Part of the Global Perspectives on War and Peace Collection. Audio only.
Audio report from WBBM Newsradio 78 (AM 780). The report looks back at the year through a series of audio clips of important events such as: Vietnam War reports from the field, Lyndon Johnson announcing the fact that he will not run for re-election as president of the United States, anti-war demonstrations, Richard Nixon is elected, Nixon campaign ads, school desegregation in the South, the assassination of Martin Luther King, and Ted Kennedy speaking at Robert Kennedy’s funeral. A moving portrait of the year, completely devoid of interpretation or summary by the reporters.
Thoughout, the video is of stock prices and clips that don’t have anything to do with the audio. Some kind of timecode is also present.
00:15Copy video clip URL Audio begins. Introduction.
01:05Copy video clip URL “The Sounds of the Year 1968. Part 1: the year that killed.” Speaker is Dale McCarren.
01:34Copy video clip URL Obituaries. Reading of names: John Steinbeck, Tallulah Bankhead, Gov. Lurleen Wallace, Norman Thomas, Earl Eisenhower, HMS QE I, Edna Ferber, Upton Sinclair, Fanny Hearst, Ramon Novarro, and others.
02:44Copy video clip URL Audio of Correspondent Richard Threlkeld trying to get a ride out of a war zone. Segues into Lyndon Johnson announcing the fact that he will not run for re-election as president of the United States (3:40), then segues back into a sort of audio montage of war reports from Threlkeld, anti-war demonstrators, desegregators, etc (4:15).
06:24Copy video clip URL Richard Nixon announces a ceasefire in Vietnam: “We have reached the stage where productive talks can begin.” The next audio clips discuss the electoral votes coming in for Nixon. The audio then segues into a song about him.
07:32Copy video clip URL Back to Threlkeld waiting for the chopper ride out of the war zone in Vietnam.
07:56Copy video clip URL Announcer McCarren takes back over, and sets up the commercial break.
08:26Copy video clip URL Radio commercials for the sponsor, Olympic Savings Berwyn.
09:24Copy video clip URL Show resumes, talking about taxes, Senate bills, namely LBJ’s 10 percent tax surcharge, “the first time since 1951 and the Korean War that federal taxes were boosted.”
09:57Copy video clip URL Program shifts to bus/school desegregation. Soundbites from people on both sides of the issue are included. The desegregation program was voluntary, but not many chose to volunteer, and some are even not attending. The school Superintendent: “I am not anticipating any kind of boycott at all.”
12:26Copy video clip URL The talk shifts to Cook County Jail reforms, which were incited by an investigation into the conditions. The Warden, Jack Johnson was fired, and feels it was due to a combination of political and personal agendas. He was replaced by Winston Moore.
14:12Copy video clip URL The John Hancock Center has been built next to the Playboy Building, whose roof beacon was blinding people in the Hancock, so a metal wall was constructed.
15:05Copy video clip URL McCarren: “Chicago sent 804 poor people to march on Washington in the middle of May.” Clip of Jesse Jackson giving the “sendoff.” McCarren goes to commercial, which is also for Olympic Savings Berwyn.
16:51Copy video clip URL Program resumes with a report on the death of Martin Luther King. Audio clips from various sources are played, including from bystanders. Audio from a prayer session is also included. Clips from King’s speeches are included, including his “I Have a Dream” speech.
24:00Copy video clip URL Report on MLK ends with an audio clip of Robert Kennedy speaking about violence, which segues into a report on his death. Audio clips from the Ambassador Hotel as people disarm the assassin follow, as well as news clips.
26:08Copy video clip URL Ted Kennedy speaking at Robert Kennedy’s funeral: “Some men see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say why not?”
27:39Copy video clip URL Back to McCarren, who paraphrases T.S. Eliot: “April is the cruelest month. June too was cruel in 1968.” A commercial for Olympic Savings Berwyn follows.
29:10Copy video clip URL McCarren signs off. This was part 1 of 4.
30:17Copy video clip URL End of tape.
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