We have buried the horrible memories of how bad 1968 was for the United States of America (USofA) up until this final golden moment. Just to list them will bring back nightmares;
North Korea seizes the USS Pueblo in international waters,
North Vietnam launches the 'Tet Offensive',
--- 'Uncle Walter' Cronkite expresses dismay over our Vietnam efforts,
Dr Martin Luther King Jr is assassinated in Memphis, TN,
--- Riots consume portions of over 100 USofA Cities over the next 8 months,
Sen. Robert F Kennedy is assassinated in Los Angeles, CA,
Soviet Union invades Czechoslovakia to halt the Prague Spring,
Riots & Protests disrupt the Democrat Party Convention in Chicago,
--- The trial of the 'Chicago 8' protestors lasts 5 months but all convictions are overturned.
Then, at the last gasp of the year, Apollo 8 with its crew of Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders, demonstrates that the USofA can do marvelous things! A perfect Christmas gift to the nation and the world!
If ever a year morphed into an event, it was 1968.
There are museums dedicated to it.
Side story is that the broken Lyndon Johnson pushed or at least OKayed the Apollo 8 launch to occur while he was still in office. Glad he did. It inspired an engineering career for this future Freeper.