The year 1968.

It was a year that introduced a lot of change in the United States.

Fifty years ago, my wife and I graduated from high school. It’s hard to believe it’s been that long since we put on the cap and gown and took that walk to get our diplomas. That fall I would meet her in a college English class at LSU and our lives changed forever. But there was more going on than our personal experience.

Many Americans changed their view of the Vietnam War after the Tet offensive in January 1968, when North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces launched attacks on multiple areas in South Vietnam, contradicting information from U.S. military and government officials that an end to the war was close at hand.

It didn’t take a graduate of the Army or Navy War College to realize the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong were still a viable fighting force and the war would drag on. The combat came right into the living rooms of America, and probably the one thing that changed the opinion of many was the film footage of the summary execution of a suspected Viet Cong by the head of the South Vietnam security forces.

After his trip to Vietnam during Tet, newsman Walter Cronkite said it was time for the U.S. to get out of Vietnam. His comment reportedly led then-President Lyndon Johnson to say, “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost middle America.”

Tet also spurred the anti-war movement, which was beginning to reach its peak in 1968 as the war news worsened.

In April of 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., affecting the civil rights movement. His death was marked with riots in many cities — actions contrary to Dr. King’s philosophy and gospel of non-violence.

The emergence of Richard Nixon as a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination marked the beginning of a new form of politics that is still followed today of holding rallies and meetings in front of friendly crowds, avoiding tough questions from the press and employing dirty tricks to affect your opponents. Nixon, who would later resign in disgrace after the Watergate scandal, would call himself the “law and order” candidate.

Nixon also campaigned on a platform of ending the war in Vietnam and “peace with honor.” Peace was achieved in 1972, and we pretty much ended up leaving Vietnam like the French did in the 1950s.

The year also marked the weakening of the Democratic Party, when its convention was marred by violence in the streets of Chicago as police used clubs and tear gas against anti-war protestors. The convention itself was in disarray, seriously hurting the party for decades to come. After that time, the Democrats seemed to have lost their way.

I’ve just touched the tip of the proverbial iceberg with what I’ve listed here. There were many events in 1968 that shaped our world and affected us locally. Just stop and think about it for a while.

John Surratt is a staff writer for The Vicksburg Post. You may reach him at john.surratt@vicksburgpost.com