Dr. Martin Luther King is assassinated in 1968, causing racial riots in about 125 cities across the United States. Escaped convict James Earl Ray pleads guilty to the murder and is sentenced, in 1969, to 99 years in prison.

Sen. Robert F. Kennedy is also assassinated that year in Los Angeles. Sirhan Bishara Sirhan, a Jordanian Arab, is convicted (1969) and sentenced to life in prison (1972). Elsewhere that year:

• The United States and North Vietnam hold peace talks in Paris. President Johnson ends all bombing of North Vietnam.
• Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew are elected 36th president and vice president of the US.
• Rev. Ian Paisley leads Protestant extremists on anti-Catholic marches in Northern Ireland. Violence erupts between Protestants and Catholics.
• Stanley Kubrick’s science-fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey wins an Oscar for special effects.
• Classification of movies as “G,”, “PG,” “R” and “X” begins.
• Foundations of the Temple of Herod (King of Judea 37-4 B.C.) are found in Israel.
• The Olympic games in Mexico City have more that 6,000 competitors from 112 countries.