PBS The 60's The years that shaped a generation...Questions!!!

[serryjw]

I was only 18 and remember little about the convention after Bobby was assassinated.

TWO Questions...IF you were there then or you learned about it after....WHO would you have voted for Eugene McCarthy or Bobby Kennedy?


WHY did our party finally nominate Humphrey? WHY did the party denounced the anti-war movement?

I see so many parallels to our anti-war movement of today. Were WE betrayed then like we are now by our party?

[bluestateguy]

1. RFK was more establishment than McCarthy

Although the SDSers didn't like either one of them. I would have chosen McCarthy.

Back then, the nomination process was still very tightly controlled by party bosses. Primaries did not count for as much as they do today. So if the party regulars wanted Humphrey, than that's what they would get. Even if RFK was not killed, he may not have received the nomination.

[Zen Democrat]

3. Oh, yes, he would have gotten the nomination. That's why he was killed.

Those were winner take all primaries and Kennedy had the lions share of delegates, and definitely the momentum.

[serryjw]

5. I tend to believe you are right

I think many believed it was unfinished business of 'Camelot'. We wanted it back and Bobby represented was 'could have been'

[patrice]

2. I wasn't there, but I was very eager to vote for Bobby Kennedy.

They picked Humphrey because he could animate the Unions. I don't remember them specificly denouncing the anti-War movement, but I may have missed something. I remember being aware of an attitude about how the Dead had to be "justified" somehow.

[Zen Democrat]

4. Why did the party nominate Humphrey ...

and why was the anti-war movement denounced? Because Humphrey was afraid of LBJ. Humphrey was against the war and sympathetic to the demonstrators, and LBJ knew it. LBJ threatened Humphrey that he wouldn't get his endorsement or any help from the Democratic establishment and wouldn't get the nomination if he came out of the closet against the war. That much is available to read in transcripts of LBJ's telephone calls in the White House. He exacted loyalty from Hubert Humphrey. Hubert was hamstrung. He's kind of a tragic figure in all of this, but then there was way too much tragedy in 1968.

[patrice]

8. Oh.

That's toooooooooo bad. I remember being pretty under-whelmed by Humphrey and disappointed in something I couldn't identify. I still believed in a sort-of "Romantic" U.S.A. I'm a Populist at heart, so I like Positivism. Humphrey was mostly Negatives.

Somebody's always supposed to deliver Unions, why is that. I think the old-time Union activists are a Union minority, though you do seem them out for Labor Day. What Unions mostly have now lacks its own Leadership, so "someone" is always supposed to "deliver" them for the party.

[az chela]

6. I also was young

But remember it like it happened yesterday.I had listened to Bobby's speech and watched him walk away and then heard gun shots and people were screaming and trying to form a barrier around him and someone grabbed sirhan and at first I couldnt comprehend what was happening.It was surreal and I thought it has to be a joke ,this cant be real and then Ethel ran up to Bobby and you could see the blood and I became hysterical,screaming ,no not again,this cannot be happening again.
When reality set in I cried for 2 days.
Of course he would have won.Everyone loved him!!!

[patrice]

10. He was a humble Leader. Lots of natural Talent. And beautiful.

He studied human nature independently.

He always seemed to be trying to figure lots of things out. I Loved that the most.

[Bozita]

7. Summer of '68, I went to the airport with camera to meet Clean Gene

It was late June; maybe early July. I remember parking at the curb of the appropriate terminal about 10 minutes before the announced arrival. I was really going to meet and listen to McCarthy. I was into photography at the time. The camera was a Nikon F and was loaded with ASA 25 film, the really slow non-grainy stuff that could be blown up to bedsheet-sized prints.

The flight arrived on time. The Senator was greeted by a small mob of various media types, maybe 30 or 40 including 3 or 4 TV crews. The waiting fans slightly outnumbered the media. The TV folks pumped out plenty of light on the good Senator as cameras rolled. My slow film gave ............

Oh shit! I took pics of McCarthy from about 6-10 feet. Some of them were pretty good. I printed a couple of the good ones. I mention this because I ran across them in this mess of a home a couple of years ago. Finding them brought back memories.

If I can find them again, I'll scan and post here.

[MadHound]

9. Same reasons that the party is distancing itself from the anti-war

Movement of today. First off, God forbid that they don't look tough on terra, or communism, or whatever the big bugaboo of the minute is. Second, they are doing what their corporate masters demand of them. Lots of money in war, and if elected politicians want to see some serious money hit their campaign(or personal) coffers, then their job is to keep the war, whatever war, going as long as possible.

Fear and greed, fear and greed. And yes, we've been betrayed by the Democrats, more than once.