see how it all turned out. as we look at america, we see cities enveloped in smoke and flame. we see americans dying on distant battlefields abroad. we see americans hating each other. fighting each other. killing each other at home. ♪ please allow me to introduce myself ♪ >> mr. nixon, i'm going to sting you and sting you like a hornet, day in and day out. >> we've got some difficult days ahead, but it really doesn't matter with me now, because i've been to the mountaintop. ♪ >> there are prospects for peace in vietnam, but no one knows when peace will come. ♪ ♪ well, after all, it was you

and me ♪ >> apollo starts the final american push to the moon. failure on this flight would all but finish u.s. chances of reaching the moon by the end of next year. >> five, four, we have ignition. >> on the basis of the spectacular success of apollo seven, it will be possible for the next mission, apollo eight, three americans, in orbit around the moon, on christmas. >> i think we have some late word just arriving. and interrupt to bring this to you. this is the latest disclosure in the report from national civil defense headquarters in washington. it has been established that persons who have recently died have been returning to life and

committing acts of murder. >> i saw "night of the living dead" at a drive-in movie theater. and i saw a zombie film before, but this is the zombie movie that creates the zombie movie. >> it was so gritty. it was in black and white. there were no recognizable stars, and it was as terrifying a film as i'd ever seen. >> and what the hell, the lead character's black, which was an unexpected political statement. >> it's a really tense movie, because they're in this house, hiding out from these zombies, and you get these sort of weird social dynamics that start going back and forth between the characters. i'd never seen a film with a black man as the hero. he's the person who has the plan. he's the person who's going to save everyone. and then you get to the next

morning. and this character, ben, is one of the last survivors. >> let's go check out the house, man. >> there's something, i heard a noise. >> hit him in the head, right between the eyes. >> this is six months after martin luther king is assassinated. and here you have this sort of, another great male black hero, and he dies and gets shot as well. as a kid, i took it to mean he was killed because he was black and that the hero can't survive if he's black. >> it worked as a scary movie and it worked as social commentary on the idea of the lone black hero in this white world. it doesn't matter how noble you think you are, you're still a black guy. >> all summer, for an assortment of reasons, a thunder of

discontent has rumbled on the horizon of the 19th olympiad. >> the olympic games, live and in color from mexico city. another abc sports exclusive. brought to you by the ford motor company. >> mr. edwards, i think it might help to illuminate your position if you explain your idea of the boy cot of the olympics. >> first of all, we have to understand that the olympic games in this society and in the world is the second-largest meeting of information at the international level outside of the united states itself, and it's just as political. >> the olympic project for human rights, at effort to forge boycotts and demonstrations at the 1968 mexico city games was to protest racism and discrimination in the united states and in sports in particular. >> i couldn't give you any information as far as the black athletes are concerned in mexico

city. all i can say is you can expect almost anything. >> jean carlos and tommy smith were sprinters that harry woods new from northern california, who were also active on their own. >> there's no way you can really plan for anything like this. because first, you've got to win. you've got to make it to the podium. so this idea that there was somehow this huge plan, what there was was an ongoing disposition and commitment to make a statement. >> olympic victory ceremony, 200 meters, men. >> jean carlos and tommy smith made it to the podium, and both had the commitment and the courage to say before

100,000-plus people that we, too, are committed to the struggle. ♪ >> they raised their fist, not in militant disrespect for the flag, but as a salute on behalf of all of the people who would never get to that station, never get to that podium, to make a statement about human rights in this country. >> it was pretty courageous thing to do, because they knew that that was probably going to be, not just getting kicked out of the olympics, but probably the end of their hope for a career in athletics. >> where are you going, carlos? >> going home, home, home, home,

home. >> tommy and jean were banned from olympic competition for life. the average person to this day does not understand the courage and the commitment that it took to do that. >> you understand that many white people in america don't agree with you. that there will be some backlash because of this. much backlash. >> to do something good, you would always, someone would always find fault, so i was prepared for this also. >> are you proud to be an american? >> i'm proud to be a black american. nt firm with a truly long-term view that's been through multiple market cycles for over 85 years? with capital group, i can. talk to your financial professional or consultant for investment risks and information. and its mission is to make sleep...feel...cool. so, no more night sweats. no more nocturnal baking,

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and longer. zzzquil pure zzzs all night. fall asleep. stay asleep. . in a year when most campaign talk has been deadly, wallace inserts a kind of drama into his television appearances. >> you better have your day now, because after november 5th, you are through in the united states, thank you very much. >> in october, wallace was at 21%. he had a large constituency and widened his message. he began to reach more and more of the folks in the north. >> i'd rather vote for him than

nixon or humphrey, because i don't like the two of them. >> wallace, by the fall of '68 has a major problem. he needs a vice presidential candidate, and no one wants the job. first he reached out to mr. baseball, chandler, but he is somewhat liberal on immigration issues, so that's not going to work. >> so they go back to the drawing board, they consider colonel sanders, the fried chicken guy. they contacted the colonel who basically said, don't be a fool, i'm running a business. i'm not about to antagonize half my customers here. so, at that point, wallace began talking about retired general curtis lee may. >> i'm very proud to have as my running mate, a man of great

courage, general curtis e. le may. >> he was responsible for the fire bombing of japan in world war ii and a nuclear evangelist. >> thank you. >> the night before the press conference, wallace's aides sit down and say whatever happens do not talk about nuclear weapons, the efficacy of nuclear weapons. you just have to stay away from that. the first question to le may is about nuclear weapons. >> i think there are many occasions when it would be most efficient to use nuclear weapons. >> le may launches into this unbelievable defense of nuclear weapons. >> doesn't make much difference to me if i have to go to war and get killed in the jungle of vietnam with a rusty knife or get killed with a nuclear weapon, as a matter of fact, if i had a choice i'd lean towards the nuclear. >> well, at that point, wallace

is about to have a nervous break down. >> le may went on and said we tested them in bikini atoll, and a lot of the animal life is back. >> the rats are bigger and fatter than they ever were before, so taking a look at these facts you might think of putting 21 bombs down and improve it. >> he said the sand crabs are a little hot. >> it just turned out to be politically a disaster. >> one more statement. wait a minute. >> and support for wallace seemed to go downhill after that. >> the latest harris poll released today shows that hubert humphrey has shoved to win five percentage points of richard nixon. harris said if humphrey gains another two or three points on nixon, the election could be too close to call. >> the last line of the speech he has prepared for tonight says, well, it looks like we're going to win. that's a political line, but the kind of line he could barely

have read with a straight face a month ago. >> humphrey, late in the election decided to stop being insipid and actually get out there and be who he was, which was kind of a battler. >> well, mr. nixon, we're supposed to have this election in the bag, but ladies and gentlemen, when he opens that bag, on november 5th, out will jump

nixon was that that old, whiny, sad, combative loser is gone. >> and now, nbc presents rowan and martin's "laugh-in." >> sock it to me? >> the difference in the campaign was that whenever possible, the candidate is never in an environment that he can't control. the counsel to richard nixon was don't leave script. >> nixon makes the same speech wherever he goes, all candidates do that. but nixon is speaking on the issues of the day in only the most general way. he's saying there are lots of things wrong with this country, and he's promising to do something about it, but he's not saying what. >> time will extend a discussion in those great problems in which you're all interested. but my friends, i say to you,

let's enlist the people of america, enlist their hearts and their minds in the handling of the problems of america. america became great not because of what government did for people, but for what people did for themselves. that is the way to move. >> in hockey, there's a term about if you have a one-goal lead you go into a shell. you just play, you play defense. so nixon basically went into a shell. >> richard the careful, richard so careful today that he won't say anything about anything to anybody at any time. he either evades and straddles every major issue. i'm going to send him some kind of talcum powder, he must be getting saddle sore straddling all those issues. >> humphrey was on the move. richard the chicken-hearted. he was attacking us. and we were doing the same thing we had done in september. i told nixon, you've got to attack humphrey. we can't let him bring the party

together. if they get together, we lod the battle. >> as the big day draws nearer and the polls show hubert humphrey drawing closer, the ice water generally believed to flow through richard nixon's veins may be melting and may, indeed, be nearing the boiling point. new one a day natural fruit bites multivitamins are made with farm grown apples as the first ingredient. and key nutrients you want. so you can have a daily multivitamin free of stuff you don't want. one a day natural fruit bites. a new way to multivitamin.

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fight, fight, fight. >> george wallace's spirits appear to be sagging. for several days he'd run into overwhelming protests and shouted down in el paso. >> wallace was a very effective demagogue. he knew how to get a crowd energized, he knew how to get them angry. he knew how to get them violent, and often that was the goal. >> if you want to stop all this nonsense, you just vote for me november 5th and i'll -- >> as time went on, people began to say, maybe he's not the person to stop it because he's the person making it happen in the first place. >> now i don't mind speaking here, but when you start throwing rocks that size -- who threw it? that's all right. go ahead and throw another one.

>> by this time, i think he is frustrated, angry. wallace was more and more in fights with his campaign staff. who told him over and over again, i know that you see yourself as a national candidate. but the strategy is to throw this election in the house of representatives. you're not going to win. we need to be campaigning in florida, virginia, texas. his yego wouldn't allow it. ♪ in one of his last major rallies was in new york city. >> i'm sure the "new york times" took note of the reception that we received here in the great city of new york. >> he speaks to a packed crowd, the largest political gathering in madison square garden's history. but outside, it's ugly. >> george wallace brought his campaign to new york tonight,

and all of the hostility and anger that have built up around this campaign spilled into these streets. >> these were the anarchists to whom the candidate frequently referred. as he is a man who arouses moeshlg extreme, love and hate and passion. those among the 15,000 allowed inside appeared to have decided already to vote for wallace. >> don't worry about what the newspapers say about us. they can fool some of the people some of the time, but they can't fool all the people all of the time. you remember that. >> now here is frank reynolds. >> good evening. in the words of an american spokesman at the pairs pearis p talks, there was nothing encouraging in the discussion with the north vietnamese. >> there with a lot of words. the session lasted two and a half hours but like the others

before it, it ended without any visible sign toward peace. >> lyndon johnson was trying, trying, trying to get the north vietnamese to the tablt, he thought not only will this help my legacy but help hooubert humphrey. >> there will be no break through in the peace talks until the bombing has stopped unconditionally. >> the united states had in fact dropped more bombs on north vietnam and in south vietnam than they had used in the entire world war ii. >> the north vietnamese would not engage in negotiations until the united states ceased all bombing of north vietnam. >> for the last two weeks, rumors of an imminent break through to peace have swept the world, but there have been no official announcement by this country until the one the president is about to make right now. >> i have now ordered that all air, naval and artillery

bombardment of north vietnam cease. >> there are going to be a great many people in this country who are going to speculate about the fact that the president has managed to bring all this about just five days before the election. >> johnson's bombing halt was clearly designed to push humphrey over the top. my view was it was a political ploy. >> if the democrats manage to settle the war by election day, the election is over. richard nixon has no chance at all. and he responds with a very radical maneuver. >> nixon tells his team to use a woman named anna shanault to monkey wrench the negotiations in paris. >> a member of nixon's campaign is telling saigon, stay away from the peace talks, and you'll get a better deal if nixon is elected. >> as a presidential candidate

and my vice presidential running mate joins me in this, neither he or i will say anything that might destroy the chance to have peace. we want peace above politics in america. >> i really think it's a little dirty pool for dick's people to be messing with the south vietnamese ambassador and carrying messages around to both of them. and i don't think the people would approve of it if it were known. and he better keep mrs. chinault and all this crowd tied up. >> he feel confident, that the condition that north vietnam had always asked for has been met and four-party peace talks are imminent. they will happen. well, in saigon, on november 1st, the president stands up on the dais and drops the bombshell, they cannot participate in the negotiations.

>> i have nothing to tell with you. >> embarrassment is common among americans in vietnam, particularly those of us who have acquaintances among the vietnamese. we find ourselves apologizing, apologizing for what may be one of the biggest diplomatic blunders in u.s. history. >> once we heard the south vietnamese were not aboard, i said, let this play out, because when this south vietnam thing breaks, it's going to look like johnson didn't have all his ducks in a row, and this is political as it can be. >> i think president johnson went into this bombing pause with the very best of intentions. i think, however, the reason that the ducks were not in a row is that he was relying on an old team, a team of well-intentioned men, but they're tired. i think that what we need is a new team. a new team that won't make these mistakes. (record scratching) ( ♪ )

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california law gives survivors a chance to take legal action, but only for a limited time. if you were sexually abused by a priest, scout leader, coach or teacher contact us confidentially today. it's time. election night '68. reporting from election headquarters, walter cronkite. >> good evening, everyone. we may be here for a very long night tonight. it's been one of the roughest, roughest and unhappiest political years in american history. in the next few hours or for as long as it takes, we'll see how it all turned out. >> this was one of those special

elections where many voters felt that the direction of the country was really at stake. we're talking about big issues of war and peace, race relations. people are waiting with baited breath to see how this is going to unfold. >> nixon was asked about a last-minute poll showing humphrey slightly ahead and he said "i don't consider that reliable." >> we're down three in the harris poll, which said to me we're going to lose the election. and nixon said, okay. no reaction whatsoever. but i was very pessimistic. my hands broke out in hives. >> everyone was just trying to contain their anxieties and excitement. ♪ >> everybody, by theis time is exhausted. we've been going at this since january. you're kind of spent, to put it mildly. so you just have to keep the adrenaline going, and the candidate has to keep it

together. >> richard nixon will win colorado. hubert humphrey, according to the cbs news estimates has carried michigan. >> nixon will carry wyoming. >> wallace will win in louisiana. >> wallace was a problem for us. he's a terrible problem, because there are about five southern states that wallace would take. we would have carried those states. >> wallace realized that he had slipped a good bit from where he had been. he still had hopes that he might be able to throw it into the house of representatives. >> if he comes in second, if the election ends in a three-way deadlock. if he shows substantial strength outside the south, so far as wallace is concern the, any of these things would prove his case and be a victory of sorts. >> and here's the electoral votes, the ones that still count under our archaic system. >> if none of these men get 270 electoral votes then the matter goes to the house of representatives. >> before this night is over we

shall know whether we have indeed chosen a president or whether our electoral system has led us into a major constitutional and political crisis. >> the unbelievable messiness of what happens if no one wins an electoral vote is almost indescribable. it would take an hour to describe it, and no one would understand it, including me. >> an hour to describe it and four years to sort it out. >> hubert humphrey has taken a lead for the first time tonight. >> howard, i can't tell you very much. i'm in the middle of the darnedest jam i've seen for a long time. and it's indicative of what's happened in this campaign. hubert humphrey a month ago a sure loser and today has all the earmarks of a sure winner. >> anyone who goes to bed without knowing a little bit more about what's going on in the midwest tonight could be in for a shock in the morning.

>> by midnight, nixon thinks, oh, my god, it's happening again. it looks like it's going down to illinois. >> and at that point, pat nixon went into the bathroom and threw up, because she had been there in 1960, and here it was happening again. >> i think before the morning is out, hubert humtry wiphrey wille next president of the united states! >> good morning, or if you've stayed through the night with us, hello once more. >> less than 26 electoral votes in illinois. richard nixon goes over the top with 287 electoral votes, and that seems to be the 1968 election. >> nixon's the one. that's the natural banner for any spritely front page tonight. there are the numbers. in short, nixon and humphrey are separated by about 375 thousandths of one percent.

>> i went immediately into the bedroom where nixon was propped up with his briefcase on his lap, and i said sir, you've just been declared the winner. he jumped out of bed, looks at the set and everybody is cheering and congratulating one another. >> it was vindication, validation, everything he had dreamed of. >> it's the greatest comeback in political history. and nobody could believe it. >> nixon declined to claim victory, even though it was his, until humphrey had conceded, and a little afternoon today, humphrey did, with tears in his eyes. >> i never had any doubt but what it would be a close fight. one way, it bounced an a little one way, bounced a little another. we've got a president-elect. he's going to have my help. cheers. >> i think the problem with the humphrey campaign was that it

was built on sinking sand from the beginning. and that is the old democratic coalition, which no longer exists, and hubert humphrey tried to win with it one more time, and he fell short. >> because richard nixon won in 1968, politicians have almost every level, including the presidential level, after that, said okay, this is the new campaign model. >> he put together an effective television campaign. he put together planned rallies where no opposition was ever in evidence. he controlled his campaign from beginning to end, and that, to me is the significant thing. if he won by one vote or 10,000 or 100,000, he won. >> the basic appeal of richard nixon in 1968 is reaction. it's reaction to a world that seems to have gone mad. >> nixon was inheriting a nation which was bitterly and permanently, it turns out, divided over the war in vietnam, over issues of race, over issues

of culture. over issues of morality. i really think he thought he could bring the country together. >> some public men are destined to be loved, and other public men are destined to be disliked. but the most important thing about a public man is not whether he's loved or disliked but whether he's respected, and i hope to restore respect to the presidency. of people in a place. but when you have the chase mobile app, your bank can be virtually any place. so, when you get a check... you can deposit it from here. and you can see your transactions and check your balance from here. you can save for an emergency from here. or pay bills from here. so when someone asks you, "where's your bank?" you can tell them: here's my bank. or here's my bank. or, here's my bank. because if you download and use the chase mobile app, your bank is virtually any place. visit chase.com/mobile. how do you gaveeno® happy 24/7? with prebiotic oat. it hydrates and softens skin.

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going to see "2001 the space odyssey" for me was almost a spiritual experience. it reshaped my concept of cinematic art in 15 minutes. >> there'd been for a long time, science fiction visionaries like

h.g. wells and jules verne imagining what going to the moon was like, but nobody had seen a film like kubrick's masterpiece, and it made us question not just space exploration but what is the human dilemma? what does this mean about us? many americans didn't want cultural comfort food anymore. they actually wanted something challenging. it's like going to a fine art museum where the viewer projects on abstract art what he or she wants to see there. but it's not usually a recipe for a successful film, and yet it was popular. >> open the pod bay doors, hal. >> i'm sorry, dave. i'm afraid i can't do that. >> we're getting into what they were calling then the computer age, and "2001" looks at, well, what if the machine turns on us, it looks at the anxiety, the underlying fears we have about the way the world is changing. >> before i say grace today, i

would like for us to pause for a moment of silence in memory of our friends that were lost this morning. let us pray. >> alpha company had three men killed and three others wounded in the battle just ended. instead of turkey dinner for 150, there will be just 144. >> the experience of missing holidays while you're in a combat zone, of course, weighs heavily on you. it's a time where you get nostalgic. tears come to your eyes, and you envisioned all things good and beautiful back in the world, because you wanted to remind yourself that there was another world, and that you were going to get there. >> i guess on a day like this, you really have something to be thankful for. >> uh, yes, i do. i really have something to be thankful for, that i'm still

alive. i'm doing my best to stay alive for the next few days. >> there was no way to gauge progress in anything like the classical sense of the term. the only gauge of progress was how many enemy were killed in a particular day or week or month as compared to how many of us. and they start to ask, well, lieutenant, what the hell are we doing here? the only thing i could say at that time, i said we're marines, we're professional soldiers. we fight the enemy they tell us to fight, and we fight for each other. >> you know that if you have to, you really will lay down your life for these guys. and that, that they'll do the same for you. >> hold it up and spread it out! >> at some point you start to wonder, what is this all about? i didn't quite get it. we're not moving forward. we'd go to the same place

sometimes, the same tour, it'd be like, we were here three months ago. it just started to not make sense. >> uh-huh. how many uh-huhs do you want? >> ladies and gentlemen, mr. elvis presley. ♪ >> elvis had really fallen out of the public eye after 1960, when he mustered in the army. and although he's still making movies, he's become a little caricature. and a new sound is coming with the british invasion. >> it's been a long time. >> at the end of the year you get elvis on the stage with a group of musicians from the '50s, doing his stripped-down versions of "heartbreak hotel", "love me tender."

and suddenly, the world falls in love with elvis again. ♪ go, cat, go, but don't step on my blue suede shoes ♪ >> suddenly the symbol of all that is decadent becomes a symbol of an older, gentler america. ♪ love me tender ♪ love me true >> it's elvis unplugged. elvis wasn't like that before, and he'll never be like that again. but, for that moment, you understand the magnetism, the charm and the real raw talent of elvis presley. ♪ ♪ there must be lights burning brighter ♪ ♪ somewhere >> what's most memorable for me about that special is the song that elvis will end with, and it's a song penned by walter brown for elvis in the aftermath of the assassination of dr. king. and it's about elvis sharing the

dream that men can one day walk together in brotherhood. ♪ out there in the dark ♪ there's a bright burning candle ♪ >> elvis is one of the greatest vehicles for a song in history, but because he wasn't a writer, he was very demandant pendent oe was handed. and in that case he was handed a song worthy of him and a sentiment worthy of him. >> he reclaims his soul in 1968. it wasn't just a comeback special because he'd been away, it was a comeback special because he reasserted who he was. ♪ new one a day natural fruit bites multivitamins are made with farm grown apples as the first ingredient. and key nutrients you want. so you can have a daily multivitamin free of stuff you don't want. one a day natural fruit bites. a new way to multivitamin.

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every christmas eve is for some people the first christmas without someone who was around last year. but every christmas eve is for some people the first christmas with someone who was not around last year. for ethel kennedy and her family this is both kinds of christmas. last week she brought home rory kennedy, born six months after her father died. >> will this be, can this be a happy christmas in the king household? >> christmas will be sad for us

as it will be for many people i think this year. a time like this causes people to really reflect on the deeper meaning of saint christmas. >> as the country moved into december, what a year it's been. one of the most dramatic and consequential years in history. but out there -- up there is the great dream of putting a man on the moon. >> 6 1/2 years ago john f. kennedy set this nation on a course towards the moon. this morning three americans are on the verge of the greatest adventure of which man has ever embarked. >> the engines are armed, five, four, three, two, one, zero.

we have liftoff. >> and there's the rumble in our building. but what a beautiful flight. man perhaps on the way to the moon if all continues to go well. >> it seemed almost unbelievable. the nation collectively held its breath worrying about are they going to make it, what happens to the astronauts, what happens to the space program if they don't. such a miraculous thing is against the odds but maybe, maybe we can make it. >> coming you personally halfway between the moon and the earth. we have about less than 48 hours to go to the moon. >> they actually arrived at the moon on christmas eve. and in order to get into lunar orbit they have to fire the engine on the far side of the

moon where there's no radio contact with mission control. >> apollo will be facing backwards on a breaking maneuver. that action will slow them down. they'll have put themselves into lunar orbit, the first men in history to have done so, and the trickiest and most dangerous part of their flight. >> you could have any number of things go wrong, end up in the wrong orbit, hit the moon. >> all systems go. >> you have to have absolute faith in every thing that has ever been done to develop this rocket motor. all they can do is point it in the right direction and press a button and hope that it works perfectly. >> apollo 8, houston over. >> we've got it.

we've got it. apollo 8 now in lunar orbit. there's a cheer in this room. >> it's awe-inspiring and makes you realize just what you have back on earth. >> when they were coming around the far side of the moon bill anders saw the earth rising and he snapped a picture. >> when the picture started coming back of the earth from that distance the sense of americans deepened, the sense of how great the cosmos, how small we are, how fragile the earth is, all of those things began to bounce around like electricity in your brain and touch a very

special part in your heart. >> tonight the crew of apollo 8 presents a christmas eve program from the heavens. >> with a few orbits to go they made one last television transmission. the public affairs director had said there's going to be more people watching that television show than have ever witnessed any event in human history. say something appropriate. >> for all the people back on earth, the crew of apollo 8 we would like to say to you in the beginning god created the heaven and the earth, and the earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep. >> to have the guys reading genesis was so spot on. whatever your concept of god was, the earth is a beautiful creation. >> good night, good luck and

merry christmas and god bless all of you. all of you on the good earth. >> god bless them. >> unbelievable. >> man, that made the last week of 1968 perhaps as hopeful a moment as we could have expected. >> for those of us who lived through that time we were reminded that darkness does not last. >> apollo 8, human kind's first flight into the orbit of the moon, an event sure to be written larger on the books of history than almost any our generation has seen. a year of trouble and turbulence, anger and assassination and now coming to an end in incandescent triumph. apollo 8 achieved everyone of its major mission aims and something else. it lifted the spirits of

earthbound mortals and carried them, too, if only for a while out of their own horizons. let there be light in the heavens said genesis. surging numbers, coronavirus cases reach staggering levels at dozens of u.s. states pump the brakes on their drive to reopen. >> new developments on whether president trump was told russian intelligence offered cash rewards to the taliban to kill american troops. also sports in the time of covid-19. the nba just announced its plan to play safely. will other leagues follow suit? we'll let you know what to expect. hello and welcome to "cnn newsroom." i'm michael holmes.