Fifty Years Ago: 1968

I read the current issue of the Smithsonian magazine yesterday.  It highlights the "innovation, rebellion, crisis, and tragedy" of 1968, "The Year That Shattered America."  Mark Kurlansky called 1968 the year that rocked the world. Fifty years ago I was a young 25-year-old Air Force veteran, a husband, a father of two, a student-pastor in a suburban church for the first half of the year,  and then, student-pastor of three rural churches for the second half,  and a seminary student.  The year 1968 not only shattered America, it shattered me.  “It was a year unlike any other in America, and it continues to shape our lives”—including mine.

Having served a four-year stint with the Air Force,  I had strong ideas about patriotism, duty, and military service (and I still do).  These ideas were shaken and reshaped in 1968 by what was happening half a world away in Viet Nam and what was happening here at home.  That was the year of the Tet Offensive and the massacre of thousands of civilians at the Battle of Hue, and the horrible massacre by American soldiers in My Lai and the utter confusion of “American values” it precipitated.  Yes, my idealism was shattered and Viet Nam and its aftermath continues to shape my thinking.

Martin Luther King, Jr., had graduated from the same seminary in which I was enrolled.  In April 1968 he was shot and killed in Memphis.  The reaction was intense. I recall driving city streets patrolled by armed vehicles and National Guard troops.  (I might add that 1968 was also the year of the Prague Spring on the other side of the world). I remember singing with my brothers and sisters, “We Shall Overcome,” even though our hope for justice and equality in America was frustrated not only by King’s death, but by people like George Wallace who was then running for the presidency of the United States of America.

Robert Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey were also in the presidential race in 1968, along with then President Richard M. Nixon who was running on the ticket of “law and order” while at the same time instigating criminal acts.  A “divided America” is nothing new. Kennedy, an advocate for the poor and racial minorities was shot and killed in June 1968.  He was the father of 11 children.  His death, and the death of King, demonstrated the risk and the cost of taking a stand on social justice.  That was fifty years ago—the year, according to the Smithsonian, that shattered America—and the year that also shattered me and reshaped my thinking!