Two Major Leaders Were Assassinated Within Two Months

The assassinations of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4 and presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy on June 6 were two of the most tragic events in American history. The violence shocked not only the U.S. but the world, particularly as it came on the heels of the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and civil rights leader Malcolm X in 1963 and 1965, respectively. Despite the devastation that followed — and the fear that their progressive voices and visions for the country would be forgotten — the legacies of King and Kennedy continued to inspire and motivate people for decades to come. 

King, who led the civil rights movement and helped bring about the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, is honored every year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and continues to inspire the fight for racial equality and civil rights. Kennedy, in his final years, worked to bridge racial divides, address overlooked class issues, and end the Vietnam War. The senator galvanized a new generation of voters and activists, and his influence is still felt in American politics and social justice causes today.

The Tet Offensive Turned More of the Country Against the Vietnam War

The year 1968 began with the U.S. still embroiled in the long-running war in Vietnam, and the American public’s growing fatigue came to a head following North Vietnam’s deadly January 30-31 Tet Offensive attack on South Vietnamese and American forces. The widespread attack during the Lunar New Year holiday Tet made it clear to the American public that victory in Vietnam was not near, and confidence in the United States’ progress overseas began to falter. It faded faster still when respected broadcaster Walter Cronkite vocally opposed the war in a national television broadcast on February 27. Mass protests against the continued involvement unfurled across the country in the ensuing months. The occasionally violent unrest influenced the country’s eventual withdrawal from Vietnam in 1973, and the youth-led anti-war protests changed the face of civic engagement, fueling other historical grassroots activism such as the growing feminist movement and the rise of environmentalism. 

Two American Athletes Protested Racial Inequality at the Olympics

Despite the tragedy of Martin Luther King Jr.’s untimely death, those influenced by his nonviolent activism continued to fight for racial and class equality. One of the most memorable protests took place at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. As American track and field athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos took the podium to receive their respective gold and bronze medals, they each raised a gloved fist during the U.S. anthem in a symbolic gesture of solidarity with the Black Power movement. Smith and Carlos faced intense backlash and criticism from the media and the public, but their protest remains an enduring symbol of resistance and solidarity in the struggle for civil rights and social justice.

A Miss America Protest Birthed the Image of the “Bra-Burning” Feminist

The iconic image of the “bra-burning” feminist was born in this monumental year, irreversibly putting women’s rights in the mainstream conversation. On September 7, 1968, protesters marched against the objectification of women outside a Miss America beauty contest in Atlantic City, New Jersey. They threw oppressive items such as bras, makeup, and high heels into a "freedom trash can," and while the bras were never actually burned, the demonstration ensured that the phrase “women’s liberation” gained national attention for the first time. The seminal moment was also a prescient introduction to intersectional feminism issues: Nearby, a Miss Black America pageant was also held in protest, as the official pageant had, to date, not included an African American contestant (the first Black woman would compete two years later). 

“Star Trek” Aired an Interracial Kiss on Television

Much like the social and political upheaval that dominated 1968, popular culture had its own memorable and impactful moments that year. Given the racial tensions in the country, it was seen as revolutionary when the popular sci-fi series “Star Trek” aired the first romantic kiss between a white person and a Black person on American television, between Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and Lieutenant Uhura (Nichelle Nichols). (The response was largely positive.) 

The year 1968 also marked the release of Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey, revolutionizing science fiction and special effects in film. The sci-fi epic inspired influential filmmakers such as George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, who both went on to define entertainment in the ensuing decades. (Presciently, the film also introduced audiences to friendly AI virtual assistants.) Onstage, The Boys in the Band opened off-Broadway, offering a realistic and humanizing look at the then-underrepresented LGBTQ+ community. The play is often cited as a groundbreaking work that helped pave the way for greater visibility and acceptance of LGBTQ+ people in American culture.

Apollo 8 Became the First Manned Spacecraft to Orbit the Moon

On December 24, 1968, as one of the most tumultuous years in American history drew to a close, NASA's Apollo 8 mission became the first manned spacecraft to orbit the moon, marking a major milestone in space exploration and providing an uplifting moment for the country. The three-man crew — Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders — broadcast parts of their six-day lunar voyage on live television. Their lunar orbit, which aired in prime time on Christmas Eve, is said to have been watched by a billion people — one out of every four people on the planet at the time. The orbit also resulted in the enduring “Earthrise” photo, showing a sliver of planet Earth peering out from beyond the moon. The mission was not only a success, but a marvel that united and inspired a weary country. Apollo 8, it was said, had saved 1968. 

Anthropologists and Archaeologists Made Great Spies

In Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), Indy reveals that he once worked for the OSS, the predecessor of the CIA. This is a believable part of the character’s backstory, as the OSS and other intelligence agencies often recruited archaeologists like Indy during World War I and World War II. The same is true for the CIA, which has routinely enlisted archaeologists, anthropologists, art historians, and other academics for intelligence-gathering purposes. It makes sense, as these professionals already have the perfect reason to be conducting fieldwork in foreign countries — and they tend to be somewhat more discreet than Indiana Jones. 

Some Highly Trained Spies Weren’t Human 

Animals have been used in espionage since the days of the ancient Egyptians and ancient Greeks, who used homing pigeons and dogs to deliver secret messages (the latter carrying missives in their collars). The CIA took things to a whole new level, however, with highly trained nonhumans undertaking a range of complex tasks. In a secret 1960s project known as Project OXYGAS, dolphins were trained to attach explosive devices to enemy ships. Birds have proved useful, too. Camera-carrying pigeons could take higher-quality photos than spy satellites operating at the time, while ravens were trained to deliver and retrieve small objects of up to 1.4 ounces from otherwise inaccessible buildings. The CIA also spent $20 million trying to train cats to eavesdrop while fitted with recording devices. Known as Operation Acoustic Kitty (seriously), the project was eventually abandoned after a feline operative was tasked with listening in on the conversation between two men sitting in a park. The cat, totally uninterested in any previous training, wandered off and was hit by a passing car. 

Situation Room

The Situation Room — sometimes referred to as the “nerve center” of intelligence operations at the White House — is technically a complex of connected rooms rather than a single space. The concept of a “War Room” containing telegraph systems and maps dates back to William McKinley’s presidency during the 1898 Spanish-American War. However, the Situation Room as we know it today was built in 1961 by John F. Kennedy in the aftermath of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion. 

Frustrated by an inability to receive real-time military information, Kennedy decided that the White House needed a dedicated intelligence and communications center. Since then, the Situation Room has been critical to presidents’ handling of pivotal moments in American history, including the Cuban Missile Crisis, the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, and the raid on Osama Bin Laden’s compound in 2011.

Lincoln Bedroom

Despite its name, the Lincoln Bedroom was never actually used by Abraham Lincoln as a bedroom. Rather, it was an office and meeting area. The room has been called the Lincoln Bedroom since 1945, when Harry S. Truman had it decorated with Lincoln-era furniture, including the original desk upon which the 16th president drafted the Emancipation Proclamation. 

Today, the room remains a bedroom and contains a copy of the Gettysburg Address, handwritten and signed by Lincoln, as well as a painting depicting enslaved people awaiting news of the Emancipation Proclamation. Rumored to be one of the most supernatural rooms in the White House, the Lincoln Bedroom has been the site of reported encounters with Lincoln’s ghost, notably by Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, First Lady Grace Coolidge, and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

Map Room

A precursor to the Situation Room, the Map Room was used by Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II to monitor battle operations around the world. After the outbreak of the war, National Geographic donated special wall-mounted “map cabinets” to Roosevelt, which contained maps organized by hemisphere, region, and theater of operation. These documents were regularly updated by cartographers, enabling the president to have the most up-to-date information. The room was staffed 24/7, and was used to communicate with world leaders including Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, and Chiang Kai-shek. Today, the Map Room functions as a sitting room that has been used to host guests, including the Dalai Lama. 

Family Theater

Even presidents need a place to unwind. The White House Family Theater was created in 1942 when Franklin D. Roosevelt had a cloakroom known as the “Hat Box” converted into a 42-seat screening room. Since then, presidents have used the theater to enjoy films with family and friends, and as a space to practice speeches. Ronald Reagan, himself an actor, watched an impressive 363 films while in office, surpassed only by Jimmy Carter, who watched 480. Richard Nixon was such a fan of the war movie Patton that he had to refute rumors that the film inspired his decision to invade Cambodia in 1970. And Bill Clinton once said, “The best perk in the White House is not Air Force One or Camp David or anything else. It’s the wonderful movie theater I get here.” 

Bowling Alleys

The first White House bowling alley was constructed in the basement of the building in 1947 as a birthday gift to Harry S. Truman when he turned 63. Truman’s first bowl knocked down seven out of 10 pins, one of which is now on display at the Smithsonian. Truman later had the lanes moved from the White House to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next door, where  White House employees formed a bowling league in 1950 —  Secret Service agents, household staff, groundskeepers, and more competed in tournaments across the country. Bowling returned to the White House under Nixon, who had a one-lane alley constructed below the North Portico of the White House in 1973. An avid bowler, Nixon reportedly played every week and had a high score of 232.

New Hampshire 

New Hampshire was founded by the English merchant Captain John Mason, who had received the region in a series of grants made by the English crown. It was developed as a fishing and trading settlement in 1623, and was given the name “New Hampshire” in 1629 after Mason’s home county of Hampshire, England.

New York

New York began life as New Amsterdam, a settlement founded by the Dutch West India Company in 1624. Over the next 40 years, the Dutch established the colony as a successful trading post and commercial center — but then the Brits showed up. They conquered the colony in 1664, and New Amsterdam — along with the wider colonial territory of New Netherland — passed to British control. The area was renamed “New York” after James II, Duke of York, the son of King Charles I. 

Connecticut 

The Connecticut Colony was founded in 1636 by Thomas Hooker, an influential British clergyman and theologian. Hooker left the Massachusetts Bay Colony due to disagreements with its Puritan leadership. He and his followers moved to modern-day Connecticut, where they founded the settlement of Hartford.  

Rhode Island 

In 1635, the Puritan minister Roger Williams was banished from Massachusetts Bay for his radical religious and political views, which included his firm belief in the separation of church and state. The following year, Williams set out for Narragansett Bay, where he purchased land from the Narragansett Indians and founded the town of Providence and the colony of Rhode Island. Providence emerged as a hub of religious tolerance and democratic governance, and became a refuge for people persecuted for their religious beliefs. 

Delaware

Delaware had the most chaotic founding of all the 13 colonies. The Dutch founded the first European settlement in the area in 1631, but it was soon destroyed by Indigenous peoples following a disagreement between the two groups. In 1638, Swedish settlers, led by merchant and politician Peter Minuit (famous for having founded New Amsterdam), built the next permanent settlement in Delaware, which was then taken by the Dutch in 1655. The colony was later seized by the English in 1664, and in 1681 came under the control of William Penn, the Quaker founder of Pennsylvania. Though he was not the colony’s original founder, it was Penn who shaped Delaware into the state we know today.

Maryland 

Maryland was founded in 1634 by Cecilius Calvert, who was a Catholic in Protestant England before traveling to America. He envisioned the colony of Maryland as a haven where his fellow Roman Catholics could escape the restrictions placed on them in Britain. As it turned out, relatively few English Catholics made the long voyage across the Atlantic. But the colony did attract a large number of Protestant dissenters, such as Quakers and Puritans, and ended up being a place of great religious diversity.

North Carolina 

The English explorer Sir Walter Raleigh established the first settlement in North Carolina in 1585. But the majority of the settlers fled within a year due to conflicts with the Indigenous population. It wasn’t until 1663 that the first successful, permanent colony in the area was established by the “Lords Proprietors,” a group of eight English noblemen who were granted a royal charter by King Charles II to establish and govern what was then known as the Province of Carolina. 

South Carolina 

South Carolina, like North Carolina, emerged from the same Province of Carolina founded by the eight Lords Proprietors in 1663. The sprawling and sparsely populated colony of Carolina was hard to govern, which is why it was split into two separate colonies — North Carolina and South Carolina — in 1712.

New Jersey 

The first permanent European settlement in what is now New Jersey was established by the Dutch at Bergen (now Jersey City) in 1660, and was originally part of the wider New Netherland colony. After the English conquest of New Amsterdam, the territory was split up. The Duke of York granted a section of the colony to two English noblemen and close friends of King Charles II, Lord John Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, who founded New Jersey in 1664. 

Pennsylvania 

In 1681, King Charles II granted William Penn — an English Quaker leader and advocate of religious freedom — the charter for a large territory in North America as a way to pay off a debt the king owed to Penn’s father. A year later, Penn set foot in the new colony of Pennsylvania. Penn called the colony a “holy experiment,” envisioning a place that emphasized religious tolerance, fair treatment of Indigenous peoples, and democratic participation. As such, Pennsylvania attracted an array of settlers from across Europe, including those seeking religious freedom.

Georgia 

Georgia, the last of the 13 colonies, was founded in 1732 by English army officer and philanthropist James Oglethorpe and a group of 20 associates. In the British House of Commons, Oglethorpe had earned a reputation as a champion of the oppressed. He took this ethos to Georgia, which he saw as a place that could offer a new life to poor and debt-ridden settlers. The colony was also intended as a military buffer between British-controlled South Carolina and Spanish-controlled Florida — a role well suited to Oglethorpe’s background in the army. 

Jefferson Liberally Borrowed From Other Works

From his Philadelphia boarding house, Jefferson set about creating a statement that was, as he later put it, "intended to be an expression of the american mind" while "neither aiming at originality of principle or sentiment." He subsequently borrowed ideas and passages from existing documents, including the George Mason-penned Virginia Declaration of Rights. That document’s assertion that "all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights" such as "the enjoyment of life and liberty" found its way into Jefferson's preamble. 

But while he wasn't necessarily summoning his wording from scratch, Jefferson nevertheless was peeved with some of the edits made by the other delegates in early July. He was particularly upset by the removal of a passage that blamed the evils of the transatlantic slave trade on King George III, despite benefiting from the system as an enslaver himself.

It Took Weeks for News of Independence To Reach Some Colonies

Although the first copies of the Declaration of Independence were churned out by printer John Dunlap on the night of July 4, 1776, it took some time for communities outside Philadelphia to learn of the historic undertaking. A transcript of the document first appeared in the July 6 edition of The Pennsylvania Evening Post, beating Dunlap's own newspaper, The Pennsylvania Packet, to the punch by two days. From there, the news gradually spread to neighboring colonies, leading to its initial publications in New York on July 10, in Massachusetts and New Hampshire on July 16, and in South Carolina on August 2. It took another week for word of American independence to reach the other side of the Atlantic, with its announcement in the August 10 edition of The London Gazette.

Historians Aren't 100% Sure Who Penned the Official Copy

Given all the literature surrounding Jefferson's authorship of the Declaration of Independence, it's surprising that there's no record of who actually wrote out the 1,300-plus words on the official engrossed parchment that's now under lock and key at the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C. That said, historians have a pretty good idea that the scribe was Timothy Matlack, clerk to Continental Congress Secretary Charles Thomson. 

A brewer and militia colonel, Matlack sported a more colorful background than most of the well-heeled congressional delegates, as he had been disowned by the Quakers for his love of gambling and served time in debtors' prison. But the well-connected Philadelphian undoubtedly possessed a delicate hand in spite of the rough edges of his lifestyle; he penned two copies of Congress' Petition to the King in 1774 as well as George Washington's formal commission as commander in chief of the Continental Army in 1775. It's through comparisons to these earlier documents that historians have determined the Declaration of Independence's penmanship is likely that of Matlack.

Some Congressional Delegates Refused To Sign the Declaration

Although John Hancock, the Continental Congress president, led the parade when the engrossed Declaration of Independence was ready for signing on August 2, 1776, not all of the delegates affixed their names in the available space at the bottom of the parchment. Some, such as Committee of Five member Robert Livingston of New York, refused to sign, either out of hope of reconciliation with Great Britain or the belief that it was premature to declare independence. Others, including General George Washington, were tied up with other activities and never got the chance to join the party. 

Altogether, it’s believed that 49 delegates provided signatures during the August 2 session, with another six adding theirs at some point over the next four months. When the signers' names first appeared in public by way of the Goddard Broadsides in January 1777, all but one of the eventual 56 signatures were present, with Thomas McKean of Delaware finally supplying his autograph sometime by 1781.

The Document Underwent a Long, Winding Journey to its Current Home

Today, the engrossed Declaration of Independence is carefully guarded in climate-controlled conditions at the National Archives rotunda (along with the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights), but it didn't always enjoy such secure environs. The parchment was transferred from Philadelphia to Baltimore to avert approaching British forces in late 1776, and was frequently packed for transport as the itinerant Continental Congress reemerged in locations along the Eastern Seaboard over the following years. 

It was again hastily moved before the British set Washington, D.C., ablaze in August 1814, and while the threat of invasion largely diminished by the late 19th century, the Declaration of Independence was exposed to excessive lighting and fluctuating temperatures as it bounced between government buildings in the nation's capital. Even after the National Archives Building was completed with an exhibition hall specifically designed to display the engrossed copy in the mid-1930s, it took nearly two decades of cutting through administrative red tape before the document settled into its permanent home in 1952.

The Zone Improvement Plan Is Born

The tide turned in the early 1960s with the appointment of Postmaster General J. Edward Day, who saw in Moon's long-overlooked proposal and the newly implemented West German postal code system a solution for improving delivery speed and eliminating backlog.

Under the new regime, the department devised a five-digit code that built on Moon's idea of regional processing centers to create a national network of delivery zones. The first digit of the new code denoted one of 10 large geographical regions of the country, in most cases encompassing several states. The second digit signified a smaller division within each region, which included either multiple states, one state, or a portion of a heavily populated state.

The third digit represented either a large city post office or a designated regional center within reach of urban centers and more remote outposts. The final two digits, which incorporated the 20-year-old zone numbers already in place, marked either a division of a big city post office or a smaller one directly served from a regional center.

Hahn, who helped devise the numerical system, was also tasked with helping to explain the finer details of the process in late 1962, before the plan’s official launch. Meanwhile, it was another executive, D. Jamison Cain, who conceived the acronym-friendly name of Zone Improvement Plan, as well as the ideal mascot to deliver the message to the public.

A Mascot Named "Mr. ZIP" Promoted the New System

In the 1950s, the Cunningham and Walsh advertising agency designed a smiling cartoon mailman for a Chase Manhattan Bank mail campaign. The logo was acquired by AT&T and then the Post Office Department, where it was rechristened as "Mr. ZIP" and designated as the face of the department's new promotional push.

With the arrival of the ZIP code on July 1, 1963, the image of Mr. ZIP was plastered across post offices, mail trucks, brochures, and buttons worn by mail carriers as part of efforts to urge the public to include the five digits on all outgoing mail. He also appeared in a commercial that featured the voice of Broadway star Ethel Merman singing about the joys of the ZIP code to the tune of "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah."

Despite the ubiquitous presence of the friendly mascot, there was some built-in resistance to adopting the new code. This was in part due to other recent widespread changes foisted on the public, including Social Security numbers being required for individual tax returns and phone numbers changing from the old alphanumeric system to all numerals. Bulk mailers also objected to ZIP code implementation, which required the investment of time and money to update their Automatic Data Processing equipment.

The ZIP Code Was Widely Accepted by the End of the 1960s

The bulk mailers were forced to go with the flow via congressional enforcement, and the rest of the public soon got used to writing out the five-digit code thanks to persistent reminders from Mr. ZIP. According to a 1969 survey, some 83% of Americans were using ZIP codes by that time, while 90% believed the system to be a good idea.

Additionally, the ZIP code’s reach was already extending beyond the Post Office Department. The five digits became a focus of marketing companies, insurance firms, and the U.S. Census Bureau, all of which found the system beneficial to supplying more targeted data.

The Beatles had broken up by the time the Post Office Department reconfigured itself as the USPS in 1971, but the ZIP code was still going strong, the formidable five-digit system outlasting even the Fab Four as an enduring and thriving symbol of 1960s ingenuity.

The Secret Service Has the World’s Largest Ink Library

The Secret Service maintains a forensic laboratory that houses the world’s largest ink library, with more than 15,000 samples of marker, pen, and printer inks dating back to the 1920s. This extensive collection is important for forensic analysis, allowing the agency to identify counterfeit currency and analyze forged documents by comparing inks to known samples. Such examinations can determine the authenticity of a document and trace the origin of counterfeit materials.

The Secret Service’s lab also uses cutting-edge technologies to analyze fingerprints, materials, and other forensic evidence. These capabilities support the investigations into financial crimes and protective operations, allowing agents to detect and prevent threats before they materialize. 

Women Joined the Secret Service in the 1970s

Before there were female agents in the Secret Service, the agency occasionally relied on clerical staff or other personnel when a woman's presence was needed for specific operations. That finally changed in 1971, when Phyllis Shantz, Laurie Anderson, Sue Ann Baker, Kathryn Clark, and Holly Hufschmidt became the first women appointed as Secret Service special agents, marking an important step toward gender inclusion in the agency.

Since then, women have played pivotal roles in the Secret Service’s dual missions of protection and investigation. Female agents have served in nearly every capacity, from presidential details to combating cybercrime and leading undercover operations to dismantle financial fraud rings. Women also have risen to leadership positions, with Julia Pierson becoming the first female director of the Secret Service in 2013.

Secret Service Agents Are Trained in “10-Minute Medicine”

When the president travels, the Secret Service's preparations extend far beyond standard security measures. Agents not only are trained in emergency medicine but also carry a range of medical supplies, including a supply of blood matching the president’s blood type, to ensure immediate access in case of a medical emergency or violent attack. Their training is in "10-minute medicine," which involves stabilizing the president for the crucial 10 minutes it may take to get them to the nearest trauma center. This training ensures that agents are equipped to act quickly in life-threatening situations, providing lifesaving care until more extensive medical treatment can be administered.

The Secret Service's emergency training has proved invaluable in several high-stakes situations. During the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan, agent Jerry Parr’s emergency medicine training and quick thinking were crucial in saving the president’s life. After Reagan was shot, Agent Parr immediately recognized the severity of the situation and directed the motorcade to George Washington University Hospital instead of the White House, ensuring the president received prompt medical attention. His timely intervention, along with the actions of other agents, helped stabilize the president during the critical first moments after the attack.

Protection Is Mandatory for the President and Vice President

The Secret Service is mandated to provide protection to the president and vice president of the United States, as well as their immediate families. Additionally, the agency is responsible for protecting former presidents, their spouses, and their children under the age of 16, as well as visiting foreign dignitaries and their spouses, and major presidential and vice presidential candidates and their spouses. They also secure specific events that have been designated as National Special Security Events by the Department of Homeland Security, such as the presidential inauguration and the State of the Union address.

The Former Presidents Act of 2012, signed by President Barack Obama, reinstated lifetime post-presidential protection after a 1994 statute limited that protection to 10 years. While Secret Service protection is mandatory for the sitting president and vice president, anyone else who is entitled to protection can choose to refuse it. Richard Nixon decided to drop his Secret Service detail in 1985, 11 years after he left office, and his wife, Pat Nixon, relinquished protection the previous year. Nixon is the only U.S. president to have declined Secret Service protection.