1968

Overview

1968 was the year Crown Prince Harald’s engagement to commoner Sonja Haraldsen turned Norway upside down. The Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia, and two prominent American politicians — presidential candidate Robert Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King — were assassinated. Student protests spread from Paris to other cities, and Americans faced worldwide opposition to the Vietnam War. Three Norwegians who shaped the year comment on the events. Ingrid Wigernæs trained the women’s relay team «Jentut’n», who won their first Olympic gold. Jan Erik Vold released his poetry collection Mother Kindheart’s Happy Version. And Sigurd Allern led the political left as chairman of SUF.