1968 Democratic National Convention

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The 1968 National Convention of the U.S. Democratic Party was held at International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois, from August 26 to August 29, 1968, for the purposes of choosing the Democratic nominee for the 1968 U.S. presidential election.[1]

1968 already had been a tumultuous year for the United States, with the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Senator Robert F. Kennedy (D-NY), and widespread protests of the Vietnam War. The convention achieved notoriety due to clashes between protesters and police, and due to the generally chaotic atmosphere of the event. The turmoil was widely publicized by the mass media on-hand for the convention, resulting in a nationwide debate about the convention and leading to a flood of articles and books about the event.

The keynote speaker was Senator Daniel Inouye.[2]

Contents

[edit] Nomination

The decision of a Presidential nominee was particularly difficult for the Democrats that year, due to the split in the party over the Vietnam War, President Lyndon B. Johnson's decision not to seek re-election, and Robert Kennedy's assassination. On one side, Senator Eugene McCarthy, D-MN, ran a decidedly anti-war campaign, calling for the immediate withdrawal from the region. On the other side, Vice President Hubert Humphrey called for a policy more in line with President Johnson's, which focused on making any reduction of force contingent on concessions extracted in the Paris Peace Talks.

The Democrats eventually settled on Humphrey, who would lose the election to Richard M. Nixon. The confusion of the convention, and the unhappiness of many liberals with the outcome, led the Democrats to begin reforms of their nominating process, increasing the role of primaries and decreasing the power of party delegates in the selection process. But the election for the Democrats would soon take a turn for the worse.

The Final Ballot
Presidential tally Vice Presidential tally:
Hubert Humphrey 1759.25 Edmund S. Muskie 1942.5
Eugene McCarthy 601 Not Voting 604.25
George S. McGovern 146.5 Julian Bond 48.5
Channing Phillips 67.5 David Hoeh 4
Daniel K. Moore 17.5 Edward M. Kennedy 3.5
Edward M. Kennedy 30.25 Others 19.25

[Source for roll call votes: Richard C. Bain and Judith H. Parris, Convention Decisions and Voting Records Washington DC: Brookings Institution, 1973.]

[edit] Protests and police response

Expecting protests, Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley repeatedly announced "Law and order will be maintained" and an 11 p.m. curfew was implemented. [1]

The mob scene was agitated by various speeches and a raucous electric performance from the rock band, the MC5, as well as the "nomination" of Pigasus for president. Though many musicians were scheduled to perform, the MC5 were the only band to play at the convention, and turned in a legendary eight-hour gig.

Anti-war demonstrators protested throughout the convention. Initially the protests were uneventful, but tempers gradually heated, and soon police and protestors were clashing all around the convention center, the Chicago International Amphitheater (in the streets, as well in Lincoln Park and Grant Park).

Daley took a particularly hard line against the protesters, refusing permits for rallies and marches, and calling for whatever use of force necessary to subdue the crowds. A 1968 Time article noted that "demonstrators constantly taunted the police and in some cases deliberately disobeyed reasonable orders."[2] There was also widespread criticism that the Chicago police and National Guard used excessive force: a 1968 Time article declared that

With nightsticks, tear gas and Mace, the blue-shirted, blue-helmeted cops violated the civil rights of countless innocent citizens and contravened every accepted code of professional police discipline ... No one could accuse the Chicago cops of discrimination. They savagely attacked hippies, yippies, New Leftists, revolutionaries, dissident Democrats, newsmen, photographers, passers-by, clergymen and at least one cripple. Winston Churchill's journalist grandson got roughed up. Playboy's Hugh Hefner took a whack on the backside. The police even victimized a member of the British Parliament, Mrs. Anne Kerr, a vacationing Labourite who was Maced outside the Conrad Hilton and hustled off to the lockup."[3]

In 1968, Jo Freeman wrote, "Over three dozen newsmen were injured in their attempts to cover the action.[4] In trying to explain his decision to quell the protests, Daley uttered one of the most famous quotes of the era: "The policeman isn't there to create disorder, the policeman is there to preserve disorder."[5]

This hard line was also seen on the convention floor itself. In 1968, Terry Southern described the convention hall as "exactly like approaching a military installation; barbed-wire, checkpoints, the whole bit".[6] Inside the convention, journalists such as Mike Wallace and Dan Rather were roughed up by security; both these events were broadcast live on television. When Senator Abraham Ribicoff (D-Conn) delivered a speech nominating George McGovern for President, he infuriated Daley by saying, "with George McGovern as President of the United States, we wouldn't have Gestapo tactics in the streets of Chicago."[7] Daley responded by shaking his fist at Ribicoff, and shouting a phrase that was inaudible, and which has generated much speculation. An uncredited author for CNN wrote, "Most reports of the event also say Daley yelled an off-color epithet beginning with an "F," but according to CNN executive producer Jack Smith, others close to Daley insist he shouted 'Faker,' meaning Ribicoff was not a man of his word, the lowest name one can be called in Chicago's Irish politics."[8]

Subsequently, the Walker Report to the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence assigned blame for the mayhem in the streets to the police force, calling the violence a "police riot."

[edit] The Chicago Seven

Main article: Chicago Seven

Eight of the protesters — Abbie Hoffman, Tom Hayden, Dave Dellinger, Rennie Davis, John Froines, Jerry Rubin, Lee Weiner, and Black Panther Bobby Seale — were charged with conspiracy in connection with the violence at the convention. They were known collectively as the "Chicago Eight"; however, Seale was tried separately after a mistrial was declared in his case, thus the larger group became known as the "Chicago Seven".

On February 18, 1970, all seven defendants were acquitted on the charge of conspiring to incite a riot, but five were convicted of incitement as individuals. However, all of the convictions were eventually overturned by an appellate court.

[edit] Lyndon B. Johnson

One person who did not attend the convention was President Lyndon Johnson, who several months earlier had announced that he would neither seek nor accept the nomination for the presidency.

On August 27, the second day of the convention, he turned 60. Delegates at the convention were hoping to see him so that they could celebrate his 60th birthday with him. Instead, he celebrated it privately with his family at his ranch in Texas, possibly to avoid the violence at the convention.[citation needed]

[edit] Convention in popular culture

  • The 1969 film Medium Cool, directed by Haskell Wexler, although centered on a fictional story and employing actors in the principal roles, includes substantial footage of the riots, filmed during the convention.
  • Graham Nash wrote the song "Chicago", recorded by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, which is about both the convention and the Chicago Eight trial that followed a year later.[9]
  • Phil Ochs was present at the demonstrations, and he talks of his experiences during his concert There and Now: Live in Vancouver 1968, which includes the songs "Where Were You In Chicago?" and "William Butler Yeats Visits Lincoln Park and Escapes Unscathed".
  • Bassist Charlie Haden was inspired to write his 1969 song "Circus '68 '69" after watching the convention on television. The piece reflects the incident which happened after the minority plank on Vietnam was defeated. After the vote on the convention floor, the California and New York delegations spontaneously began singing "We Shall Overcome" in protest. In an effort to regain control, the rostrum told the convention orchestra to begin playing to drown out the singing; Haden emulated this by orchestrating his group to play both songs at once; see the notes of Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra for more information.
  • The band Chicago Transit Authority (later called Chicago) wrote a song on the events of the 1968 Democratic Convention. The 10th track of their debut self-titled album is called "Prologue, August 29, 1968." This song, written by the band's producer, James William Guercio, samples the chant "The Whole World Is Watching," which became famous during the convention riots. The next track was titled "Someday (August 29, 1968)." It is written by James Pankow, the band's trombonist, and Robert Lamm, their keyboardist/vocalist.
  • In November, 1968, Cat Mother & The All Night Newsboys released "What I Did Last Summer" on their first album, The Street Giveth...And The Street Taketh Away (co-produced by Jimi Hendrix). The chorus starts "Did you go to Chicago?/Did you see what they did there?"[3]
  • The line, "Blood on the streets in the town of Chicago" from the Doors song Peace Frog is reportedly about this convention.
  • Gonzo journalist Hunter S Thompson recounts his experiences during the riots in his book Kingdom of Fear.
  • Towards the beginning of the film Dazed and Confused, Mrs. Stroud, the history teacher, can be heard recounting that "The '68 democrat convention was probably the most bitchin' time I ever had in my life."

[edit] Further reading

  • Miami and the Siege of Chicago, by Norman Mailer; New York: New American Library, 1968.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/library/politics/camp/whouse/convention-ra.html#1968
  2. ^ Associated Press (Chicago), "Keynoter Knows Sting of Bias, Poverty". St. Petersburg Times, August 27, 1968.
  3. ^ (1969) Album notes for The Street Giveth...and the Street Taketh Away by Cat Mother & The All Night Newsboys [Cover]. USA: Polydor (24-4001).

[edit] External links


Preceded by
1964		 Democratic National Conventions Succeeded by
1972

== ==

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