I CAME to Chicago in the fall of 1967. The stage was set for an explosive face-off. Did the Black Death Rampage Across the World a Century Earlier Than Previously Thought? More than 50 years on, the Democratic Party's national convention of 1968 continues to haunt the party and cast a shadow over US politics, writes James Jeffrey. 1968 Democratic Convention [Documentary.] As delegates arrived in Chicago the last week of August 1968 for the 35th Democratic National Convention, they found that Mayor Richard J. Daley, … In the words of one delegate, “We were desolate. Many took the battle to the convention floor. The year 1968 remains one of the most tumultuous single years in history, marked by historic achievements, shocking assassinations, a much-hated war and a spirit of rebellion that swept through countries all over the world. Hoping to quell further violence, Davis reminded police that a legal protest permit had been obtained and requested that all police leave the park. © 2021 A&E Television Networks, LLC. The convention soon became a battleground between anti-war supporters and Vice President Humphrey’s—and indirectly, President Johnson’s—supporters. As tense police officers tried to maintain control, Mayor Daley sent in the National Guard to help. In the background, scenes of turbulence and unrest unfold as antiwar protestors clash with police. In its psychic impact, and its long-term political consequences, it eclipsed any other such convention in American history, destroying faith in politicians, in the political system, in the country and in its institutions. From whatever political perspective—party regulars, irregulars or reformers—they all shared an abiding pessimism over their prospects against a Republican Party that had coalesced behind Richard M. Nixon. What followed was worse than even the most dire pessimist could have envisioned. Also available on web site: online catalogs, secure online ordering, excerpts from new books. The months leading up to the infamous 1968 Democratic Convention were turbulent: The brutal assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in April had left the country reeling, and although segregation had officially ended, racism and poverty continued to make life difficult for many blacks. We are going to make our way to the Amphitheatre by any means necessary.”. What were doing in 1968? Bill passed by an education-minded Democratic Congress. CNN All Politics. In the nine presidential elections since, Democrats have won only three, and only once—in 1976, after the Watergate scandal forced Nixon to resign in disgrace—did they take, barely, more than 50 percent of the votes. No one who was there, or who watched it on television, could escape the memory of what took place before their eyes. Live cameras from multiple news agencies covered the entire convention floor but none showed the protests outside. Chicago ’68: A Chronology. Continue Some young Democrats tried to work within the system, trying to get anti-war candidate Sen. Eugene McCarthy (D-MN) nominated. On this day in 1968, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, tens of thousands of Vietnam War protesters battle police in the streets, while the Democratic Party falls apart over an internal disagreement concerning its stance on Vietnam. Inside the fence, clusters of armed and helmeted police mingled with security guards and dark-suited agents of the Secret Service. Incumbent Vice President Hubert Humphrey was selected as the nominee in the 1968 Democratic National Convention held from August 26 to August 29, 1968, in Chicago, Illinois . "use strict";(function(){var insertion=document.getElementById("citation-access-date");var date=new Date().toLocaleDateString(undefined,{month:"long",day:"numeric",year:"numeric"});insertion.parentElement.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(date),insertion)})(); FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. Senator Eugene McCarthy—the antiwar candidate whose strong second-place showing in the New Hampshire primary had demonstrated Johnson's vulnerability—had abundant forces in the hall, but they were now relegated to the role of protesters. Protesters flowed to Chicago in the days before the Aug. 26 start of the convention. Up to fifteen thousand protestors gathered, much less than protest leaders had hoped for, and they were quickly surrounded by hundreds of police and National Guardsmen under orders to keep the protestors from reaching the Amphitheatre. Their hotels were under heavy guard and the convention Amphitheatre was a virtual fortress. Expecting resistance, protest leaders organized self-defense training sessions including karate and snake dancing. Sign up for email notification of new releases in your field. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! But the win was nothing to celebrate. Throughout that week I had been a guest commentator on NBC's "Today" show, broadcasting live from Chicago. As delegates flowed into the International Amphitheatre to nominate a Democratic Party presidential candidate, tens of thousands of protesters swarmed the streets to rally against the Vietnam War and the political status quo. In March 1968, McCarthy won 40 percent of the vote in the New Hampshire presidential primary, thereby validating his candidacy. One pro-McGovern delegate went so far as to refer to the police violence as “Gestapo tactics in the streets of Chicago.”. Seale was sentenced to four years for contempt of court, but the charges were later overturned. Usage Public Domain Mark 1.0 Topics 1968 Democratic Convention, Cop Riots, New Left, Democratic Party, Chicago, Chicago PD Language English. At the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, police riots erupted across the city in response to anti-war demonstrators. By nightfall, a standoff had ensued in front of the Hilton between thousands of angry protestors and thousands of police officers. Hubert H. Humph- rey, LBJ's vice president, had sat out the primaries but secured delegates controlled by the party establishment. The Chicago Tribune. The 1968 Democratic Convention, best known for police brutality against demonstrators, has been relegated to a dark place in American historical memory. After the Civil War, the party dominated in the South due to its opposition to civil and political rights for African Americans. |. The Vietnam War was in its 13th year and the recent Tet Offensive had proved the conflict was far from over, as the draft sent more young men into the fray. Because of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, all families will have an equal right to live where they wish. According to Thomas Foran, the Chicago lawyer who would later prosecute protest leaders, many of the protestors were “spoiled brats who thought that they knew better than everybody…they were being encouraged to do things they shouldn’t do by these sophisticated guys whose idea was to shame the U.S. government.”. The 1968 Chicago convention became a lacerating event, a distillation of a year of heartbreak, assassinations, riots and a breakdown in law and order that made it seem as if the country were coming apart. I can still recall the choking feeling from the tear gas hurled by police amid throngs of protesters gathering in parks and hotel lobbies. Seale was removed from the Chicago Eight case and ordered to stand trial separately, making the defendants into the Chicago Seven. Just thinking of it now makes me angry all over again. The most historically notable—and tumultuous—convention of recent memory was the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, which was fraught with highly emotional battles between conventioneers and Vietnam War protesters and an outburst by Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley. Robert F. Kennedy, heir to the Kennedy legacy, had his presidential campaign cut down by an assassin's bullet after winning the critical California primary in June. Goal of Protestors at the 1968 Democratic Convention, protesting at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, 7 Reasons Why the Chicago 8 Trial Mattered. The peace plank was defeated, a huge blow to the peace delegates and millions of Americans who wanted the Vietnam War to end, and the delegates erupted into chaos. It was against this extraordinarily emotional background that the Democrats convened. But the mood turned tense as opening day of the convention approached and the police presence increased. (Pigasus’s eventual fate remains unknown to this day.). It's August 26, 1968, and the Democratic National Convention is about to kick off in Chicago. The Democratic Party in 1968 was in crisis. Protestors scattered every which way and rushed out of the park, blindly falling over each other as the tear gas assaulted their eyes. I CAME to Chicago in the fall of 1967. 1968 Democratic Convention. In this piece, Arthur Miller reflects on the aftermath of the riots and describes a candlelight walk and vigil that he took with other Democratic delegates on the night of August 28th, by Grant Park to the Conrad Hilton Hotel. We nominate a president and the people eat him.”, Pigasus the Immortal’s presidential campaign may have been the shortest in recorded history. The 1968 Democratic presidential primaries were the selection process by which voters of several states elected delegates to the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Our 18th Annual Photo Contest is now open! The … As the commander of the colonial forces in the American Revolution, he was an easy candidate to select from among the eligible pool of any white man 35 and older, and he won his first two elections without any real ...read more, In late August of 1968, Americans freshly traumatized by the assassinations of both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, faced reports about new violence—this time at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. By Kenneth T. … READ MORE: 7 Reasons Why the Chicago 8 Trial Mattered. The Democratic Convention of 1968 was held August 26-29 in Chicago, Illinois. One 1968 memory remains indelible 40 years later. Before he had even clinched the nomination, he was greeted at the airport by an estimated 700-person crowd, 2,000 balloons ...read more, For all the pomp and circumstance that once surrounded presidential party conventions, they’re rarely all that dramatic today. Senator George S. McGovern had rallied what remained of Kennedy's forces, but he, too, knew he led a group whose hopes had been extinguished. In July 1968, MOBE and yippie activists applied for permits to camp at Lincoln Park and hold rallies at the International Amphitheatre, Soldier Field and Grant Park. There were impromptu yoga sessions, music, dancing and the general revelry that happens when like-minded people gather together to protest the establishment. No one knows who or what triggered the first blow, but soon police began clearing out the crowd, pummeling protestors (and innocent bystanders) with billy clubs and using so much tear gas that it reportedly reached Humphrey some 25 floors up as he watched the bedlam unfold from his hotel room window. Changes in party rules have curtailed the establishment's power to anoint a presidential nominee, but the ideological divides have persisted; thus this year's rival candidates battled bitterly to win state primaries. ), Smithsonian Magazine Chicago 68. For Democrats in particular, Chicago was a disaster. After a major ...read more, The Seneca Falls Convention was the first women’s rights convention in the United States. World History Project. The 1968 Democratic National Convention was held in Chicago from Monday August 26 to Thursday August 29 to select the party's candidates for the upcoming presidential election. On Aug. 28, 1968, violent clashes in Chicago between demonstrators and the police produced one of the most polarizing showdowns of the 1960s. By the end of the year, Republican Richard M. Nixon was President-elect of the United States and 16,592 American soldiers had been killed in Vietnam, the most of any year since the war began. The police beat protestors at will with clubs and fists. The nation is very polarized today, but it was worse in 1968 when the Democratic National Convention in Chicago triggered violent protests. Whether the news blackout was due to the electrical workers’ strike (as Mayor Daley claimed) or a deliberate attempt to prevent the public from learning about the citywide protests is unclear. Advertising Notice The police moved in swiftly to arrest him as protestors rallied to his aid, assaulting the officers with rocks and food or whatever else they had on hand. Supporters during the 1968 Democratic National Convention held at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois from Aug. 26 to Aug. 29, 1968. I had been working with a community organization initiated by the SDS in Minneapolis, Minneapolis Community Union Project (MCUP), but the pull of Chicago was too great. In November the party would lose the White House to Nixon's law-and-order campaign. Select from premium 1968 Democratic Convention of the highest quality. Chicago police officers confront a demonstrator on the ground at Grant Park in Chicago during the city's hosting of the Democratic National Convention, August 26, 1968. At the apex of the stone gates through which all had to enter was a huge sign bearing the unintentionally ironic words, "HELLO DEMOCRATS! Find the perfect 1968 Democratic Convention stock photos and editorial news pictures from Getty Images. Give a Gift. Everyone was talking about the Democratic Convention coming to Chicago. Convention-goers debated race and anti-war issues … We think that the energies released...are creating a new constituency for America. As the elevator doors opened, I saw huddled before me a group of young McCarthy volunteers. Haynes Johnson, who has written 14 books, covered the 1968 Democratic National Convention for the Washington Star. Over the course of 24 hours, the predominant American line of thought on the Cold War with the Soviet Union was shattered. Kennedy’s delegates were divided between McCarthy and dark-horse candidate Senator George McGovern, leaving Humphrey with more than enough votes to clench the Democratic presidential nomination, but also leaving the Democratic party in turmoil just weeks before their national convention. The 1968 Democratic National Convention was a reflection of the year of protest and debate. Anti-Vietnam War demonstrators march down Michigan Avenue in one of the peaceful events of the 1968 Democratic National Convention week, which attracted thousands of young protestors to the city. World History Project. But Chicago’s Mayor Richard Daley had no intention of letting his city or the convention be overrun by protestors. His chance to become leader of the free world ended abruptly when he, Rubin and other members of his campaign staff were arrested at his first press conference in front of the Chicago Convention Center. We are going to gather here. Two million disabled veterans and survivors of those killed in action are receiving larger pensions and higher disability payments. It was only a matter of time before a showdown would take place between the government of President Lyndon B. Johnson and America’s war-weary citizens. Privacy Statement The 1968 Democratic National Convention began on Monday, August 6 with delegates from several states entering the International Amphitheater. I do remember that I was filled with a furious rage. Over 650 protesters were arrested during the convention. The event will be held at the International Amphitheatre, a 10,000 seat stadium seven miles south of the city’s downtown, near the Union Stockyards. At midnight on August 29, the bloody and contentious 1968 Democratic Convention officially ended. It is a frontier whose urgent needs hold a place of very high priority on the national agenda—and on the agenda of the Democratic Party. Optimists had begun talking about America's entering a "golden age.". By Kenneth T. … By Tuesday evening, protestors had gathered at the Conrad Hilton Hotel where many of the delegates and candidates, including Humphrey and McCarthy, stayed. or Written by Nathan Palmer The Democratic National Convention of 1968 will never be forgotten by those who lived it. What was the feel of the city? Today, the 1968 Democratic National Convention is less known for its results – Vice President Humphrey was nominated and Maine’s Edmund Muskie was chosen as his running mate – and much better known for the protests that culminated with riots in Chicago outside of the convention hall. Occurring at the dawn of the television age, the ...read more, The Democratic Party is one of the two major political parties in the United States, and the nation’s oldest existing political party. How 'Fake News' Was Born at the 1968 DNC. In fact, the last time Democrats faced a tight delegate race was in 1980, when Jimmy Carter narrowly edged out Ted Kennedy for the nomination, avoiding a ...read more, Two assassinations, a bloody war, violent protests, racial unrest, colorful hippies, a celebration of sex and rebellion, and John Lennon’s countercultural anthem, “Revolution”—1968 had them all. 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