. . .and so ended Prague Spring.

Click on the link here for audio player: Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia – 1968

Even though news during this August in 1968 was primarily about the upcoming Democratic Convention in Chicago, the just finished Republican Convention in Miami and the ongoing protests to the Vietnam War, news for this August 20th was all about the swift and sudden invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Army and Eastern bloc allies. In what had been an experiment in democratic reforms, the government of Alexander Dubceck ran afoul of Moscow and a quick end to Prague Spring ensued.

As tanks crossed the Czech border on the night of August 20th and the airport in Prague was overrun with Soviet planes, word of the crisis quickly flashed across just about every news outlet teletype and broadcast facility throughout the world.

Here is a CBS Radio Netalert Bulletin, taking up the better part of an hour, as originally broadcast on the evening of August 20th, 1968. News as it was happening.