1968: Due to the recent assassination of Robert Kennedy, Steve Binder, the director of Elvis Presley’s upcoming Christmas special decides to ditch “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” as the closing number. On this day, he asks musical director, Bones Howe, to pen a “more socially conscious” song as a replacement.
The same afternoon, Howe writes “If I Can Dream.” Elvis likes it and the rest is music history.