| 41st Scripps National Spelling Bee | |
|---|---|
The Mayflower Hotel, site of the 41st National Spelling Bee | |
| Date | June 5-6, 1968 |
| Location | The Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. |
| Winner | Robert L. Walters |
| Age | 14 |
| Residence | Russell, Kansas |
| Sponsor | The Topeka Daily Capital |
| Sponsor location | Topeka, Kansas |
| Winning word | abalone |
| No. of contestants | 75 |
| Pronouncer | Richard R. Baker |
| Preceded by | 40th Scripps National Spelling Bee |
| Followed by | 42nd Scripps National Spelling Bee |
The 41st Scripps National Spelling Bee was held in Washington, D.C. at the Mayflower Hotel on June 5-6, 1968, sponsored by the E.W. Scripps Company. [1]
The Scripps National Spelling Bee is an annual spelling bee held in the United States. The bee is run on a not-for-profit basis by The E. W. Scripps Company and is held at a hotel or convention center in Washington, D.C. during the week following Memorial Day weekend. Since 2011, it has been held at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center hotel in National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland, just outside Washington D.C. It was previously held at the Grand Hyatt Washington in Washington D.C. from 1996 to 2010.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington or D.C., is the capital of the United States. Founded after the American Revolution as the seat of government of the newly independent country, Washington was named after George Washington, first President of the United States and Founding Father. As the seat of the United States federal government and several international organizations, Washington is an important world political capital. The city is also one of the most visited cities in the world, with more than 20 million tourists annually.
The Mayflower Hotel is a historic hotel in downtown Washington, D.C., located on Connecticut Avenue NW. It is two blocks north of Farragut Square. The hotel is managed by the Autograph Collection Hotels division of Marriott International. The Mayflower is the largest luxury hotel in the District of Columbia, the longest continuously operating hotel in the Washington D.C. area, and a rival of the nearby Willard InterContinental and Hay-Adams Hotels. The Mayflower is known as the "Grande Dame of Washington", the "Hotel of Presidents", and as the city's "Second Best Address" —the latter sobriquet attributed to President Harry S. Truman .However, today it is only a four-star hotel.
The winner was 14-year-old Robert L. Walters of Russell, Kansas, correctly spelling "abalone." Second place went to Ann Johnson of Richfield, Minnesota, who stumbled on the word "myosin". The contest started on June 5 with 75 spellers, including 50 girls and 25 boys. By the end of round 19, only two spellers were left. At one point, both final contestants failed to spell "potiche" correctly. [2] Third place went to Stephen Bacher of Middle Village, Queens, New York, who fell on "talmudical" in the 19th round. [3] A total of 571 words were used. [4]
Russell is the most populous city in and the county seat of Russell County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 4,506.
Richfield is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. An inner-ring suburb of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul region, it is bordered by Minneapolis to the north, Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport to the east, Bloomington to the south, and Edina to the west. Best Buy, the U.S.'s largest electronics retailer, has its headquarters in Richfield. The population was 35,228 at the 2010 census.
Middle Village is a mainly residential neighborhood in the central section of the borough of Queens, New York City, bounded to the north by the Long Island Expressway, to the east by Woodhaven Boulevard, to the south by Cooper Avenue and the Montauk Branch railroad tracks, and to the west by Mount Olivet Cemetery. A small trapezoid-shaped area bounded by Mt. Olivet Crescent to the east, Fresh Pond Road to the west, Eliot Avenue to the north, and Metropolitan Avenue to the south, is often counted as part of Middle Village but is sometimes considered part of nearby Ridgewood.
Some local activities planned for the contestants were cancelled or changed due to the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy early on June 5. [3]
On June 5, 1968, presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was mortally wounded shortly after midnight at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Earlier that evening, the 42-year-old junior senator from New York was declared the winner in the South Dakota and California presidential primaries in the 1968 election. He was pronounced dead at 1:44 a.m. PDT on June 6, about 26 hours after he had been shot.
