It was not just the week nor was it just the US. 1968 itself was one of the worst years of the latter half of the 20th century around the world. The year began with the Tet Offensive which contributed in large part to the terrible year in the US, it completely polarized the American public making not only the anti-war faction much larger and more radical but the pro-war "patriotic" faction much more radical as well, ending up with the worst presidential selection in recent American history between a corrupt Democratic political hack (Hubert Humphrey) and the corrupt Republican hack Richard Nixon, (Nixon was so unpopular that with a tired and disliked Democratic administration in office, a very unpopular war and a political hack as an opponent, he still just barely squeaked out a narrow win.). That year also saw the invasion by the Soviet Union of the Republic of Checoslovakia and the vicious crushing of its hopes and dreams of a more democratic form of goverment. It effectively guaranteed another 30 years of slavery for the people of Eastern Europe. It was also the year that the corrupt PRI dictatorship in Mexico used undercover agents to provoke Mexicos's students into widespread protests in the streets in order to use the Army to gun down thousands so as to supress all dissent prior to the 1968 Olympics there. This is still a huge trauma in the country and considered one of Mexico's blackest moments in history, not only by its citizens in general but by its own Army as well. 1968 was the year of the Isreali Six Day War when the victorious Isrealis conquered Jerusalem, Gaza, the Golan Heights as well as the West Bank, an action which after 40 years of occupation, still reverberates throughout the Middle East. Of course the murders of King and Kennedy were terrible and traumatic incidents which wounded a whole generation of Americans (and even non-Americans like myself) but in truth, the whole year was an unmitigated disaster from start to finish and in fact laid a terrible trauma upon the whole world...........
The Worst Week
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That night, as the news of King's death spread through the blighted parts of the land, there were riots in 110 cities causing 39 deaths and injuring 2,500. But in the city of Indianapolis, where Kennedy had spoken, it was quiet.
Kennedy had trouble sleeping that night. He wandered around the Marriott hotel, stopping in to talk to some young staffers, tucking in a young speechwriter named Jeff Greenfield at about 3 a.m. "You're not so ruthless," said Greenfield. "Don't tell anyone," said Kennedy.
The Kennedy campaign quietly arranged to have King's body flown from Memphis to King's hometown of Atlanta. Before the funeral, young John Lewis took Bobby and Ethel into a darkened church at 1 a.m. to view King's body in an open casket. Kennedy wordlessly crossed himself. "I said to myself, 'Well, we still have Robert Kennedy'," recalled Lewis.
But he didn't. On June 4, on the night he won the California primary, an important milestone on the march to the Democratic convention in Chicago, Robert Kennedy, too, was shot. He died two days later.
CORRECTION (ADDED Nov. 20, 2007): This story originally said that Dr. King gave his final speech at the Masonic Temple in Memphis. In fact, the speech took place at Mason Temple at the headquarters of the Church of God in Christ. NEWSWEEK regrets the error.
© 2007
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