In November Richard Nixon won the presidential election defeating Hubert Humphrey.  Mom and Dad never talked about politics, so I don’t know who they voted for or even if they voted.  Nixon becoming president became a thorn in my side for many years as everyone wanted to spell my last name as “Mixon” instead of “Mixson”.  This was a common mistake, even in the 1930’s census Grandpa Mixson’s name was recorded with out the “s”. It would take several presidents later before people begin to forget about Nixon and wouldn’t automatically spell it without the “s”.

In November the TV show Star Trek made history when Caption Kirk kissed the black communications officer Uhura, although the kiss was not consensual, it being forced upon them by powerful beings using mind control.  The kiss is often cited as the first interracial kiss on TV, which it wasn’t, but it was the first for a prime time TV show.

NASA launched Apollo 8 the day before my birthday which was the first crewed spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit and the first human spaceflight to reach the Moon.

There was exciting news on my birthday when David Eisenhower, grandson of President Eisenhower, married Julie Nixon, the daughter of president-elect Richard Nixon but as far as my birthday, it came and went mostly unnoticed. 

Me opening Christmas present

On Christmas Eve the Apollo 8 astronauts were the first humans to personally witness and photograph the far side of the Moon and took the now famous Earthrise photo. Christmas came and we had the usual tree, gifts dinner and visiting of family. [photo me opening gift]

The Apollo 8 crew continued orbiting the Moon ten times without landing, and then departed, returning safely back to Earth.

Earthrise

1968 had been a good year

Updated: 10-15-2022

1969