1968
Riots in Chicago
1968 was a horrible year, the “Year of the Pig” as many called it. The fighting in Vietnam accelerated with the Communist Tet Offensive and its massacres of civilians, followed by the discovery of atrocities committed by American troops at My Lai. Civil riots and violent disturbances roiled American campuses while massive antiwar protests convinced President Lyndon Johnson not to stand for reelection. A white supremacist had murdered Martin Luther King, setting off riots in 100 American cities, and a Palestinian activist had murdered New York Senator Robert Kennedy who was running for the Democratic presidential nomination. In Paris, the workers and students were in revolt forcing French President de Gaulle to panic and flee the country. Similar outbursts of street disorders were experienced in Berlin and London. Russian tanks crushed the nascent liberalization movement of the Prague Spring.
Meanwhile in Chicago delegates were gathering for the Democratic National Convention bringing a host of controversial issues with them. There were rival delegations from various states each claiming to be the true representatives of the party; race was a chief issue here. The role of backstage manipulation of the agenda and voting by Chicago mayor Richard Daley and party insiders was a hot topic. Where would the antiwar delegates pledged to the dead Robert Kennedy go — to his antiwar rivals Ted Kennedy, George McGovern or Gene McCarthy or would they back the establishment nominee Hubert Humphrey?
While the media was chewing these issues over, the larger antiwar and counterculture movements were planning on hijacking the convention for their own ends. The National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (MOBE) planned large rallies and marches; the Women’s Strike for Peace announced picketing plans. Various civil rights groups were coming to draw attention to racial demands. More ominous were the threats issued by the Yippies of the Youth International Party, a loosely-knit group of anarchists, libertarians and attention-seekers who had won media time with their warnings that nails would be thrown from overpasses to block roads; cars would be used to block intersections, main streets, police stations and National Guard armories; LSD would be dumped in the city’s water supply and the convention would be stormed; a pig named Pigasus would be nominated for President. Students for a Democratic Society, a Marxist group, that would later spawn a terrorist wing were out in force and prepared for street fighting. All this put the police on edge and ready for violence.
Though most of the protestors gathering in Chicago were intent on peaceful demonstrations, a significant minority was looking for trouble. The SDS, the Yippies, and local black activists provoked the police with disobedience, obscene chants, and throwing bottles and bags of feces. The police replied with excessive force involving baton charges and tear gas. The big mistake by the Chicago Police Force was roughing up several delegates to the convention and a number of media figures. All of this was televised live, giving Chicago and the Democratic party a back eye and leading to the election of Richard Nixon in November.