• by Fern Siegel , January 8, 2018

Some years in history are so monumental, they deserve intense study.

That’s the case for 1968, which put the country through seismic political and cultural shifts. In that tumultuous year, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated; LBJ signed a Civil Rights Act, Yale admitted women, Richard Nixon was elected president and humans orbited the moon.

On the pop-culture front, 2001: A Space Odyssey premiered, while rock band Led Zeppelin gave its first live performance.

Now, 50 years later, The Atlantic is producing a year-long series, led by staff writer Conor Friedersdorf, to chronicle the momentous moments that made up a defining year in U.S. history — and helped shape modern America.

Friedersdorf told Radio Atlantic that often forgotten history is worth revisiting. Seminal events, the black power salute at the Olympics, the My Lai massacre that turned the public against the Vietnam War, various technological changes “defined and shaped us in ways … that inform how we behave today.”

He added: “Today, people are losing faith in the American experience, we’re in an authoritarian moment, and 1968 resonates with the last two years. You see in both a loss of faith in political leadership. It frightened voters. It caused them to embrace Richard Nixon in one case and Donald Trump in another.”

A second charge of the series is to put the culture in perspective.

The Atlantic hopes to present the past in a truthful, contextual way without present-day bias. Writers will utilize archival material, experts, TV and movies and remembrances from those willing to share personal recollections.

On Radio Atlantic, Editor in Chief Jeffrey Goldberg, added: “The [Martin Luther] King assassination is one of the most important events of post-World War II America -- and we could use that as a locus to say: Where have we gone, where have we not gone, where did we think we were going, and what happened along the way?”