40 years ago...
by Mike Kroll
As we
rapidly approach an eagerly anticipated presidential election ten weeks from
now the Democratic Party is holding its convention in Denver this week. The
Republicans will hold their convention
next week in St. Paul. Both of these conventions promise to be highly
organized and efficiently run kick-offs to the general election campaign. There
will be few surprises, certainly not in terms of who will be the standard
bearer for each party. But things were very different 40 years ago at the year
1968 was perhaps one of the most tumultuous of my lifetime.
Another
Democratic convention was held in 1968 in my birthplace, Chicago. That
convention was the antipathy of precision, organization and harmony. It led to
changes in the way both American political parties operate and it helped elect
a Republican to the White House that November. With the assistance of
independent candidate George Wallace and the Democratic debacle in Chicago
Richard Nixon was able to beat Vice President Hubert Humphrey by less than one
percent of the popular vote. Nixon carried 32 states (301 electoral votes) to
Humphrey's 13 states plus Washington, DC (191 electoral votes) and Wallace's
five southern states (46 electoral votes).
While many
have said that that 1968 election was all about the Viet Nam war, and it was no
doubt a significant factor, civil rights was very much an issue. Despite
significant civil rights strides earlier in that decade the reality was that
many Americans still weren't ready or did not generally accept equal rights for
blacks or even women for that matter. That is what prompted the candidacy of
strident civil rights opponent Wallace and paved the way to Nixon's victory.
But it was
clearly the war that undid President Lyndon Johnson's political career. An
anti-war sentiment was growing across this country – and not only among
the nation's draft-age youth. A year before the 1968 Democratic convention
3,000 delegates to the National Conference for a New Politics gathered in Chicago
representing liberals wanting to foster greater civil rights and stridently
opposed to the war. Typical of
dogmatic liberals this convention failed to come to a consensus and splintered
into disaffected groups without a clear alternative presidential candidate.
October
1967 saw a huge anti-war protest at the Pentagon that reportedly attracted
100,000 where key anti-war leaders first began to plan protests at the
Democratic convention the following August. In the run-up to the 1968
presidential campaign season leaders of the anti-war movement approach a number
of prominent political figures to be their standard bearer but most refuse.
Senator Robert Kennedy declined to oppose a sitting president, as did Senators
Frank Church and George McGovern. Eventually Eugene McCarthy agrees on the eve
of the Pentagon demonstration but doesn't make an announcement until the end of
November.
If
Democrats were reluctant to challenge their president there was little standing
in the way of a wide field of Republicans who longed for the White House
including some familiar names. Michigan governor George Romney (father of Mitt
Romney) was among the first to officially declare his candidacy as the leading
anti-war Republican. A comment to a reporter that he had been ÒbrainwashedÓ by
military and state department officials into initially supporting the war was
used by Nixon supporter and the media to ridicule Romney out of the race before
the end of February.
New York
governor Nelson Rockefeller took up the anti-war banner when he got into the
race as the darling of liberal Republicans (yes, such creatures once existed
and even flourished). By the spring on 1968 California governor Ronald Reagan
was in the race leading the conservative wing of the Republican party and
quickly became Nixon's chief rival.
Election
year 1968 was a very tough year for American troops in Viet Nam and those of us
here at home got to see just how bad things were in this far-off war on the
network television news broadcasts brought the death and violence into our
living rooms night after night. On January 21st some 6,000 marines stationed at
a former French base called Khe Sanh were surrounded by North Vietnamese troops
and placed under siege. Supplies of food and ammunition had to be air dropped
amidst daily artillery and mortar shelling of the base. A week later saw the
beginning of the Tet offensive. North Vietnamese troops attacked Americans and
South Vietnamese across South Vietnam nearly capturing Saigon and putting the
U.S. embassy there under direct attack.
American
military eventually break the siege of Khe Sanh and turn back the Tet offensive
with massive North Vietnamese casualties in what military historians will later
describe as strategic victories but to American families at home these
incidents hardly seemed like victories but rather evidence that the war was
becoming an unwinnable quagmire. Even the Òmost trusted man in America,Ó CBS
anchorman Walter Cronkite said as much in an editorial on his newscast, ÒIt
seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to
end in a stalemate."
On March 16
Charlie Company of the 11th Brigade, Americal Division entered a small South
Vietnamese village called My Lai and killed more than 300 women, children and
old men who were unarmed in an atrocity that will later be known as the My Lai
massacre. It will be eight months before this is reported by the news media,
after the 1968 presidential election.
Johnson had
accomplished a lot domestically only to have his prospects for reelection
dashed by his escalation of the Viet Nam war. Most observers expected Johnson
to be the 1968 Democratic nominee until he took himself out of the race on
March 31, 1968, after only narrowly beating antiwar Democratic Senator Eugene
McCartney in the New Hampshire primary on March 12th and following the entry
into the race of Democratic Senator Robert Kennedy on March 16th.
Just to
underscore how interwoven opposition to the war and the political battle for
civil rights were the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. was felled by an
assassin's bullet on April 4th as he stood on a motel balcony in Memphis. As
news of the assassination spread across the county so too did riots in over 100
American cities, including Chicago. President Johnson had already taken himself
out of the race days earlier and found himself facing violent race riots in
cities across America in the wake of King's death as he spoke to the nation,
"I ask every citizen to reject the blind violence that has taken Dr King
who lived by non-violence."
In 1966 King
had taken his campaign for civil rights to the north where he made Chicago the
nexus of his effort by moving into an impoverished west-side neighborhood so he
had strong ties to the African-American community of Chicago. On the afternoon
of Friday, April 5th Chicagoans began to riot in that same neighborhood. Stores
were vandalized and looted, so many buildings were set afire that every
available off-duty Chicago firefighter was called to duty as alarm calls
out-paced the ability of dispatchers. Half of the cities fire trucks and 2,000
firefighters fought 36 major fires and many more lesser fires as suburban
firefighters were called in to help man empty city firehouses. Responding
firefighter were pelted with rocks, bricks and debris and some were fired upon
by snipers. On Saturday 6,000 National Guard troops arrived to protect the
firefighters and quell the rioters but the efforts of police and National Guard
were not enough and on Sunday 5,000 regular Army troops arrived in Chicago.
By Monday
the Chicago riots were over. Over 170 buildings were destroyed creating
millions of dollars in damage, twelve citizens were dead and one firefighter
was wounded by gunfire. Well over 1,000 Chicagoans were homeless. And, Chicago
Mayor Richard J. Daley was livid with anger and embarrassment. He publicly
criticized his police superintendent for not taking a sufficiently firm hand
with rioters and issued firm but frightening instructions directly to his
police officers in the event of future rioting. Police were Òto shoot to kill
any arsonist and to shoot to maim or cripple anyone looting.Ó Admonishments
that would contribute mightily to fuel events surrounding the 1968 Democratic
convention only four months later.
Less than two weeks following the King
assassination riots Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968 focusing on
open housing but which also had tacked on a brand new federal anti-riot law. It
was now a federal offense to cross state lines to participate in or incite a
riot. Anti-war protests and demonstrations continued all that spring and summer
including an April 27th anti-war march in Chicago (just one of a series of
anti-war marches held across the country that day). Organizers of the peace
march bickered with Chicago officials over the necessary permits and were
finally given permission to use half of the sidewalk (but not the street) and
were to be allowed brief use of what was then called Civic Center Plaza (now
Daley Plaza). After an otherwise peaceful march by 8,000 concluded at the Plaza
Chicago police immediately ordered the crowd to disperse without the planned
rally, firing tear gas and advancing on the crowd wielding billy clubs.
That month
of April 1968 saw nothing but dismay and embarrassment for Daley. A race riot
leveled blocks of the city's west side and while Chicago firefighters were
generally portrayed as heroic by the press coverage of police and National
Guard response to the riots was far from favorable. The anti-war movement was
ratcheting up nationwide and anti-war leaders had made it clear that they
intended to stage massive protests during the Democratic convention that would
make the April 27th march pale by comparison. The mayor who commanded Òthe city
that worksÓ was seeing both his leadership and his city characterized quite differently
in the national press. Daley became adamant that nothing would be allowed to
mar the triumphant moment when his city was to host his party's national
convention. His oft repeated mantra became, ÒLaw and order will be
maintained.Ó
During the
run-up to the convention we witnessed the second political assassination of
1968 as Robert Kennedy was shot and killed in Los Angeles following his winning
the California Democratic primary on June 5th. Humphrey had announced his
candidacy for the Democratic nomination in late April following Johnson's
withdrawal and Kennedy was seen by many as Humphrey's principle opponent
leading to what many assumed would be a wide-open convention battle for the
nomination.
Daley
replaced his police superintendent and he ordered new training and equipment
for his police force during the months leading up to the convention. The
standard issue police equipment at the time was a revolver, billy club and hand
cuffs but the billy clubs were replaced with the then new police ÒnightstickÓ
which was longer and heavier and officers were issued helmets, shields, mace
and new personal radios obtained from the military. The city's reserve officer
corps was expanded and hastily trained to augment the regular police force
patrolling the city during the convention so that more regular officers could
be freed for special security duty.
The
Republican convention was held the week of August 5th in Miami Beach. While
there were few protesters in the immediate vicinity of the Republican
convention itself in predominantly black neighborhoods of nearby Miami hundreds
are arrested and four people died during rioting. Meanwhile Nixon withstands a
challenge by Reagan to become his party's nominee accompanied by Maryland
governor Spiro Agnew as the vice presidential candidate.
The
geography of Chicago contributed to the complexity of convention security.
There are three major lake front parks, two of which would see large
congregations of anti-war protesters. Lincoln Park is on the city's north side
while Grant Park sits between Chicago's central business district, the ÒloopÓ
and Lake Michigan. Nearly all of the hotels where convention attendees stayed
along with the press were in the Loop while the convention itself was held in
the International Amphitheater well south of the Loop and adjacent to what was
once the stockyards. The 9,000-seat Amphitheater was an old WPA-era building
and the home of the then fledgling Chicago Bulls basketball team. The original
plan had been to hold the convention in the shiny new McCormick Place
exhibition center on the city's lake front south of Soldier Field but that
facility caught fire and burned in the early morning hours of January 16,1967
just before the opening of the National Houseware Manufacturers Association
show. More than 500 firefighters fought the blaze and one security guard was
killed and it would be years before the structure was rebuilt.
As the
convention approached the anti-war protesters tried to obtain permits from the
city to no avail. Daley stalled and stalled but his plans became clear,
ultimately no permits would be issued and he hoped that would dissuade many of
those planning to participate from coming to Chicago to embarrass him or his
city. In any protest you have a small cadre of dedicated organizers and their
followers who hope to attract many more moderate participants sympathetic to
their cause. By delaying and eventually denying permits Daley hoped to limit
the number of moderate supporters from making the trip to Chicago and his plan
succeeded to a great extent.
The city's
rationale for denying the permits was two-fold. First, following the April
riots an unsteady calm had come over Chicago and city officials feared that if
large groups of mostly white, middle-class protesters were permitted to march
through predominantly black southside neighborhoods to and from the
Amphitheater accompanied by a large police and National Guard presence might
reignite tensions withing the black community. The city went so far as to
encourage militant black leaders to leave the city during the convention Òto
avoid potentially being implicated in any violence that might ensue.Ó
Second, the
anti-war protesters were asking city officials to ignore state and local laws
and ordinances in granting some of the necessary permits. The plan of the
protesters was to stage encampments at both Lincoln and Grant Parks where
protesters would sleep overnight in tents in the parks but city ordinance
closed the parks at 11pm. State law also bans night rallies and marches. While
it is and was true that neither law is regularly or rigidly enforced they
remained legal reasons to deny permits to people who were seeking same for the
sole purpose of disrupting the smooth conduct of the convention.
Therefore,
merely by gathering in the parks prior to the beginning of the convention the
protesters instantly became criminals and those who traveled across state lines
to come to Chicago were now Federal criminals too. The convention officially
began on Monday, August 26th but protesters began arriving on Wednesday and
Thursday of the preceding week. The main body of the protesters arrived on
Saturday and Sunday just as the convention delegates themselves began to get to
Chicago. On Thursday and Friday nights police monitors Lincoln Park closely and
cleared the park at the 11pm closing without significant incident. Chicago
police were put on 12-hours shifts from Saturday onward and the ÒrealÓ
demonstrations began that afternoon as a much smalled that expected all-women
continent representing Women Strike for Peace picketed the Conrad Hilton Hotel
that served as the principle delegate hotel for the convention.
It quickly
became apparent to protesters and police alike that the huge anticipated number
of protesters was not going to materialize as only about 60 women showed up in
front of the Hilton Saturday while a mixed group of some 200 or so picketers
showed up Sunday afternoon in front of the same hotel. Hundreds of others
marched from Lincoln Park through the Loop chanting familiar anti-war slogans.
When police showed up to confront of the marchers the hotel picketers retreated
to Grant Park where the marchers soon joined them for a brief impromptu rally
before protesters retreated back to Lincoln Park.
Meanwhile
during the Òpre-conventionÓ there were disputes on another kind as multiple
delegations claiming to represent the same states clashed over who would be
seated in the convention. Southern states fought over integrated and segregated
delegations while anti-war delegates promoting McCarthy clashed with party
insiders loyal to President Johnson.
During the
daylight hours it seemed almost like a game with groups of protesters picketing
and chanting across from Chicago police officers. There were a few arrests and
lots of taunting but relatively little violence until Sunday night. Estimates
ranged from hundreds to perhaps a thousand protesters gathered in Lincoln Park
Sunday evening for concert by the band MC-5 (the only band of the many invited
who actually showed up). Efforts to bring a flatbed truck into the park to
function as a stage were thwarted by police. Eventually police allowed the
truck to be parked adjacent to the park but many of the protesters did not
realize a compromise had been arrived at and began gathering around a small
group of police by the truck shouting at them.
The
violence didn't really begin until about 9pm when police formed a line between
the park restrooms and the protesters and the crowd's heckling of police
escalated until finally police charged the crowd brandishing their nightsticks.
Lincoln Park was not well lit at that time and the darkness permitted both
sides to exaggerate the violence committed by the other but few protesters were
seen with weapons. At 11pm the police pushed the protesters out of Lincoln Park
and into the street and the police were then ordered to use their nightsticks
to clear the street itself for traffic but all this took place well north of
convention hotels in the Loop.
It wasn't
until 10-15,000 protesters began gathering in the streets surrounding the
convention hotels on Wednesday night that convention attendees and the
non-local news media became fully aware of the violent interactions between
police and protesters. Until then most news coverage focused on the political
battles at the Amphitheater and television showed CBS reporters Mike Wallace
and Dan Rather Òroughed upÓ by convention security guards on live TV. Cronkite
told the audience after the incidents, ÒI think we've got a bunch of thugs
here, if I may be permitted to say so.Ó
When candidate
names were put into nomination Connecticut Senator Abe Ribicoff made an
impassioned nominating speech on behalf of McGovern including the now famous line, Òwith George
McGovern as president of the United States we wouldn't have Gestapo tactics in the
streets of Chicago.Ó This came after television coverage of police clashes with
protesters beside the Conrad Hilton Hotel. While the protesters could be
clearly heard chanting, Òthe world is watching,Ó police were shown teargassing the crowd and beating them
with nightsticks before dragging some away. It was an appalling sight later
described in a report on the convention by a committee chaired by Dan Walker
(soon to be governor and later disgraced himself) as a Òpolice riot.Ó
In the
aftermath of this debacle Humphrey went into the general elections mortally
wounded by his association with the hugely unpopular Johnson, the distressing
spectacle of the convention and the defection of southern Democrats to Wallace.
In March 1969 eight leaders of the anti-war protesters at the Chicago
Democratic Convention are indicted on Federal charges of crossing state lines
Òwith the intent to incite, organize, promote, encourage, participate in, and
carry out a riot.Ó At the same time eight Chicago police officers were charged
with violating the civil rights of protesters and reporters. The ÒChicago
eightÓ trial began in late September and in February 1970 all of the defendants
are acquitted by the jury of conspiracy changes but five are convicted on
individual charges and sentenced to five years in prison. Not one policeman was
convicted of any criminal charges.
08/28/08