On August 28, 1968, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, 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. Over the course of 24 hours, the predominant American line of thought on the Cold War with the Soviet Union was shattered.
Since the end of World War II, the U.S. perspective on the Soviet Union and Soviet-style communism was marked by truculent disapproval. Intent on stopping the spread of communism, the United States developed a policy by which it would intervene in the affairs of countries it deemed susceptible to communist influence. In the early 1960s, this policy led to U.S. involvement in the controversial Vietnam War, during which the United States attempted to keep South Vietnam from falling under the control of communist North Vietnam, at a cost of more than 2 million Vietnamese and nearly 58,000 American lives.
The “Cold War consensus,” in U.S. government, however, fractured during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968. Democratic delegates from across the country were split on the question of Vietnam. A faction led by Eugene McCarthy, a committed anti-war candidate, began to challenge the long-held assumption that the United States should remain in the war. As the debate intensified, fights broke out on the convention floor, and delegates and reporters were beaten and knocked to the ground. Eventually, the delegates on the side of the status quo, championed by then-Vice President Hubert Humphrey, won out, but the events of the convention had seriously weakened the party, which went on to lose the following election.
Meanwhile, on the streets of Chicago, several thousand anti-war protesters gathered to show their support for McCarthy and the U.S. withdrawal of troops from Vietnam. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley deployed 12,000 police officers and called in another 15,000 state and federal officers to contain the protesters. The situation then rapidly spiraled out of control, with the policemen severely beating and gassing the demonstrators, as well as newsmen and doctors who had come to help.
The ensuing riot, known as the “Battle of Michigan Avenue,” was caught on television, and sparked a large-scale change in American society. For the first time, many Americans came out in virulent opposition to the Vietnam War, which they had begun to feel was pointless and wrongheaded. No longer would people give the national government unrestrained power to pursue its Cold War policies at the expense of the safety of U.S. citizens.
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The more things change the more they stay the same -OR- The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get
A Divided Democratic Party AND Country
Pigasus- Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman came up with the idea, named their candidate “Pigasus the Immortal” and pledged, “They nominate a president and he eats the people. We nominate a president and the people eat him.”
Protestors Take Over Lincoln Park- About a week before the convention, despite not having permission, thousands of protestors—many of them from out of state and from middle-class families—set up camp at Lincoln Park, about ten miles from the Amphitheatre. Expecting resistance, protest leaders organized self-defense training sessions including karate and snake dancing.
National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (MOBE) 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. Hoping to dilute the protestors’ momentum, Mayor Daley approved only one permit to protest at the bandshell at Grant Park.
Violence at Lincoln Park- Around 11:00 p.m. on Sunday, August 25, a couple thousand police officers wearing riot gear, helmets and gas masks lined up at Lincoln Park. Some threw tear gas into the crowd.
Protestors scattered every which way and rushed out of the park, blindly falling over each other as the tear gas assaulted their eyes. The police attacked them with clubs and often didn’t stop when someone was subdued on the ground.
Eyewitnesses report it was a scene of unrestrained bloodshed and chaos. Later, the police defended their actions by claiming the protestors shouldn’t have broken curfew or resisted arrest.
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.”
Infighting on the Convention Floor-The convention soon became a battleground between anti-war supporters and Vice President Humphrey’s—and indirectly, President Johnson’s—supporters. On Tuesday night, when a promised televised prime-time debate on Vietnam was postponed until after midnight when most viewers would be asleep, the anti-war delegates made their fury known to the point that Mayor Daley had the convention adjourned for the night.
National Guard Called Up-By Tuesday evening, protestors had gathered at the Hilton Hotel where many of the delegates and candidates, including Humphrey and McCarthy, stayed. As tense police officers tried to maintain control, Mayor Daley sent in the National Guard to help.
Protest leader Tom Hayden* united the crowd by proclaiming, “Tomorrow is the day that this operation has been pointing for for some time. We are going to gather here. We are going to make our way to the Amphitheatre by any means necessary.”
Peace Plank Defeated-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.
Chicago Eight-Davis, Dellinger, Hayden, Black Panther activist Bobby Seale and four other protest organizers, known as the Chicago Eight, were charged with conspiracy and crossing state lines to incite a riot and brought to trial. After Seale complained about being denied his right to choose his own lawyer, the judge ordered him to appear before the jury each day bound, gagged and chained to a chair.
Seale was removed from the Chicago Eight case and ordered to stand trial separately, making the defendants into the Chicago Seven. Seale was sentenced to four years for contempt of court, but the charges were later overturned.
After a lengthy, often circus-like trial, the jury found the Chicago Seven not guilty of conspiracy. Five defendants, however, were found guilty of inciting a riot. All convictions were eventually overturned on appeal.
* The Port Huron Statement was adopted at the organization’s first convention in 1962 based on an earlier draft by staff member Tom Hayden. The Port Huron Statement was a broad critique of the political and social system of the United States for failing to achieve international peace and economic justice. It is a 1962 political manifesto of the American student activist movement Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).
Hayden was married to (Hanoi) Jane Fonda (m. 1973; div. 1990)
Six of the Chicago Seven defendants pose outside of the Federal Building in Chicago during their conspiracy trial on Feb. 11, 1970. From left are: Abbie Hoffman, John Froines, Lee Weiner, Jerry Rubin, Rennie Davis, and Tom Hayden. (Bill Yates / Chicago Tribune)
GROG
Charming group of gentlemen…
True parasitic scum!
Great reminder recap Grog.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE83mTbNveQ
downtown businesses and rich folks had the popo and the national guard. when the police/fire dept abandoned the city to protect downtown, then the commie “community organizers” set out gangs from the south side to burn and loot the city. in the organized looting there were significant street battles. some neighborhoods were sacked and burned (with no fire dept response for 2 days). in my neighborhood, a mix of eastern european vets, ira, city mobsters, ww2 and korea vets, worked together, using urban fighting experience to turn wide boulevards into fields of fire, lines of control- and to stop the looters streaming up from the south side. we teenagers were put into “flying squads” with baseball bats/hammers/knives/pistols, to handle any “breakthroughs”. in a major thrust, i saw about 150 put down at the intersection of two wide boulevards. invaders stopped cold. after that, it was weaker probes, until they stopped coming. we were a poor neighborhood of immigrants and factory workers who had little, but we defended our families and our properties against the dindus launched by their commie “community organizers”. we cleaned up the afters, took out the trash, and “nobody saw nothin”.
south of us, neighborhoods were pillaged, but our neighborhood came through fine.
history: rinse. repeat. from time to time.