26 Of The Most Powerful Photos Of May '68

A look at this month, 48 years ago.

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A Vietcong base camp burns in the background as Private First Class Raymond Rumpa of C Company, 3rd Battalion, 47th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division, walks past carrying a 90mm recoilless rifle on May 4th.

Eddie Adams / AP

A soldier stands lookout as Capt. Charles Robb inspects his gun positions on an outpost in a northern province near Danang, Vietnam, in May.

AP Photo

Soldiers of the U.S. 101st airborne division mourn their buddies killed in battle near Hue, Vietnam on May 31st. Helmets of the fallen soldiers rest atop M-16 rifles sticking from ground on bayonets. While peace talks continued at the time in Paris, Viet Cong forces continued offensives around Saigon and other areas of South Vietnam.

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Eddie Adams / AP

Young Vietnamese men on motorbikes stop to look at a Viet Cong soldier killed in the western section of Saigon, Cholon, during day-long fighting on May 5th. A group of Viet Cong moved into the area following a mortar barrage on different parts of the city. The fighting which took place in Cholon was near a heavily-hit area during the Tet Offensive.

NASA

In this May, 1968, photograph, the prime crew of the first manned Apollo space mission from left to right are: Command Module pilot, Don F. Eisele, Commander, Walter M. Schirra Jr. and Lunar Module pilot, Walter Cunningham. Commander Wally Schirra Jr. is seen inside the opening of the Command Module's main hatch.

Getty Images

Missiles are paraded through Red Square in Moscow, Russia, during the May Day parade on May 1st.

Korean Central News Agency / AP Images

In this photo from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency, students from Mangyongdae Revolutionary School read the "Memories of the Participants of the Anti-Japanese Partisans."

Anonymous / AP

Coretta Scott King and several of her late-husband's closest supporters unveil a marble plaque honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The group is standing on the Lorraine Motel Balcony where Dr. King was standing on April 4th, when he was fatally shot.

AP Photo

Coretta Scott King sits for a portrait at her home in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 28th.

AP Photo

Senator Robert F. Kennedy addresses a large crowd during a campaign stop at an Oakland playground-park in California, on May 31st.

AP Photo

Black Power militant H. Rap Brown clutches his new bride's hand as he leaves Federal court on May 22nd, in New Orleans. Brown received a five year prison sentence and a $2,000 fine after a biracial jury convicted him of violating the National Firearms Act. Today, Brown is now serving a life sentence for the 2000 shooting of two Fulton County Sheriff's deputies, one of which was killed in the incident.

AP Photo

Crowds of teenagers overturn a police car in Louisville, Kentucky on May 27th, as disturbances broke out in the city's predominantly black West End. Gov. Louie B. Nunn ordered National Guard into the city to help preserve order.

AP Photo

Students demonstrating against U.S. involvement in Vietnam clash with military veterans at Columbia University in New York on May 3rd.

Rusty Kennedy / AP

A segment of the "Poor People's Campaign" on Washington moves through a north Philadelphia street on May 14th, en route to a rally at Independence Hall. The march was organized by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. before his death and was focused on economic justice for America's poor populations.

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Students gather at the Champ de Mars on May 13th, in Paris at the peak of the "May '68" movement, a unitarian demonstration organized by the French workers unions CGT, CFDT, FO and FEN — all calling for a general strike. The protests rocked the nation, essentially shutting down France's economy and instilling the fear of revolution and civil war in many of France's political leaders.

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On May 6th, protesting students clash with police in the rue Saint-Jacques in Paris.

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Students link arms during civil unrest in Paris, France on May 30th.

AP Photo / Guy Kopelowicz

A demonstrator lies on the ground during clashes with police in Paris. Thirty years later, France is still grappling with the legacy of the would-be student revolution simply known as "May '68".

Michael Ochs Archives

Singer Janis Joplin performs onstage at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds for the Northern California Folk-Rock Festival on May 18th in San Jose, California.

John Lindsay / AP Photo

John Lennon and Paul McCartney speak to the press at a news conference on May 13th at the Americana Hotel in New York. On that day, The Beatles announced the formation of Apple Corps, and their plans to begin recording their first double album at the end of the month.

Ed Caraeff / Getty Images

Jim Morrison of The Doors performs at the Northern California Folk-Rock Festival at Family Park, Santa Clara County Fairgrounds on May 19th in San Jose, California.

Bob Dear / AP

Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones sinks into the back of a car traveling through London after earlier appearing at Marlborough Street Court, charged with possessing cannabis on May 21th. The 26-year-old guitarist of the group was remanded on a bail of £1,000.

Express Newspapers / Getty Images

American soul singer Aretha Franklin dancing for the cameras during a May press conference.

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David Bowie performs "in mime" at the Middle Earth Club in London on May 19th.

Ullstein Bild / Getty Images

In this picture from May 1968, a group of young people participating in the "68er-Bewegung" demonstration against the German Emergency Acts, link arms and march forward to Bonn.

Charles Tasnadi / AP

Demonstrators of the Poor Peoples' Campaign march onwards to the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, May 21th.