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Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association
October 5 | Derry civil rights march. Police broke up a banned march on Duke Street in Derry, Northern Ireland, where activists protested discrimination in housing and local government. Television footage of the police response brought wider attention to the movement.
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1968 Panamanian coup d'état
October 11 | Panama. The National Guard overthrew President Arnulfo Arias after eleven days in office. The coup opened a period of military rule and brought National Guard officer Omar Torrijos into the struggle for power.
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Equatorial Guinea
October 12 | Independence from Spain. Equatorial Guinea became independent, and Francisco Macías Nguema took office as its first president following an election held before independence.
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1968 Olympics Black Power salute
October 16 | Mexico. American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised gloved fists during the U.S. anthem after the men’s 200-meter race. Australian silver medalist Peter Norman wore an Olympic Project for Human Rights badge in solidarity.
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1968 United States presidential election
November 5 | United States. Richard Nixon defeated Hubert Humphrey, while segregationist George Wallace carried five Southern states. The three-way race exposed fractures over the war, civil rights, and the direction of the Democratic coalition.
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Institutional Act Number Five
December 13 | Brazil. Brazil’s military government issued Institutional Act No. 5, giving the president sweeping powers to close Congress, suspend political rights, and remove officials. It marked a sharp turn toward heavier repression under the dictatorship.
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Apollo 8
December 21–27 | Earth and Moon. Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders became the first people to orbit the Moon. Anders’s photograph Earthrise showed the blue Earth beyond the gray lunar horizon.
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Down to the Countryside Movement
December 22 | China. The People’s Daily published Mao Zedong’s directive calling for educated urban youth to move to the countryside for political reeducation. Shanghai promptly announced plans to send recent graduates and others still awaiting jobs. What had begun before 1968 expanded into a nationwide relocation that eventually affected millions.
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