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Top News Stories from 1968
World Events
U.S. Events
U.S. Statistics
Population: 200,706,052
Life expectancy: 70.2 years
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000): 33.7
Property Crime Rate (per 1,000) 30.7
Homicide Rate (per 100,000): 7.3
More U.S. Statistics...
Economics
US GDP (1998 dollars): $910.6 billion
Federal spending: $178.13 billion
Federal debt $368.7 billion
Median Household Income(current dollars): $7,743 billion
Consumer Price Index: $34.8
Unemployment: 3.8%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.05 ($0.06 as of 1/7/68)
Sports
Super Bowl
Green Bay d. Oakland
World Series
Detroit d. St. Louis Cardinals (4-3)
NBA Championship
Boston d. LA Lakers
Stanley Cup
Montreal d. St. Louis
Wimbledon
Women: Billie Jean King d. J. Tegart (9-7 7-5)
Men: Rod Laver d. T. Roche (6-3 6-4 6-2)
Kentucky Derby Champion
Forward Pass
NCAA Basketball Championship
UCLA d. North Carolina
NCAA Football Champions
Ohio St. (10-0-0) 1968 Summer Olympics
Entertainment
Entertainment Awards
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction: The Confessions of Nat Turner, William Styron
Music: Echoes of Time and the River, George Crumb
Academy Award, Best Picture: In the Heat of the Night, Walter Mirisch, producer (United Artists)
Nobel Prize for Literature: Yasunari Kawabata (Japan)
Record of the Year: "Up, Up and Away," 5th Dimension
Album of the Year: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles (Capitol)
Song of the Year: "Up, Up and Away," Jimmy L. Webb, songwriter
Miss America: Debra Dene Barnes (KS)
More Entertainment Awards...
Events
- 60 Minutes airs on CBS, beginning its reign as the longest-running prime-time newsmagazine.
- The motion picture rating system debuts with G, PG, R and X.
- The rock musical Hair opens on Broadway.
Movies
- 2001: A Space Odyssey, Romeo and Juliet, Funny Girl, The Lion in Winter, Oliver!
Books
Science
- Prototype of world's first supersonic airliner. The Soviet-designed Tupolev Tu-144 made its first flight, Dec. 31. It first achieved supersonic speed on June 5, 1969. Background: Famous Firsts in Aviation
- The largest reservoir of American petroleum north of Mexico is discovered in Alaska.
- Amniocentesis is developed. Background: reproduction
- The successful flight of Apollo 8 makes Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders the first people to orbit the moon.
Death
