Realizing that many don't have the luxury of student deferments, others renounce their deferments, sometimes burning their draft-cards. SDS reaches out to GIs as members work with GI coffeehouses. With increased hostility between anti-war activists and the government, protests become violent on both sides. January 1968 begins with the Tet offensive which shakes the country. Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated in April.
Riots follow in many cities.
Weeks later SDS plays a key role in a student strike at Columbia University, exposing the university's complicity in the war and its racism, and students occupy university buildings for days. Senator Robert Kennedy declares his candidacy for the presidency - but is assassinated in June. By mid-1968, SDS has grown into an organization of some 100,000 members and close to 400 chapters nationwide. In August 1968, Chicago police brutally beat demonstrators at the Democratic convention and the Chicago Eight are indicted for conspiracy to incite a riot. Richard Nixon is elected President and escalates the campaign against anti-war protestors.