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October 2 - Tlatelolco massacre: A student demonstration ends in
a bloodbath at La Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Tlatelolco, Mexico
City, Mexico, 10 days before the inauguration of the 1968 Summer
Olympics.
October 3 - In Peru, Juan Velasco Alvarado takes the power by a
revolution.
October 5 - Police baton civil rights demonstrators in Derry,
Northern Ireland - considered to mark the beginning of The Troubles.
October 8 - Vietnam War: Operation Sealords - United States and
South Vietnamese forces launch a new operation in the Mekong Delta.
October 11 - Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 7, the
first manned Apollo mission (Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele, Walter
Cunningham). Mission goals include the first live television
broadcast from orbit and testing the lunar module docking maneuver.
October 11 - In Panama, a military coup d'état, led by Col.
Boris Martinez and Col. Omar Torrijos, overthrows the
democratically-elected (but highly controversial) government of
President Arnulfo Arias. Within a year, Torrijos will have ousted
Martinez and taken charge as de facto Head of Government in Panama.
October 12 - October 27 - The Games of the XIX Olympiad are held
in Mexico City, Mexico.
October 12 - Equatorial Guinea receives its independence from
Spain.
October 14 - Vietnam War: The United States Department of
Defense announces that the United States Army and United States
Marines will send about 24,000 troops back to Vietnam for
involuntary second tours.
October 16 - In Mexico City, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, 2
African-Americans competing in the Olympic 200-meter run, raise
their arms in a black power salute after winning the gold and bronze
medals for 1st and 3rd place.
October 16 - Kingston, Jamaica is rocked by the Rodney Riots,
provoked by the banning of Walter Rodney from the country.
October 20 - Former US First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy marries
Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis on the Greek island of Skorpios.
October 31 - Vietnam War: Citing progress in the Paris peace
talks, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces to the nation that
he has ordered a complete cessation of "all air, naval, and
artillery bombardment of North Vietnam" effective November 1.
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