1968 Democratic National Convention
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| 1968 Presidential Election | |
|---|---|
  |
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| Convention | |
| Date(s) | August 26 – August 29 |
| City | Chicago, Illinois |
| Venue | International Amphitheatre |
| Candidates | |
| Presidential Nominee | Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota |
| Vice Presidential Nominee | Edmund Muskie of Maine |
| Other Candidates | Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota George McGovern of South Dakota |
| ‹ 1964 · 1972 › | |
The 1968 Democratic National Convention of the U.S. Democratic Party was held at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois, from August 26 to August 29, 1968. Because Democratic President Lyndon Johnson had announced he would not seek a second term, the purpose of the convention was to select a new nominee to run as the Democratic Party’s choice for the office.[1] The keynote speaker was Senator Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii).[2]
The conference was held during a period of civil unrest, particularly a series of riots that had been triggered by the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4.[3] The convention also followed the assassination of Democratic presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy, who had been shot on June 5.[4] Kennedy had been running against eventual Democratic presidential nominee Hubert Humphrey, and although he was behind in the polls, it was widely expected that he would close the gap by the time of the convention.
Chicago's mayor, Richard J. Daley, intended to showcase his and the city's achievements to national Democrats and the news media. Instead, the proceedings became infamous for the large number of demonstrators and the use of force by the Chicago police during what was supposed to be, in the words of the YIPpie activist organizers, “A Festival of Life.”[3] Rioting took place between demonstrators and the Chicago Police Department, who were assisted by the Illinois National Guard. The disturbances were well publicized by the mass media, with some journalists and reports being caught up in the violence. Respected newsmen Mike Wallace and Dan Rather were both roughed up by the Chicago police while inside the halls of the Democratic Convention.[5]
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[edit] Richard J. Daley and the Convention
The Democratic Presidential Nominating Convention had not been held in Chicago since 1956.[6] Chicago Mayor, Richard J. Daley had played an integral role in the election of John F. Kennedy in 1960 by being the man who was able to turn out enough voters to win Illinois for Kennedy, the first Catholic U.S. president.[6] In 1968, however, it did not seem that Daley had maintained the clout which would enable him to bring out the voters again to produce a Democratic victory as he had in 1960. On October 7, 1967, at a one thousand dollar a plate fundraiser for President Johnson’s reelection campaign, Daley and Johnson met together for a private meeting. During the meeting, Daley explained to the president that in the 1966 congressional races, there had been a disappointing showing of Democrats, and that if the convention were not held in Illinois, that the president might lose the swing state with its twenty-seven electoral votes.[7] Johnson’s war policies had already created a great division within the party, and with the selection of Chicago for the convention, Johnson hoped that there would not be a need for him to confront any more opposition.[8] The Committee head for selecting the site, New Jersey Democrat David Wilentz, gave the official reason for choosing Chicago as, “It is centrally located geographically which will reduce transportation costs and because it has been the site of national conventions for both Parties in the past and is therefore attuned to holding them.” In the end, however, the conversation between Johnson and Daley had been leaked to the press and published in the Chicago Tribune and several other papers.[8]
[edit] Protests and police response
In 1967, the Yippie movement had already begun planning a youth festival in Chicago to coincide with the Democratic National Convention. They were not alone; other groups, such as Students For a Democratic Society and the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, also made their presence known.[9] When asked about anti-war demonstrators, Daley kept repeating to reporters that “No thousands will come to our city and take over our streets, or city, our convention.”[10] In the end, 10,000 demonstrators gathered in Chicago for the convention where they were met by 23,000 police and National Guardsmen.[11] Daley also thought that one way to prevent demonstrators from coming to Chicago was to refuse to grant permits which would allow for people to protest legally.[12]
After the violence which took place at the Chicago convention, Daley claimed as his main reason for calling in so many Guardsmen and police was that he had received intelligence that there were going to be plots to assassinate many of the leaders, including himself. He played on the fears of the American people after John F. Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas as a means of legitimizing his calling of the Guard and the use of force in Chicago.[13]
While several protests took place before serious violence occurred, the events headed by the Yippies were not without comedy. Surrounded by reporters on August 23, 1968, Jerry Rubin, a Yippie leader, folk singer Phil Ochs, and other activists held their own presidential nominating convention with their candidate Pigasus, an actual pig. When the Yippies paraded Pigasus at the Civic Center, ten policemen arrested Rubin, Pigasus, and six others. This resulted in Pigasus becoming a media hit.[14]
August 28, 1968 came to be known as the day a “police riot” took place. The title of “police riot” came out of the Walker Report, which amassed a great deal of information and eyewitness accounts to determine what actually happened in Chicago.[12] At approximately 3:30 p.m., a young boy lowered the American flag at a legal rally taking place at Grant Park. The rally was made up of 10,000 protestors.[15] The police broke through the crowd and began beating the boy, while the crowd pelted the police with food, rocks, bags of urine, and chunks of concrete.[16] The biggest clash in Chicago took place that day. Police fought with the protestors and vice versa. The chants of the protestors shifted from “Hell no, we won’t go” to “Pigs are whores.”[17] Tom Hayden, one of the leaders of Students for a Democratic Society, encouraged protestors to move out of the park to ensure that if they were to be tear gassed, the whole city would be tear gassed, and made sure that if blood were spilled in Chicago it would happen throughout the city.[18] The amount of tear gas used to suppress the protestors was so great that it eventually made its way to the Hilton Hotel where it disturbed Hubert Humphrey while in his shower.[17] The police were taunted by the protestors with chants of “Kill, kill, kill.” They sprayed demonstrators and bystanders indiscriminately with Mace.[19] What was to become the most famous picture of the Chicago demonstrations of 1968 was the police assault in front of the Hilton Hotel. The entire event took place under the T.V. lights for seventeen minutes, live, with the crowd shouting, “The whole world is watching.”[17]
Meanwhile, in the convention hall, Connecticut Senator Abraham Ribicoff used his nominating speech for George McGovern to tell of the violence going on outside the convention hall, saying that “with George McGovern we wouldn’t have Gestapo tactics on the streets of Chicago.”[20] Mayor Daley responded to his remark with something that the T.V. sound was not able to pick up, but was later revealed by lip-readers that Daley had cursed “Fuck you, you Jew son of a bitch! You lousy motherfucker! Go home!”[21] That night, NBC News had been switching back and forth between the demonstrators being beaten by the police to the festivities over Humphrey’s victory in the convention hall.[22] It was under the cameras of the convention center, for all of America to see; it was abundantly clear that the Democratic party was sorely divided. After the Chicago protests, the demonstrators were certain that the majority of Americans would side with them over what had happened in Chicago, especially when looking at how the police had acted. In the end, however, they were shocked to see that as unpopular as the war in Vietnam had become, the anti-war movement was hated even more.[5] Daley claimed to have received 135,000 letters supporting his actions and only 5000 condemning them. Public opinion polls demonstrated that the majority of Americans supported the Mayor’s tactics.[23]
[edit] The Chicago Seven
After Chicago, the Justice Department meted out conspiracy and incitement to riot charges in connection with the violence at Chicago and gave birth to the Chicago Eight, which consisted of Abbie Hoffman, Tom Hayden, David Dellinger, Rennie Davis, John Froines, Jerry Rubin, Lee Weiner, and Bobby Seale.[24] Demonstrations were held everyday of the trial and were organized by " User:Jose(Cha-Cha)Jimenez " and the Young Lords and the local Black Panther Party led by Chairman Fred Hampton. In February 1970, five of the Chicago Conspiracy defendants were convicted on the charge of intent to incite a riot while crossing state lines, but none were found guilty of conspiracy. Judge Julius Hoffman sentenced all of the defendants and their attorneys to unprecedented prison terms ranging from two-and-a-half months to four years for contempt of court. The convictions were eventually reversed on appeal, and the government declined to bring the case to trial again.[24]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Past Conventions
- ^ "Keynoter Knows Sting of Bias, Poverty". St. Petersburg Times. Associated Press. August 27, 1968.
- ^ a b Blake, Bailey (1992). The 60s. New York: Mallard Press.
- ^ Schlesinger, Arthur M. Jr. (1968). New York: Ballantine Books. p. xi.
- ^ a b Gitlin 1987: 335.
- ^ a b Farber 1988: 115.
- ^ Farber 1988: 116.
- ^ a b Farber 1988: 117.
- ^ Farber 1988: 5.
- ^ Gill, Donna. “LBJ-Humphrey Slate Seen by Party Leader.” Chicago Tribune, January 9, 1968, p.2.
- ^ Jennings & Brewster 1998: 413.
- ^ a b Gitlin 1987: 319.
- ^ CBS News, Convention Outtakes, Daley/Cronkite Interview August 29, 1968.
- ^ Farber 1988: 167.
- ^ Gitlin 1987: 331.
- ^ Farber 1988: 195.
- ^ a b c Gitlin 1987: 332.
- ^ Farber 1988: 196.
- ^ Gitlin 1987: 333.
- ^ Farber 1988: 201.
- ^ Gitlin 1987: 334.
- ^ NBC Morning News, August 29, 1968.
- ^ Farber 1988: 206.
- ^ a b Gitlin 1987: 342.
[edit] Further reading
- David Farber. Chicago '68 Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988.
- Todd Gitlin. The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage. Toronto: Bantam Books, 1987.
- Peter Jennings and Todd Brewster. The Century. New York: Doubleday, 1998
- Frank Kusch. Battleground Chicago: The Police and the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008.
- Norman Mailer. Miami and the Siege of Chicago. New York: New American Library, 1968.
- John Schultz. No One Was Killed: The Democratic National Convention, August 1968. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009.
[edit] External links
- Conventions: The Land Around Us at Google Video (Adobe Flash video): Film Documentary with lots of footage of both the Democrats' Convention and the protests
- "Video clips of confrontations between demonstrators and police" (RealMedia). http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/videodir/pacificaviet/chicago68clips.ram.
- "Yippie-produced documentary on the Convention" (RealMedia). http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/videodir/pacificaviet/yippie.ram.
- Dementia in the Second City, from Time, Sep 6, 1968
- The Chicago Convention: A Baptism Called A Burial, by Jo Freeman (1968)
- Chicago '68 by Alvin Susumu Tokunow (1968)
- 1968 Democratic National Convention at Smithsonian Magazine
- Chicago '68: A Chronology
- Chicago '68: An Introduction, by Dean Blobaum (2000)
- American Experience: Chicago 1968
- Retrospective on the 1968 Democratic Convention, from NewsHour.
- History Files: Parades, Protests and Politics
- Grooving in Chi, 1968 Esquire article by Terry Southern
- Brief History of Chicago's 1968 Democratic Convention from Allhistory, CNN and Time.
- Whole World Watching, by John Callaway
- An excerpt from Chicago '68 by David Farber.
- An excerpt from No One Was Killed: The Democratic National Convention, August 1968 by John Schultz.
- An excerpt from Battleground Chicago: The Police and the 1968 Democratic National Convention by Frank Kusch.
- Origins of the Young Lords
| Preceded by 1964 |
Democratic National Conventions | Succeeded by 1972 |
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