• The Uprising:
  • Led by Mark Rudd, students protested the university's plan to expand into a black neighborhood and its ties to defense contractors.
  • The campus was shut down for a week until a violent police intervention resulted in over $700$ arrests.
  • Rudd later co-founded the Weather Underground, though he later rejected the use of violence for revolutionary change.

The Tragedy at the Ambassador Hotel

• The California Primary:
  • RFK won the California primary in June $1968$. In his victory speech, he thanked Rafer Johnson and Dolores Huerta.
  • While exiting through the kitchen, he was shot. Rafer Johnson helped wrestle the gun away from the assassin.
  • Kennedy's body was transported via a funeral train to Washington D.C., an event that marked the "loss of the dream" for many.

The Chicago Democratic National Convention

• Urban Warfare:
  • Protesters and police (under Mayor Daly) clashed violently. Police believed rumors that protesters would put LSD in the water supply.
  • The "Battle of Michigan Avenue" lasted for $18$ minutes and was broadcast live. A government commission later termed it a "police riot."
  • The Democratic Party was seen as self-destructing on national television, leading to Hubert Humphrey's crippled nomination.

The Feminist Movement and Apollo 8

• Women's Liberation:

  • In the fall of $1968$, women like Robin Morgan protested the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City.
  • They used a "freedom trash can" to discard symbols of oppression (high heels, bras, girdles), signaling the rise of a new generation demanding full equality.

• Apollo 8 (December 1968):

  • Astronauts Jim Lovell, Frank Borman, and Bill Anders were the first humans to orbit the moon.
  • On Christmas Eve, they beamed back the "Earthrise" image and read from the Book of Genesis.
  • This event provided a much-needed sense of unity and hope at the end of a tumultuous year, with many saying the mission "saved 1968."

Questions & Discussion

• Q: How did the draft affect the national conscience compared to today?

• A: The transcript argues that the draft created a shared stake in the nation's actions, and the lack of a draft today allows for a different, potentially less engaged, relationship with conflicts like the Iraq War.

• Q: What was the legacy of the Smothers Brothers?

• A: They pioneered satirical political commentary on television, paving the way for figures like Jon Stewart, while highlighting the tension between creative expression and corporate/government censorship.

• Q: Why did the Democratic coalition collapse in 1968?

• A: The combination of internal division over Vietnam, the visible chaos at the Chicago convention, and the desertion of Southern working-class whites (who became "Reagan Democrats") to Nixon and Wallace fundamentally shifted the political landscape.