January 15th to January 21st
Monday, January 15th, 1968 - An earthquake in western Sicily kills 431, injures 262, and leaves nearly 50,000 people homeless.
Tuesday, January 16th, 1968 - The Youth International Party (better known as the "YIPPIES!") is founded by counter-culture activists Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin.
Wednesday, January 17th, 1968 - President Lyndon Johnson delivers the annual State of the Union address, in which he proposes a 10 percent surcharge on corporate and individual icome taxes to help fund new domestic programs and the expanding war in Vietnam.
Thursday, January 18th, 1968 - African-American singer Eartha Kitt, attending a gathering at the White House to discuss juvenile delinquency, ignites a firestorm of controversy when she says, "You send the best of this country off to be shot and maimed. They rebel in the streets. They will take pot and they will get high. They don't want to go to school because they are going to be snatched from their mothers to be shot in Vietnam".
Friday, January 19th, 1968 - President Lyndon Johnson nominates Clark M. Clifford to succeed retiring Robert S. McNamara as Secretary of Defense.
Saturday, January 20th, 1968 - At a Woody Guthrie memorial concert at Carnegie Hall in New York, Bob Dylan performs publicly for the first time since his motorcycle accident on July 29th, 1966.
Sunday, January 21st, 1968 - The Ford Theater in Washington D.C., where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, reopens after a three-year, $2.4 million restoration project.