> [!infobox] <s class="aside-in"><em>mentioned in 2 evergreens</em></s> #### [[1968 was a major setback for the American left]] Senator John Heinz said, "1968 was a turbulent year. It was a year of fun and excitement. It was a year of tragedy, but it ended." Those on [[the left]] will remember 1968 for the loss of some of their most loved and progressive leaders. [[RFK]] was an ardent [[anti-war]] senator who could have won the election and ended the [[war]] while maintaining liberal leadership if he had not been assassinated in 1968. [^1] [[MLK]] would have continued on to fight for guaranteed minimum income [^2] and a variety of other causes that could have helped shape the American view of [[poverty]] if he had not been killed in 1968. These deaths compounded with the deaths of [[Malcolm X]] and [[JFK]] would leave a vacuum of leadership on [[the left]]. [^2] These events combined with [[LBJ]]'s decision not to run for re-election [^3] and distress and chaos at the DNC lead to a weakened view of the [[Democratic]] party, and their loss in the 1968 election. Meanwhile, those on the right might view 1968 as a political triumph. As a person on [[the left]], I don't view 1968 as a shattering of [[America]], but rather the infliction of a wound into the new flesh of a slightly less racist, slightly more caring country that had been growing since [[FDR]]. This wound would then be infected and rotted by corrupt politicians and corporate money for the next fifty years ### <hr class="footnote"/> **Status**:: #EVER/SAPLING *edited 7:35 AM - July 08, 2022* **Topics**:: [[social progress]], [[Progressives]], [[Civil Rights]], [[Politics]], [[history]] [^1]: Lecture 24, part 3, 1:00-2:30 [^2]: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/08/martin-luther-kings-economic-dream-a-guaranteed-income-for-all-americans/279147/ [^3]: Textbook, pg 1040 [^4]: Timeline, 1968 [^5]: Lecture 24, part 3, 9:00-15:00