1968 Democratic Convention - Research Paper Example

?Running Head: 1968 Democratic Convention 1968 Democratic Convention [Institute’s 1968 Democratic Convention Introduction Democratic Party of the United States of America shares a great history not only as the oldest party in United States but also as one of the oldest parties in the world. The current President of United States, Barack Hussian Obama is a Democrat. Despite of its rich legacy, there have been some events related to the history of this party, which still haunt the stakeholders (Campbell, 2008). One of these events is the “Democratic National Convention of 1968 at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois” (Campbell, 2008). This paper is an attempt to present a brief account of the events that led to this convention, the happenings during the convention and events that took place in the aftermath. Discussion Before light is shed on the convention, it is important to draw a rough and succinct sketch of the events leading to Democratic Convention of 1968 that would help in better understanding of the entire event and its happenings. Events leading to 1968 Democratic Convention Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Without any doubts, the man who saw the dream, Martin Luther King, Jr. remains as one of the most influential personalities in the American history (Hoffman, Leary & Mailer, 2008). During the late 1950s and 1960s, he had become the icon of American liberalism, anti Vietnam War advocate, civil right activist and leader of the peace movement (Dautrich & Yalof, 2009). It was on April 4, 1968 when he was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. This created widespread anger, frustration and rage in the public and riots spread in major United States, such as “Washington D.C., Kansas City, Baltimore, Louisville, Chicago, and various 100 other major cities causing damage of more than 50 million US dollars” (Farber, 1988). In fact, Chicago has not witnessed such magnitude of riots since 1968. During these disturbances, “11 citizens lost their lives, 48 injured, 90 police officers were wounded, and more than 2156 were taken into police custody” (Kusch, 2004). Despite the fact that the city appeared to be getting back to the normal after a week or so but this event installed the first wave of anger and frustration within the hearts of minds, parts of which became evident during the convention as well (Edy, 2006). Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy After the death of Luther King, Jr. Robert F. Kennedy was the first political leader, who was also running for the Democratic Party nomination for President. Kennedy had lost his brother John F. Kennedy earlier in the decade (Farber, 1988). Shortly after addressing his supporters at midnight in a ballroom at The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, he left for addressing a press conference (Kusch, 2004). On his way to the conference, he took the route that went through the kitchen and a Palestinian immigrant, Sirhan Bishara Sirhan, who shoot Kennedy in the chest three times. He died after 26 hours, thus depriving the democratic party of a charismatic and influential leader who would have gone on to win the Democratic convention (Campbell, 2008; Hoffman, Leary & Mailer, 2008). Decision of Lyndon B. Johnson not to contest for the second term Lyndon B. Johnson, one of the four political personalities in the history of United States to serve as the President, Vice President, Representative, and Senator during his career, was the 36th president of the United States who served during the 1963-1969 era. He served as the vice president during the Kennedy era and took over the job as the president of the country after his assassination. He ran for the office after completing that term and won with an overwhelming majority. Johnson is still praised by critics and observers for his domestic policies such as “Great Society legislations” (McGowen, 2003). However, he paid the price for increasing American involvement in Vietnam War in form of his sharply declining popularity, both in the American Public and within the Democratic Party circles, which forced Johnson not to nominate him for another term (Hoffman, Leary & Mailer, 2008). Therefore, now the party had the task to look for a new presidential candidate and not with the traditional rules but this time they would open up the gates for millions of people to debate and president themselves (Schultz & Gitlin, 2009). Chicago was chosen as the location for this Convention due to its mayor Richard J. Daley who was a loyal supporter of the city and played an important in the election of John F. Kennedy (Hoffman, Leary & Mailer, 2008). He wanted to display his power in the city to the world and the democrats and the idea was to save the State of Illinois from slipping away since the 1966 congressional races were showing the same (Edy, 2006; Dautrich & Yalof, 2009). Many democrats wanted the convention to happen in Miami instead where the Republicans were also having the convention. They were afraid not only, of the planned demonstrations and protests but of the telephone and taxi strike, which would make it a nightmare to hold a convention (McGowen, 2003). Nevertheless, the Mayor, repeatedly, guaranteed smoothness of events and complete law and order. However, the official reason to select Chicago after twelve years was that this city has its location in the center that would decrease the transportation costs and both parities in the past have held conventions in this city (Campbell, 2008; Miller, Vandome & McBrewster, 2009). Growing opposition and demonstrations against Vietnam War Since the early 1960s, opposition to the Vietnam War and American policies of interference in Vietnam remained in public attention and focus of debate. With the passage of time, this opposition to the war grew stronger and people started coming on the streets to force the political leaders from Vietnam War (Campbell, 2008). “Youth International Movement (Yippies) planned the idea of a protest aligned with the Democratic Convention a year ago. National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam's involvement (MOBE), Women Strike for Peace, SNCC, SDS, Black Panthers” (Kusch, 2004), and various other civil, political, social activists and other organizations planned to protest and gather thousands of millions, if not millions, against the Vietnam War and calling for a change in the democratic party (Farber, 1988; Kusch, 2004). The Convention Daley had promised that “law and order will be maintained” and the Chicago police force and other law enforcement agencies believed that they were well prepared for this convention and ensure that every goes on smooth. They also had mace and riots helmets other than the standard guns and Billy club (Miller, Vandome & McBrewster, 2009). The police force had been receiving training during all summer for riot management and crowd control. There was also a new communication system in place, which would to speed up communication between field and command officers. Police officers were having 12-hour elongated shifts rather than the 8-hour normal shift (Edy, 2006). The entire city was being patrolled and a great number of officers were in reserve for dealing with any disturbance. There was a foolproof plan to guard the entire city (Kusch, 2004). The protests and tensions began on Sunday August 25 when various protesting groups and their leaders tried to get permits, which could allow them to sleep in the Lincoln Park to demonstrate outside of the convention center. Quite understandably, the reply was of denied. After shutting down the park, the police still saw people trying to enter into the park, which had to be stopped away with force. Throughout these protests, the police force saw media as their enemy and treated them with the same manner, which led to even more tensions during these days (McGowen, 2003; Panagopoulos & Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs, 2007). It was on the third day of convention, August 28, 1968 when the first big riot occurred on the scene. There was peaceful legal rally taking place at the Grant Park during which a young boy lowered the American Flag (Hoffman, Leary & Mailer, 2008; Miller, Vandome & McBrewster, 2009). The police noticed the event, went into the crowd with all their force while the crowd was throwing food, leftovers, urine bags, concrete, rocks and everything else they had with themselves, on the police. It all started happening at 3.30pm and within no time, this turned into a massive riot between 23000 police officers and 10000 protestors (Dautrich & Yalof, 2009). The police officers started using tear gas; however, due to the strategy used by Tom Hayden, protestors ran through the whole city so that the entire city feels the affect. This plan worked as Hubert Humphrey who was in Hilton Hotel could smell the gas (Dautrich & Yalof, 2009). In order to make matters worse, the event was being telecasted live by the TV channels and the crowd started shouting that “the whole world is watching” which later became an important phrase in politics (Dautrich & Yalof, 2009). Between these riots, rallies, protests, demonstrations and blood on the streets of Chicago, the convention was on his way where Humphrey finally won the presidential nomination with more than 1000 votes and the news channels had two major footages to show (Hoffman, Leary & Mailer, 2008). The first of the victory celebrations of Humphrey and his democratic supporters and the other of the protestors on the streets of Chicago, in which there were large number of democrats as well (Dautrich & Yalof, 2009). However, like the streets of Chicago, there were some disruptions in the Convention Hall as well. Terry Southern described the convention Center as “exactly like approaching a military installation; barbed-wire, checkpoints, the whole bit” (Miller, Vandome & McBrewster, 2009). Abraham Ribicoff nominated George McGovern for the post of the president saying that McGovern is less likely to cause this much mess on the streets of Chicago. This infuriated Daley ad according to lip readers throughout America he used the F-word (Campbell, 2008). The Aftermath The supporters believed that this event would show the world and the America that Democratic Party was not fit to lead the country under the current circumstances since the entire party was divided. However, the protestors were shocked when they got to know that their efforts in Chicago did not received the expected attention from the public and other developments at the Vietnam War took away all the attention of the public. Furthermore, the mayor claimed that only three percent of the letters that he received condemned his actions (Panagopoulos & Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs, 2007). Once the convention was over, the police reported that it had around 589 people arrested, police officers have been wounded, and 100 protestors have injuries (Edy, 2006). Since the event was in the news all around the world, it led to government-funded study aimed at finding the root cause of the riots and disturbances (Campbell, 2008). The study concluded that it was the Chicago police and law enforcement agencies, which failed in ensuring peace and they must take the responsibility. Mayor Daley was not ready to accept the findings and believed that the police did whatever was possible (Schultz & Gitlin, 2009). He was also increased the pay of Chicago police for their “extraordinary efforts” during the convention to maintain peace (Hoffman, Leary & Mailer, 2008). Many reports believe that it was during that night that the Democratic Party lost their support and the people of America elected Richard Nixon as their next president (Farber, 1988; Dautrich & Yalof, 2009). It was on March 20, 1969 that eight police officers and eight civilian presented against the Chicago Grand Jury, in order to defend themselves, accused of the disturbances created during the convention (McGowen, 2003). These were the first people, which came onto the scene for these events. They were “David Dellinger (National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam). Rennie Davis (SDS), Tom (SDS), Abbie Hoffman (Yippies), Jerry Rubin (Yippies), Lee Weiner (Research Assistant, Northwestern University), John Froines (Professor, University of Oregon) and Bobby Seale (Black Panthers)” (Kusch, 2004). Most of the proceedings of that trail also went like the riots. The defendants did not maintain discipline and were trying to talk with the Judge. The judge, Julius Hoffman, kept hearing comments of “racists”, “fascists”, and “pig” from Seale, which were crucial in deciding his future for four years in prison straight away (Panagopoulos & Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs, 2007). The rest of the seven were fined $5,000 each, plus court costs, and given two and half months to four years in prison (Edy, 2006; Dautrich & Yalof, 2009). References Campbell, J. E. (2008). The American campaign: U.S. presidential campaigns and the national vote. Texas A&M University Press. Dautrich, K., & Yalof, D. A. (2009). American Government: Historical, Popular, and Global Perspectives. Cengage Learning. Edy, J. A. (2006). Troubled pasts: news and the collective memory of social unrest. Temple University Press. Farber, D. R. (1988). Chicago '68. University of Chicago Press. Hoffman, A., Leary, T., & Mailer, N. (2008). Chicago Seven: Testimony from the 1968 Conspiracy Trial. Cengage Learning. Kusch, F. (2004). Battleground Chicago: the police and the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Greenwood Publishing Group. McGowen, T. (2003). The 1968 Democratic Convention. Children's Press. Miller, F. P., Vandome, A. F., & McBrewster, J. (2009). 1968 Democratic National Convention. VDM Publishing House Ltd. Panagopoulos, C., & Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs. (2007). Rewiring politics: presidential nominating conventions in the media age. LSU Press. Schultz, J., & Gitlin, T. (2009). No One Was Killed: The Democratic National Convention, August 1968. University of Chicago Press. Read More