September 1968

[September 1], 1968 (Sunday)

• In the first reforms after the August 20 invasion by the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact, the Czechoslovak Communist Party more than doubled its Central Committee from 87 members to 194, and increased its Presidium from 11 members to 21. Party First Secretary Alexander Dubček, Premier Oldřich Černík, and National Assembly President Josef Smrkovsky, who had all been arrested after the invasion and held prisoner in the Soviet Union, were elected to the new Presidium and retained their positions.
• Austria received its first deliveries of natural gas from the Soviet Union with the opening of a pipeline across the Czechoslovak border with Austria, fulfilling a June 1 agreement as the first Western European country to agree to a long term purchase of Soviet energy resources.
• Born: Mohamed Atta, Egyptian-born terrorist who led the hijacking of American Airlines Flight 11 and destroyed the North Tower of the World Trade Center during the September 11 attacks, killing himself and 1,493 people on that day; in Kafr el-Sheikh, United Arab Republic

  [September 2], 1968 (Monday)

• The Bimini Road, an underwater rock formation composed of large, rectangular limestone blocks in an almost straight line that runs for, was discovered by three divers off of the coast of the North Bimini island in the Bahamas.

  [September 3], 1968 (Tuesday)

• António de Oliveira Salazar, the 79-year-old Prime Minister of Portugal and that nation's dictator since 1932, was seriously injured at his beach resort home in Estoril when the deck chair he was sitting in collapsed and his head struck the floor. Salazar had a cerebral hemorrhage and, by Friday, was showing signs of a stroke. He went into a coma and would be replaced on September 27.
• The crash of a Bulgarian airliner killed 42 of the 82 passengers on board, and all but two members of the crew of five, while attempting to land at Bourgas on a flight from Dresden in East Germany. Most of the people on board were East German tourists who were on their way to a vacation at the Black Sea resort.
• Sir Leonard Williams, who had recently been knighted after retiring as the general secretary of Britain's Labour Party, took office as the second Governor-General of Mauritius, replacing Sir John Rennie.
• Died: Juan José Castro, 73, Argentinian classical composer and conductor

  [September 4], 1968 (Wednesday)

• Alphonse Massamba-Débat was forced to resign from his position as President of the Republic of the Congo, one month after relinquishing most of his power to the National Revolutionary Council following an August 4 coup. The Prime Minister, Congo Army Captain Alfred Raoul, was named as the acting President but would yield a few months later to the Council leader, Captain Marien Ngouabi, on January 1, 1969. Massamba-Debat would be executed on March 25, 1977, a week after Ngouabi's assassination.
• Wernher von Braun, Director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, ordered the first full test of the new pressure suits to be worn on Apollo missions. The test, made in the Neutral Buoyancy Simulator at the Saturn I workshop, showed that upgraded seals were "very good", but von Braun recommended additional handholds and tether points.
• Born:
• *Mike Piazza, American Major League Baseball player and inductee of the Baseball Hall of Fame, known for hitting 427 home runs in his 16-season career; in Norristown, Pennsylvania
• *John DiMaggio, American voice actor; in North Plainfield, New Jersey

  [September 5], 1968 (Thursday)

• To preserve its monopoly on the American telephone system, the AT&T Corporation introduced a small device that CEO H. I. Romnes called the "protective coupling arrangement". On June 26, the Carterfone decision had been issued by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission allowing other companies to connect directly to the AT&T telephone network. AT&T then changed the electronic signals required for access; customers would be able to connect non-AT&T devices to the AT&T network, but only if they paid a monthly lease for the PCA that could transmit the required electronic signal. In displaying the device and announcing the new policy to AT&T executives, Romnes said "We welcome competition... the more, the merrier... our intent is to make interfaces as simple and inexpensive as possible."

  [September 6], 1968 (Friday)

• The Kingdom of Swaziland, a British colony surrounded entirely by South Africa, was granted independence from the United Kingdom. At the time, Swaziland had a population of 400,000 people. Sobhuza II, who had been named the Paramount Chief of the Swazi people as an infant after the death of his father in 1899, and who had been formally enthroned in 1921, was presented with the instruments of independence by the British Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs, George Thomson, who appeared on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II.
• Portugal's Prime Minister Salazar underwent emergency brain surgery in Lisbon, three days after striking his head on the floor of his residence when a deck-chair collapsed.
• Died: Dr. Rudolf Schindler, 80, German gastroenterologist who, with Georg Wolf, invented the first semi-flexible gastroscope in 1932

  [September 7], 1968 (Saturday)

• Two different protests were made against the Miss America beauty pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey, one against sexism, the other against racism. Activist and author Robin Morgan and 100 members of the feminist organization New York Radical Women organized the "No More Miss America" protest and picketed outside of Convention Hall while the pageant went on inside. Among the events were the crowning of a live sheep and the planned burning of the contents of a "Freedom Trash Can" with high-heeled shoes, women's brassieres, girdles, false eyelashes and copies of magazines like Playboy. A description, by reporter Lindsy Van Gelder and the New York Post of the bonfire plan as the first "bra burning" protest attracted reporters, but an Atlantic City ordinance prohibited the setting of fires on the wooden Boardwalk. The event was one of the first large demonstrations of Second Wave Feminism as the Women's Liberation movement began to attract national media attention.
• On the same day of the protests, Judith Ford of Illinois was crowned as Miss America for 1969 at Convention Hall, but on the same evening, the very first Miss Black America pageant took place at the nearby Ritz Carlton Hotel, initially to call attention to the lack of African American contestants in the pageant and in the state pageants that determined the winners. Saundra Williams of Pennsylvania was crowned hours after Ford won the Miss America title.
• The Banana Splits Adventure Hour began airing on NBC as a collaboration of Sid and Marty Krofft with the Hanna-Barbera Company. Marking the start of a trend in the American television networks away from violent programming to slapstick comedy and music, the show featured four costumed animal characters — Fleegle, Bingo, Drooper and Snork— who played instruments in a rock group. The show would run for 2 seasons, airing its last episode 15 months later on December 13, 1969.
• Geoff Vowden, a forward for Birmingham City F.C., was put into the second half of a soccer football game against Huddersfield Town A.F.C. to replace starter Ron Wylie, and scored three goals in the Blues' 5–1 win over the Terriers, becoming the first substitute player in English Football League history to achieve a hat-trick.
• Born: Marcel Desailly, Ghana-born centre-back and midfielder for the French national soccer football team from 1993 to 2004; in Accra
• Died: Lucio Fontana, 69, Argentine-born Italian painter and sculptor

  [September 8], 1968 (Sunday)

• After a ceasefire of almost 11 months, the War of Attrition between Egypt and Israel erupted into large scale fighting as the Egyptian Army began firing artillery shells against Israeli Defense Force positions on the opposite side of the Suez Canal. Over the course of three weeks, 10 Israeli soldiers were killed and 18 wounded. Israel would retaliate on October 30 with a helicopter raid on two of the Suez Canal bridges and an electricity substation on the Nile River; as a result of the shelling, Israel would fortify its side of the canal and the Bar Lev Line would be completed in March.
• In peace talks in Paris, aimed at negotiating an end to the Vietnam War, U.S. negotiator W. Averell Harriman had his first private meeting with his counterpart from North Vietnam, Le Duc Tho. The two diplomats conferred, along with their interpreters, at the Paris suburb of Vitry-sur-Seine.
• Born:
• *Francisco Martin Duran, American felon who received a 40-year prison sentence after firing 29 rounds of ammunition at the White House on October 29, 1994, in an apparent attempt to assassinate U.S. President Bill Clinton; in Barelas, Albuquerque, New Mexico
• *Louise Minchin, English morning news show host for BBC One; in British Hong Kong

  [September 9], 1968 (Monday)

• The very first U.S. Open tennis tournament was held, as a successor to the U.S. National Championship, a Grand Slam event that had been limited to amateurs. Virginia Wade defeated Billie Jean King to win the women's singles; both had become professional players earlier in the year. Bob Lutz and Stan Smith, both amateurs, won the men's doubles over the team of Arthur Ashe and Andrés Gimeno. Maria Bueno and Margaret Court beat Rosemary Casals and King in the women's doubles; all four were pros.
• Still playing as an amateur, Arthur Ashe, an African-American and a lieutenant in the United States Army, won his first Grand Slam tournament, the US Open, by defeating professional Tom Okker of the Netherlands in the best-of-five finals, 14–12, 5–7, 6–3, 3–6, 6–3. Okker, however, was awarded the $14,000 prize money for the highest finish by a professional because Ashe was ineligible to receive it as an amateur. Ashe would turn professional the following year and would win the Australian Open in 1970 and Wimbledon in 1975.
• The Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range was established as the first area in the United States set aside as a refuge for mustangs, the American wild horse. The U.S. Department of the Interior designated of isolated mountain terrain in Montana and Wyoming as a protected area.
• Born: Lila Downs, Grammy Award-winning Mexican singer and multilingual songwriter; in Tlaxiaco