5 Things:1968

I turned 50 earlier this year as most of you know, but what you might not know besides that is the mid-20th century is a time that I like to study and read about.
I've always had a soft spot for 1968, not just for my birth month, but also because so many observers of history have dubbed it the worst year of the 20th century with so many newsmaking items, more of them than not controversial, if downright bad
I'd like to think my birth wasn't bad, although if you talk to some, it might have at least resulted in controversial!

Anyway, I decided to mark off five things that when I have the chance to read something new, I usually don't pass it up and we'll stick to keeping it in 1968 for this post...

Tommy Smith and John Carlos
Arguably the remembered picture of the 20th century along with Earthrise (also taken in 1968), the picture of Smith and Carlos with their hands held aloft at the 1968 Olympics has become iconic, if not still controversial for interjecting protesting into the Olympic Games.
The "Black Power Salute" which Smith (the gold medal winner) would write in his autobiography that he preferred the term "Human Rights Salute" would be so controversial that both men would be banned from the Games for life.
Sports Illustrated recently did a long article on the pair and I learned that the two really weren't friends, although not enemies through the years.
Another fact that I learned and didn't know was that Carlos (the bronze medal winner) was considered the favorite entering the race and one topic that separated the pair through the years was the claim by Carlos that he "let Smith win".
Watch the race below and decide for yourself.
Both players would try pro football with Carlos failing to make the Eagles and Smith spending two years with the Bengals, catching one pass for 41 yards.


Speaking of Earthrise, the famous picture taken by astronaut Bill Anders in the waning days of 1968 aboard Apollo 8 nears its 50th anniversary,
The photo was taken of the Earth as the spacecraft rose above the Moon, if not the most famous picture taken of the age, certainly has to be considered the most influential one for the environmental movement.
Earlier this month, one of the large craters in the picture was renamed "Anders Earthrise" to honor the photographer and the photo.
Most friends and readers know that I am a buff of the space program, mainly the Mercury, Gemini,
and Apollo programs so it won't be often I pass up books or articles dealing with that side of history.

Another topic that I enjoy learning about is the 1968 Presidential election, which while being extremely close, one would think that there would have been plenty of books written on the three-candidate race.
There really hasn't been many though and I think part of that is that many think the race was anti-climatic after the Lyndon Johnson decision not to run for re-election, the assassination of Robert Kennedy, the post-assassination disenchantment of peace candidate Eugene McCarthy and the chaotic Democratic convention.
I would disagree with that as any race with Richard Nixon, Hubert Humphrey and George Wallace all running and Lyndon Johnson sitting in the Oval Office, but still being involved, sounds interesting on its own merits and not anti-climatic at all.
The Intelligencer writes of the campaign with fifty years to look back at.

I watch a lot of live baseball games and therefore I listen to a lot of versions of National Anthems.
This usually is a chore because most seem to want to do everything to show that those few minutes are about them and their singing skills, which sometimes are found wanting.
I often find myself mumbling to myself and my friends that I wish they would just sing the song.
That's usually after someone takes twice as long to sing the song than needed, but I've seen some downright terrible takes including a rap version at Frederick, a version "sung" by three special needs people at Hagerstown without anyone to guide them along, a fellow at Hagerstown who missed words and squeaked through half the song before summoning enough gumption to boom "and the rockets red glare" before looking at the press box with the "cut it" motion and walking off the field and some "superfan" of the Nationals driving to Hagerstown for a version that I think someone taped somewhere that has to be "heard" to be believed.
So I've heard some bad versions, but the first person to add their own interpretation was Jose Feliciano (who today might be best known for the Christmas song Feliz Navidad) before game five of the 1968 World Series and I find it fascinating.
Feliciano, who would see his career drop some after this performance, put together such a haunting yet stirring version that represented the country that was so divided over the Vietnam War at the time.
I can't help but claim it as my favorite version, which I suppose is hypocritical, considering the above.
I suppose I explain it by understanding that Feliciano's version had his own reasons for the style and that didn't have anything to do with advancing his career or hoping a talent scout would hear them sing.
Smithsonian Magazine writes of the 1968 song and Feliciano here.


The final note is for the "Prague Spring" of 1968, when then Czechoslovakia under the leadership of Alexander Dubcek, made major changes in loosening the communist system before being invaded by the Soviet Union in August in order to force Dubcek from power and restore the normal puppet regime that took their orders from the "Warsaw Pact" bossman Soviets.
The interesting part of this was that Dubcek was not against communism, but he wanted to allow more freedom for movement, speech and most importantly a free media.
That same media began to criticize the government and push for a second political party (which Dubcek was for) and that was the main reason the Soviets invaded- their need to stay in power could not allow what was developing in Czechoslovakia to spread to other Warsaw Pact nations and the possibility of a full-scale rebellion.
When the dust cleared, the Soviet manner of government was cemented once again and Dubcek, who in hindsight, I'm surprised that he wasn't "terminated", was given a menial and mundane job as a forestry official away from Prague.

Hope you enjoyed these five things from 1968 that I like to read about.
I have another five things from 1968 planned for a post before the year is out.