1968
Turning Point
Tet Offensive
On January 31, 1968 some 70,000 North Vietnamese War and Viet Cong forces launched the Tet Offensive. More then 100 cities and towns were attacked in South Vietnam. The leader of the Communist General Vo Nguyen Glap planned the offensive in a attempt to both foment rebellion among the South Vietnamese population and encourage the United States to scale back its support of the Saigon regime.
On the early morning of January 30, 1968 Viet Cong forces attacked 13 cities in central Vietnam, Just as many families began their observances of the lunar new year. Twenty-four hours later, PAVN and Viet Cong forces struck a number of other targets throughout South Vietnam, including cities, towns, government buildings and U.S. or ARVN military bases throughout South Vietnam, in a total of more than a hundred attacks.
Even though the offensive was a military failure for the North Vietnamese Communists and Vietcong (VC), it was a political and psychological victory for them because it dramatically contradicted optimistic claims by the U.S. government that the war was all but over.
Democratic Convention
Assassination of Robert Kennedy
Robert Kennedy was Assassinated on June 6, 1968 at Los Angeles,CA. He was shot three times by Palestinian immigrant Sirhan Sirhan after giving a speech at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California. as shot three times by Palestinian immigrant Sirhan Sirhan after giving a speech at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California. Kennedy needed brain surgery, he was quickly transferred to Good Samaritan Hospital, arriving around 1 a.m. It was here that doctors discovered two additional bullet wounds, one under his right armpit and another just one-and-a-half inches lower.
Kennedy underwent a three-hour brain surgery, in which doctors removed bone and metal fragments. Over the next few hours, however, Kennedy's condition continued to worsen.
At 1:44 a.m. on June 6, 1968, Robert Kennedy died from his wounds at age 42.