Highlights
For five days in August, the nation's Democrats assembled in Chicago to nominate a presidential candidate at a convention that would quickly spiral out of control and reflect the domestic chaos of the Vietnam era. Between 10,000 and 15,000 demonstrators were arrayed against 12,000 police and 6,000 National Guard troops, with an international press contingent of more than 1,000 on hand to record events inside the International Amphitheatre and outside at locations from Lincoln Park to Grant Park. Chants of "the whole world is watching" were broadcast as hippies, Yippies and the National Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam (Mobe) clashed with police at dozens of locations. The climax came W...
For five days in August, the nation's Democrats assembled in Chicago to nominate a presidential candidate at a convention that would quickly spiral out of control and reflect the domestic chaos of the Vietnam era. Between 10,000 and 15,000 demonstrators were arrayed against 12,000 police and 6,000 National Guard troops, with an international press contingent of more than 1,000 on hand to record events inside the International Amphitheatre and outside at locations from Lincoln Park to Grant Park. Chants of "the whole world is watching" were broadcast as hippies, Yippies and the National Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam (Mobe) clashed with police at dozens of locations. The climax came Wednesday night, as a melee broke out near the Conrad Hilton Hotel across from Grant Park, and police began beating bystanders as well as protesters, using clubs, fists, knees and Mace. Some militants fought back with their own caustic sprays, bottles and concrete chunks, enraging police all the more. Officers pushed people through a plate-glass window and then, according to witnesses, attacked the dazed victims as they lay amid broken glass. A group of police cheered a soldier as he bashed a demonstrator and attacked a photographer who filmed the scene. About an hour later, film of the violence was shown at the Amphitheatre, with the effect of a thunderbolt. Sen. Abraham Ribicoff, at the podium to place Sen. George McGovern's name in nomination, decried the use of "Gestapo tactics." A livid Mayor Daley stood up as TV cameras zoomed in but what he shouted has never been precisely determined. Later that night, as the riots continued, Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota easily won the nomination. There were hundreds of injuries, but no deaths. A national inquiry chaired by Chicago Crime Commission director Daniel Walker, later elected governor of Illinois, called the confrontations a "police riot." The city's version, called "What Trees Do They Plant?" blamed the disturbances on extremists and provocateurs. The tumult led to the infamous Chicago 8 trial, later the Chicago 7 trial, in which organizers were charged in federal indictments with rioting and conspiring to riot. They were: Bobby Seale, head of the Black Panthers; Tom Hayden, co-founder of SDS; Dennis Roberts, an Oakland-based civil rights lawyer; Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman, founders of the Youth International Party, or Yippies; veteran pacifist and Mobe leader David Dellinger; and academics Lee Weiner and John Froines.
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History-buff Ben Stiller visits Chicago courthouse
Why was Hollywood actor Ben Stiller touring Chicago's federal courthouse Friday? "I'm just visiting," Stiller said as he inspected the courtroom of Judge Milton I. Shadur. "I'm interested in history." The courthouse, a 27-story glass-and-steel...Tags: Ben Stiller, Movies, Chicago Loop, History, Democratic National Conventions
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Ex-mayor's busy personal sleuth
Chicago Tribune reporterJack Clarke was Mayor Richard J. Daley's personal gumshoe. For more than a decade, he conducted clandestine investigations for the mayor, in part to make sure Daley found out about city corruption before federal investigators. An expert on organized...Tags: Richard J. Daley, Regional Authority, Waukegan, Crimes, Organized Crime
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Psychiatrist in leftist causes
Chicago Tribune reporterAaron Hilkevitch was the last surviving Illinois member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, the U.S. volunteers who went to Spain to fight the fascists in the 1930s. Dr. Hilkevitch, 96, died of natural causes Saturday, Oct. 4, in his Hyde Park home, said his...Tags: Crimes, Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Democratic National Conventions
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McCain: Remember the 60s!!!
Spin CycleIn response to Obama's nomination, McCain's campaign blasts out an item from its official blogger, Michael Goldfarb, reminding everyone that 40 years ago, Bill Ayers, the Chicago professor and ex-Weatherman radical who was a state Senate constituent,...Tags: Political Candidates, Elections, Weather Underground, Bill Ayers, Republican Party
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How not to sound like a tourist
RedEyeHere are a few things about Chicago you should familiarize yourself with: - For many of you Gen Y-ers, Mayor Daley's been in office almost as long as you've been alive. But his dad, Richard J. Daley, also served as mayor from 1955 to 1976. - The...Tags: Richard J. Daley, Super Bowl, Richard M. Daley, Millennium Park, Chicago Cubs
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On this day in history
On Sept. 24, 1755, John Marshall, who would become the fourth chief justice of the United States, was born near Germantown, Va. In 1869 financiers Jay Gould and James Fisk tried to corner the gold market, sending Wall Street into a panic and leaving...Tags: Government, Tourism and Leisure, New York Yankees, Dick Cheney, Baseball
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What books are selling in Chicagoland?
++++++++++++++++++++ || Powell's Bookstore, 1501 E. 57th St., 773-955-7780 || || || || || 1. || Bronzeville: Black Chicago in Pictures 1941-1943 by Maren Stange (The New Press, $6.95 paper): A photo history of the South Side neighborhood. || || || ||...Tags: Bronzeville, Chicago White Sox, Baseball, All Stars, Major League Baseball
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BEST OF SPIN CYCLE
11:13 p.m. - You could see how Bill Clinton won the presidency twice and John Kerry lost it once. Clinton was the old pro with the strong moves who could time the cheers with the lines. But in 2004 Kerry gave a nomination speech that even people who voted...Tags: Political Candidates, John McCain, John Kerry, Bill Clinton, Elections
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Baby boomers, the new old people
Clutching a freshly purchased Pilates video, Liz Overstreet, who's 56, pauses for a second to think about what she, a vibrant working woman with toned arms and thick hair, is doing at, of all places, an AARP convention.
"I'm not old," Overstreet, who...Tags: Alzheimer's Disease, Gene Simmons, Cal Ripken Jr., Music, Natalie Cole
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GOP spins the hits of the '60s
Since Nixon and 1968, Republicans have painted their rivals as soft on defense and out of touch with America. Will it work again, or will Democrats shake the tag? Hubert Humphrey is dead. The International Amphitheater, home to the 1968 Democratic...Tags: Government, Defense, Television Industry, Minority Groups, Political Candidates
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Gustav Pulls Off A First
National political conventions have gone on in time of war and with rioting in the streets outside. The Republicans' decision to scrap all but the bare essentials of their opening night tonight because of Hurricane Gustav bearing down on New Orleans...Tags: Government, San Diego (San Diego, California), Hurricane Gustav, Defense, National Government
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Politics and football share one common bond: Dynasties
Sentinel Staff WriterAmericans pride themselves on their democracy. None other than George Washington helped set that tone. He relinquished the presidency voluntarily and peacefully after eight years in office, creating an important example for future leaders to follow....Tags: Government, Executive Branch, Brian Griese, Pittsburgh Pirates, Economic Policy
Oct 10, 2008
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Oct 9, 2008
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Oct 7, 2008
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Aug 28, 2008
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Sep 26, 2008
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Sep 24, 2008
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Sep 27, 2008
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Aug 28, 2008
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Sep 6, 2008
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Aug 31, 2008
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Sep 1, 2008
|Story| Hartford Courant
Aug 22, 2008
|Story| Orlando Sentinel
Original site for 1968 Democratic Convention topic gallery.
