It was a great way to bring such a horrible year to an end. Vietnam and the Tet Offensive, Bobby and Martin taken from us. The USS Pueblo and crew captured. Convention riots and the “protest” at the Mexico City Olympics. Colleges under siege – My Lei murders and a lost submarine. Hair opens on Broadway and 2001: A Space Odyssey in theaters. We get Nixon. The USS Pueblo crew returns and America sends three humans into orbit around the moon in December. We see the Earth as a little blue and white marble in the blackness of space. 1968 – I was 14 and took in every minute of it.

The Apollo 8 mission brought the events of 1968 to a hopeful close. Could we really land humans on the moon! Apollo 8 got us going. Could Vietnam end? No more assassinations – please. Nuclear weapons flying on B-52s over our heads and U.S. Navy Sailors perish on a sunken submarine (USS Scorpion – 99 Sailors).

You couldn’t jam more stuff into a year if you tried in a thousand lifetimes.

Chris