The harmonizing nation: Mexico and the 1968 olympics

Abstract

A tourist arriving in Mexico City in the early summer of 1968 would have found the city awash in color, an air of expectation and optimism everywhere palpable as the country finalized last-minute preparations for the staging of the Olympic Games that fall. Yellow, blue, and pink banners framing a white peace dove lit up major thoroughfares. Throughout the city, numerous commercial billboards had been replaced with photographs of cultural and physical activity related to the Games; in one corner, a superimposed dove of peace was clearly visible. Other enormous images featured caricatured line drawings of school children, a family portrait, and anonymous faces in a crowd set against a background of hot pink and vibrant yellow. "Everything is Possible in Peace," they proclaimed in a multitude of languages. Along a designated "Route of Friendship" that extended across the southern part of the city, large abstract sculptures by artists of international renown, made of concrete and painted in various bright colors, could be observed in various stages of completion. The country’s official logo for the Games-"MEXICO68"-whose evident Op Art influence was designed to evoke a moving, modernist feel, was omnipresent, as were the hundreds of young edecanes (event hostesses), whose uniformed miniskirts and pants suits were emblazoned with a graphic representation of the logo.