The 1968 Project - A Nation Coming of Age

1968 was a tumultuous year. There was the North Viet Nam TET offensive. It was the height of the Viet Nam War. Of course, there were the riots at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.  Richard Nixon elected President.  And the Apollo 8 flew to and around the moon.

It was the days of hippies, Black Panthers, anti-war protests, and George Wallace.  Assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobbie Kennedy.

The exhibit is divided into months of the year.  For each month  there are some of the memorable events of the year such as:  "Tuesday April 2 - Stanley Kubrick's mind-blowing film: 2001 A Space Odyssey premiers in Washington DC".  There are short films about topics such as the rioting at the Chicago Democratic Convention.  A display about the music of the day.  And some of the now familiar consumer items as modern fabrics and plastics.

I was in Cleveland, Ohio with rioting in the streets that summer.  National Guard bivouacked on our college athletic field.  The Cuyahoga River (running through Cleveland) caught fire.

With this, I had to check out the exhibit at The Durham Museum in Omaha.  The exhibit closes on May 4th.  I was a little disappointed with the exhibit.  Photography was not allowed in the exhibit.  Was expecting more artifacts of the year.  Guess I needed to understand that this is a traveling exhibit and it included a part of the Huey chopper and replica of the Apollo capsule.

Lots of us in our 60s were touring the exhibit this morning.  If you remember 1968, if you are history buff, if your father served in Viet Nam, you owe yourself to get to the Durham Museum before the exhibit closes.