1968: My delivery into tumultuous times

Since my birthday will be here within the next few days, I thought how interesting it would be for me to go back and see what kind of things were actually going on during the year of my birth. It was a really tumultuous time that year as many interesting and era-defining events were taking place. Assassinations were assiduous, peace was still a pipe dream and Chicago was a checkpoint for many of the nation's leaders. I also found out which notable celebrities were born during that year just to see which famous people were my age. There was actually no one born on the same actual day and year as I was, but I found out that both Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and soccer star David Beckham were both born on May 2nd, also - only in different years.

If you're interested in some of the events/historical tidbits that were a part of 1968, the year your little miracle was born, please read on! If not, check back tomorrow. Hopefully, it'll be more interesting.....not likely, but keep hope alive!

JANUARY

**The war in Vietnam continues as the 10,000th US airplane is lost overseas.
**President Lyndon B. Johnson delivers the State of the Union address.
**The North Vietnamese launch the Tet offensive, nearly 70,000 N. Vietnamese troops taking part. The US embassy is invaded by Saigon and held for a short time, and this offensive is seen as a major turning point for the American attitude toward the war.
**LL Cool J and John Singleton are born.

FEBRUARY

**California Republican Richard Nixon declares his presidential candidacy.
**Peggy Fleming wins the only US Gold medal at the Winter Olympics in France.
**A police station in Haleyville, Alabama is the first to officially use 911.
**Martin Luther King Jr. delivers a seemingly prophetic sermon at his Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, saying that after his death "I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to give his life serving others......say that I was a drum major for peace...for righteousness."
**The US State department announces the highest US casualty toll of the Vietnam War. The previous week saw 543 Americans killed in action, and 2,547 wounded.

MARCH

**Senator Robert Kennedy, brother of JFK ends months of debate and announces he will enter the presidential race.
**Martin Luther King Jr. leads a march in Memphis which turns violent. After he's led from the scene, one 16 year old boy is killed, 60 people injured, and over 150 arrested.
**Celine Dion and Mathew St. Patrick (the hottie from Six Feet Under) are born.

APRIL

**Martin Luther King Jr. spends April 4th at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, meeting about his Poor People's March on Washington to take place later in the month. At 6pm, as he greets friends in the courtyard, King is shot once with a 30.06 rifle. He will be declared dead one hour later at St. Joseph's hospital. After an international man-hunt, James Earl Ray will be arrested in England and convicted of murder.
**King's assassination sparks rioting in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Kansas City, Newark, Washington D.C. and many others. 46 deaths will be blamed on the riots.
**Cuba Gooding Jr. and TT Boy (one of my favorite straight porn stars) are born.

MAY

**The US and N. Vietnames delegations agree to begin peace talks in Paris.
**In France, "Bloody Monday" marks one of the most violent days of the Parisian student revolt taking place there. Five thousand students march through the Latin Quarter. A riot ensues and some reports indicate either the police charge unprevoked or demonstrators harass them throwing stones. Rioters set up barricades and police attack with gas grenades.
**Kylie Minogue, ME!, and Tracy Lords (classic porn chick) are all born.

JUNE

**Andy Warhol is shot in his New York City loft by Valerie Solanis, a struggling actress/writer.
**On the night of the California Primary, Robert Kennedy addresses a large crowd of supporters at the Ambassador Hotel in San Francisco, after winning big victories. As he leaves the stage at 12:13 am on June 5th, he is shot by Sirhan Sirhan, a 24 year old Jordanian living in LA. Kennedy, 42, dies within 24 hours.
**The first modern cash-dispensing machine, the ATM, is invented in Dallas.

JULY

**The first episode airs of the long-running soap opera One Life to Live.
**Market testing begins for the now infamous Virginia Slims cigarette ad "You've Come a Long Way, Baby" in California.
**Robert Gant (hottie from Queer as Folk) and future murder victim Ron Goldman are born.

AUGUST

**At the Party convention in Miami Beach, Republicans nominate Richard Milhouse Nixon to be their presidential candidate. He's challenged by Nelson Rockefeller and Ronald Reagan.
**The Democratic National Convention opens in Chicago and the party haltingly nominates Hubert Humphrey for president, which incites increasingly tense and violent demonstrations. The level is elevated to such heights that most accounts relay Chicago police beating some marchers unconscious and sending at least 100 to the emergency room, while arresting 175.
**African American Julian Bond is nominated as the Democratic candidate for vice-president, but at 28, he's too young to accept.
**Debra Messing (of Will & Grace) is born.

SEPTEMBER

**Women's Liberation groups target the Miss America Beaty Contest in Atlantic City, bringing about the symbolic term "bra-burning feminist".
**Arthur Ashe becomes the first black man to win a Grand Slam event, the US Open tennis championship.
**60 Minutes makes its debut with Mike Wallace and Harry Reasoner.
**Boeing rolls out the first jumbo jet plane - the 747.
**Ricki Lake and future box-office million dollar man Will Smith are born.

OCTOBER

**Apollo 7 is launched from Florida for an eleven day journey which orbits the Earth 163 times.
**The Summer Olympic games open in Mexico City, but have been boycotted by 32 African nations in protest of South Africa's participation. The games are further disrupted when two US athletes and medalists perform the black power salute during the "Star-Spangled Banner" at their medal ceremony.
**Jacqueline Kennedy marries Aristotle Onassis, a Greek shipping magnate on the island of Skorpios.
**President Johnson announces a total halt to US bombing in North Vietnam.
**Hugh Jackman and one-hit wonder Vanilla Ice are born.

NOVEMBER

**On Election Day, November 5th, Richard Nixon wins the presidency. The results of the popular vote are 31, 770,000 for Nixon (43.4%), 31, 270,000 for Humphrey (42.7%), and 9,906,000 for Wallace (13.5%).
**After stalling for months, the South Vietnamese government agrees to join in the Paris peace talks.
**Shirley Chisholm becomes the first black woman elected to Congress.
**The Motion Picture Association of America rolls out its first rating system: G, M, R, and X.
**The first National Women's Liberation Conference is held in Chicago.
**Romany Malco (hottie from Weeds) is born.

DECEMBER

**The unemployment rate, at 3.3%, is the lowest it has been in fifteen years.
**The launch of Apollo 8 begins the first US mission to orbit the moon.
**Millions of viewers tune in to NBC to watch Elvis Presley's first television special.
**Stanford University researchers announce invention of the first word processor.
**Rapper Jay-Z and comedian Margaret Cho are born.

Whew! Was there not a lot of crap going down when I was born?! Now I know why my mom was doing all kinds of drugs and partying as hard as she could. Wouldn't you? Well, although times have gotten just a little bit better since the year of my birth, there's still all kinds of turbulence that my forty years have allowed me to see. The largest of these being the current war going on in the Middle East.

Another event that's defining my current generation is the Presidential election that's going on this year. Forty years from now, this is going to go down in the history books as a big moment, and I'm blessed to have lived these past 40 years in such a way that I appreciate every day that life brings, and every event that I get to not only witness but to participate in. Thank God I'm here, happy, healthy and in a place to live, love, laugh and celebrate these facts with the ones I love. This is going to be a really happy week for me, culminating on Saturday night into an embarassing display of insecurity around all of the people who will be getting together to celebrate me. I never liked being the center of attention, but I'm so blessed to have people be with me on such an important milestone in my life. Life is good, and my cup runneth over..........