1968 In America Chapter Summaries

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The year 1968 became one of the most pivotal years in United States history. As a college student during this year, Charles Kaiser demonstrated his research and knowledge of 1968 in his book, 1968 In America. He experienced the urgency of Americans and their willingness to change the nation domestically and diplomatically. Americans challenged the conformity and social norm in order to enact this change. In 1968 In America, Kaiser explains that the year of 1968 shaped our nation through music, politics, chaos, and counterculture. Chaos reigned throughout the United States due to battles in Vietnam. In the beginning of the year, the Vietnamese used Tet, their sacred holiday of the lunar new year, as a cover-up for a surprise attack on the Americans. The United States launched the Tet offensive, one of the most infamous military campaigns during the Vietnam War. There were “a million losers in the Tet offensive: tens of thousands killed, tens of thousands crippled, hundreds of …show more content…
As the leader of the SCLC that year, Martin Luther King Jr. led many protests against segregation. On February 8 at the South Carolina State College, Highway patrolmen opened fire on protesters, which killed three and wounded twenty-seven others. King mentioned the action as a “psychological and spiritual genocide against the black people” (Kaiser 141). After the assassination of the civil rights leader, many black Americans were ready to muster violence and devastation towards white Americans. A civil rights activist named Stokely Carmichael demanded citizens of the capitol to “ Go home and get a gun!” (Kaiser 145). A day after King’s death, fires and looting broke out as close as two blocks of the White House, and riot troops positioned themselves in front of the House. Due to the death of King, the movement’s dream of the unity of blacks and whites began to be shadowed by the raging chaos of riots and