In 1968 the nation was in a state of apprehension and unrest given the continuing war in Vietnam and movements for the empowerment of minorities . This was the same year as the Tet Offensive which became widely viewed as a psychological turning point in the Vietnam war and American public opinion , the assassination of Martin Luther King and its aftermath , anti-war protests and police violence at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago , and election of Richard Nixon as president . Protest activity on and off the university campuses was reaching a crescendo and Madison happened to be one of the most affected campuses , bolstered by its large student body which in large part came from outside of Wisconsin . Highlights included militant protests against Dow Chemical which produced the napalm used in Vietnam , demonstrations and student strike demanding a Black Studies department at the university , a campus-wide strike by graduate assistants , the nationwide student strike following the 1970 U.S. invasion of Cambodia , and the 1970 bombing of the Army Math Research Center also in protest of the war . Radical politics was in the air , bringing to the fore radical organizations and ideologies ranging from anarchism to various Marxist currents
bombing of the Army Math Research Center
Sterling Hall bombing
Maurice Meisner