Astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chafee died in a fire while testing an Apollo space craft. Meanwhile, Soviet Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov died when his capsule crashed to earth after re-entry.
North Viet Nam's Ho Chi Minh refused to engage in peace talks, resulting in an escalation of the war effort, followed by increasing protests against the war.
350,000 anti-war demonstrators marched on the U.N. building in New York.
The Pentagon's antiballistic missile symbol was transformed by anti-war demonstrators into the "peace symbol." The V-For-Victory hand sign became the "peace sign."
Nearly 700 people were arrested when 50,000 peace demonstrators stormed the Pentagon.
A pro-war parade in New York to show support for the troops in Viet Nam drew 70,000.
America's young people at home, united against the war, were forming a counterculture based on peace, drug use and psychedelic music. Sgt. Pepper by the Beatles signaled the start of the "psychedelic era."
While Tuskegee, Alabama swore in the south's first black sheriff, racist Lester "Axe Handle" Maddox was sworn in as governor of Georgia. Thurgood Marshall became the first black Supreme Court justice. Carl Stokes became the first black mayor of Cleveland.
26 died in Newark, New Jersey and 43 were killed in Detroit during race riots.
85 people died when a Boeing 727 collided with a private plane over Hendersonville, North Carolina.
A Union Oil Of California tanker broke apart in the English Channel polluting beaches from from southwestern England to Normandy, France.
56 people died and over 1,000 were injured when a string of tornadoes ripped through Illinois.
Super Bowl I was covered by both NBC and CBS.
NBC-TV broadcast a summer comedy special called Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, which had such high ratings, a series was created to premiere in September.
The highest-rated night on TV came when Americans tuned in to see a commercial which had been hyped in newspaper and magazine ads: the introduction of the 1968 Ford Mustang.
The first world-wide live TV broadcast, using communications satellites, was carried by America's National Educational Television, the forerunner of PBS. The Beatles closed the broadcast by premiering their new single, All You Need Is Love.
There were a lot of exclamation points on Broadway marquees, including Hello, Dolly!, a Yiddish spoof called Hello, Solly!, Hallelujah, Baby! and Sherry!
Hit songs included Respect by Aretha Franklin, The Happening by the Supremes, Incense & Peppermints by the Strawberry Alarm Clock and The Letter by the Box Tops.
