achorn and had been since 1963. Italy was led by President Giuseppe Saragat, elected in 1964. There were to be elections May 19 and 20 for a new president, and Saragat would be returned to office until 1971 (The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1992 517-526).
The war in Vietnam was the primary conflict in the world at that time, especially to the United States. As noted, the Tet Offensive had taken place in the early months of 1968 and had been the largest offensive in the war. The Middle East was still a concern. It was almost a year before when there had been fighting in the Middle East in what would be called the Six Day War. The Six-Day War would be the shortest war in the history of the Middle East. It was started by Israel with an air attack against Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. Israel emerged from the war with new territory, notably that of Palestine and portions of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and Syria's Golan Heights and the West Bank of Jordan, and the Arab states were still smarting from their loss (Rubinstein 51-53).
The population of the United States in 1968 stoo
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