Must Reads: 1968's assassinations, riots, war and political chaos defined our world

Compelling, ambitious reads you can’t afford to miss.

Local enterprise reporter Mike Rosenwald writes compelling stories about the past for The Post's history blog, Retropolis, and its engaging new podcast, Retropod, which he hosts. Rosenwald is struck by how often those stories have been forgotten, even in the age of instant information. "Documents, letters, and other materials we associate with figuring out what happened a long time ago are not always accessible," he said. "It's almost like, well, if you can't find it on Google, it doesn't really exist."

This week, The Post's commitment to illuminating history was on full display as the country marked the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the fury that followed in Washington and scores of other cities. It was a year of political and social chaos, and many of 1968's flash points — race, war and political polarization — still consume us. To do justice to 1968's impact, The Post published the first of two special sections, and created a stunning multimedia story that chronicled the devastating riots in the nation's capital.

"The city has changed so much that the vast majority of people living in those riot corridors don't know what happened there," said deputy local editor Monica Norton, who organized the team of people — more than two dozen reporters, editors, designers, photographers, graphic artists, video journalists, social media editors and others — to work on the project. She wanted readers to understand that though Washington has thrived in recent years, "it remains as segregated as it was in 1968." The legacy of that year's pain and turmoil remain ever present.  

— Lynda Robinson, Local Enterprise Editor

The four days in 1968 that reshaped Washington Chaotic riots left 13 dead and more than 900 businesses damaged in the wake of King’s assassination Ann Gerhart, Danielle Rindler and Michael E. Ruane  •  Read more »

‘I Am a Man’: The ugly Memphis sanitation workers’ strike that led to MLK’s assassination The strike began 50 years ago after two workers were crushed on the back of a garbage truck. It won the support of Martin Luther King Jr. and ended with his death. DeNeen L. Brown  •   Read more »

‘That stain of bloodshed’: After King’s assassination, RFK calmed an angry crowd with an unforgettable speech On April 4, 1968, Bobby Kennedy announced Martin Luther King Jr.'s death in Indianapolis, invoking his own brother's murder for the first time. Michael S. Rosenwald  •   Read more »

A ‘Pearl Harbor in politics’: LBJ’s stunning decision not to seek reelection The president agonized about what to do right up until he went on television March 31, 1968. Robert Mitchell  •   Read more »

‘It was insanity’: At My Lai, U.S. soldiers slaughtered hundreds of Vietnamese women and kids Fifty years ago on March 16, 1968, 100 U.S. soldiers committed one of the worst atrocities in American military history. Ian Shapira  •   Read more »