Today's Deal Promo Box - A&M sign

Login or Signup

Facebook user?
You can use your Facebook account to log in.
Join The Community
Login | Register | Subscribe
 
HomeNewsNews

Nation rocked with war protests, race riots

Lot more than love during summer of '67

Lot more than love during summer of '67
Font Size:
Default font size
Larger font size

Although remembered by many for the Summer of Love, the rest of 1967 was filled with a lot of anger, frustration and fear.

It was a year of growing dissatisfaction with the war in Vietnam as evidenced by demonstrations and by indictments against boxer Muhammad Ali and Beach Boys member Carl Wilson for refusing induction and draft evasion, respectively.

In October, thousands of war protesters tried to storm the Pentagon, and four people poured blood on Selective Service records.

The U.S. had almost 500,000 troops in Vietnam, and, in February, the troops began the largest offensive of the war. About a dozen nuclear tests were done in the U.S., while Russia and China also exploded several nuclear weapons.

On a positive note, a treaty banning the use of nuclear weapons in space was signed, and U.N. Secretary General U Thant made public proposals for peace in Vietnam. Coincidentally, it also was the year J. Robert Oppenheimer, labeled the father of the atomic bomb, died.

It was a year of growing racial unrest that was symbolized by the inauguration of Lester Maddox as governor of Georgia. In May, African-American students seized the finance building at Northwestern University, and a month later race riots broke out in the Roxbury section of Boston.

Similar riots soon followed in Tampa, Fla., Cincinnati, Ohio, and Buffalo, N.Y., leading up to riots in Newark, N.J., in which more than two dozen people were killed. Before the summer was over, more racial clashes occurred in Cairo, Ill., Durham, N.C., Memphis, Tenn., Cambridge, Md., Milwaukee and Detroit, with more than 40 people killed and 2,000 injured in the latter.

President Lyndon Johnson set up a commission to study the cause of the urban violence three days before the Milwaukee riots, where four died.

Not all the racial news was bad. Among the history-making changes, Maj. Robert Lawrence Jr. was picked as the first black astronaut, Thurgood Marshall was sworn in as the first black Supreme Court justice and Carl Stokes became the first black mayor of a major American city when he took office in Cleveland.

It was the year of the first Super Bowl, the debut of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood and the "Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" and the airing of the final Milton Berle show. It was the year Jimi Hendrix burned his guitar for the first time. And, at the box office, the movie "Casino Royale" premiered.

At least James Bond and "Casino Royale" still are around.

Copyright 2012 nwitimes.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Print Email

Sponsored Links

Current Conditions
34° F
Sponsored by:
Promo Banner - iPad App

Latest Local Offers

Simple Pleasures
House Of Bianco Beauty Concepts & Day Spa
Midwest Remodeling Windows & Doors
$500 OFF LABOR on Kitchen & Bath remodels when you mention NWI Times!
Midwest Remodeling Windows & Doors
Three Dog Net
Computer Diagnostics
Three Dog Net
Center For Visual & Performing Arts
Comedy Night at the CVPA with Valentines Buffet featuring comedian Frank Del Pizzo. http://bit.ly/A3OBT
Center For Visual & Performing Arts
Levin Tire Center
$24.95 Oil Change w/4 Tire Rotation Special...
Levin Tire Center

Featured Businesses

Hint: Enter a keyword that you are looking for like tires, pizza or doctors or browse the full business directory, powered by Local.com

Poll

Do you support the preferred route chosen for the Illiana Expressway?

Loading…
Yes
No