1968: The Wildest Year

Abstract

With an escalated Vietnam war, domestic riots, assassinations, the Chicago convention, a presidential campaign, and worldwide student rebellions all contributing to a widespread sense of events having run out of all control, 1968 was a year marked for history. On the Illinois campus, where activists were hard pressed to keep up with events, much less understand or influence them, the year would be pivotal for the movement as establishment forces introduced an unprecedented level of violence directed at students for the first time in U.S. history. Activist reaction to the establishment violence would determine the future of the student movement.