Unprecedented military defeat in Vietnam, a toppled president, charismatic leaders assassinated, the worst riots in U.S. history – and 1968 wasn't even half over. In these two lectures, revisit the most tumultuous year in recent history, which alternated passionate hopes and searing tragedies on almost a daily basis. Examine the May student-worker protests that drove the French republic to the brink of collapse, and the Prague Spring that brought hope for reforming the Communist Bloc. Watch footage of a Democratic convention torn apart by protests and violence, and examine how a bold about-face by a pro-war Democrat led to a photo finish with Richard Nixon. Lectures will be supplemented by audio and video of great speeches by Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy, as well as little-known accounts of behind-the-scenes decisions that led to some of the most shocking events in our time. Up for discussion will be the premise that a shift in one leader's judgment, a few votes, or a single bullet, might have changed the course of history.
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