Conaway: Deja 1968? A nation’s test
In this June 5, 1968 file photograph, U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, D-NY, speaks to campaign workers, June 5, 1968, as his wife Ethel, left, and California campaign manager and speaker of the California Assembly, Jesse Unruh, look on, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. After making a short speech, Kennedy was shot in an adjacent room. Before the apparent attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on Saturday, July 13, 2024, there have been multiple instances of political violence targeting U.S. presidents, former presidents and major party presidential candidates. (AP Photo file)
Dan Conaway
Dan Conaway was a freelance columnist with The Daily Memphian from 2018 to 2025.
The Daily Memphian welcomes a diverse range of views from guest columnists on topics of local interest and impact. Columns are subject to editorial review and editing for length and clarity. If you’re interested in having a guest column considered by The Daily Memphian, email Eric Barnes.
Fifty-six years ago, we had one of our biggest tests as a nation and certainly our biggest test as a city.
1968 was a horrible year.
Vietnam
January 1968
After assurances that we were winning the war in Vietnam, the North Vietnamese and the Vietcong launched the Tet Offensive, proving that they could coordinate a major attack. It was becoming obvious we were being misled — no, lied to — about the war. I knew kids who went. We saw kids die on television. I knew kids who died.
The hippies, the New Left, Black Power and other counterculture movements — lots of counterculture movements — sprang up and grew into open clashes between generations and races.
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