Chicago '68. A short history primer

[chill_wind]

in text and pictures.

"The whole world is watching."

http://members.aol.com/gestalt768/Chicago1968/


"We are known for our violence, we Americans. The creative violence with which we haul down the good for what we fancy as better. The cruel violence with which we have treated red men, and black. The intoxicating violence of our music and art. The absurd violence of our comics and cartoons. The organized violence of our athletic and corporate games. The coarse violence of our speech, even our jokes.

And now we have come violently to disagree about the nature of our violence in Vietnam or Dallas or Watts or Hiroshima. We seek the primitive within ourselves and bemoan the failure of affluence to civilize. Our young deplore the violence of the old and are tempted to use violence against them. The. old deplore the ferocity of the young and are tempted to use violence to suppress them.

Thus we came, already maimed, to 1968. The ugly war in Asia dragged on.

(...)


- Max Frankel - Columnist for the New York Times
From the introduction to the Walker Report
November 18, 1968


A great biblographic list of references/links at site for politcos and history buffs.

(link edit)

[Truth2Tell]

1. Spectacular quote! And spectacular resource. Thanks. K&R nt

[chill_wind]

2. They called it "Czechago."

They called it "Czechago." Nowhere else during that decade was dissension so dramatically opposed as on the streets of Chicago during the turbulent Democratic National Convention in August 1968. The barbed wire-laced jeeps in Grant Park evoked images of Russian tanks in the streets of Prague.

(...)

another bibliographical site: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/1553/

I wasn't there, but I too was watching that hot summer from hundreds of miles away in nursing school- still have a couple of pictures around somewhere of the armed guard given me by a college friend of the time who was. He was a peace studies grad working on a Phd in Education.
Some closeup personal and brutal American History lesson he witnessed, that summer.

[chill_wind]

14. "Thus we came, already maimed, to 2008. The ugly war in Iraq dragged on."

How far have we come?

Thanks. I love your avatar a lot. :-)

[Truth2Tell]

15. It's a great pic of him isn't it.

:)

I'm hoping to make it to Denver as a delegate this year. But if I can't, I wouldn't be opposed to attending as a "outside the arena" delegate. If Hillary steals this thing using super-delegates I fear it could be ugly.

[NMDemDist2]

3. the link didn't work

:shrug:

[chill_wind]

9. Sorry- not sure what might be wrong- it is still working ok for me.

In any case, I added quite a few more links (downthread).

[Catshrink]

4. I remember watching it on TV

Dad and I were watching the convention coverage when the network cut to the riot. I kept crying "Daddy, what are they doing? Why are they hitting them?" My Dad was as stunned as I was.

I was 13 and very naive. That changed me.

[kineneb]

6. I was 10 and watched it, too.

I couldn't understand why they were rioting at the Dem. convention, instead of the Rs., since Tricky Dicky obviously had no intention of leaving Vietnam.

ed- not enough coffee...

[Catshrink]

7. In my naivete, I blamed it on Humphrey

[catnhatnh]

5. Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young-Chicago

See the original song here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEFsBF1X1ow

[chill_wind]

8. Other archives and websites

This is a partial bibliography of links from Janet Heettner's website (from OP)
at http://members.aol.com/gestalt768/Chicago1968


Websites

1968, August: Disturbances at the Democratic National Convention. Chicago Historical Information, Chicago Public Library.

http://www.chipublib.org/004chicago/disasters/1968dem_convention.html (May 16, 2004)

This is actually only a couple of paragraphs however it is interesting to see one way that the events can be summarized and included within a category on the site called Deaths, Disasters and Disorders in Chicago.

1968 Revisited. NYU Archives.

http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/collections/exhibits/arch/1968/Index.html (May 16, 2004)

This is a political timeline of 1968 as viewed through the perspective of New York University. It links to a couple of leaflets distributed for the demonstrations.

Brief History Of Chicago's 1968 Democratic Convention. All Politics, CNN Time.

http://www-cgi.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/conventions/chicago/facts/chicago68/index.shtml (May 16, 2004)

Useful in giving dates, names and places for the planning for the convention both official and protest.

Calloway, John. 1968: Whole World Watching. Chicago Sun-Times. November 29, 1999

http://www.suntimes.com/century/m1968.html (May 16, 2004)

A first person memory of the convention by a reporter who had covered the events.

Chicago Police Riot of 1968. Chicago Historical Society.

http://www.chicagohistory.org/collections/historyfair/subjects/bibliographies/chicago_police_riot_of_1968.htm (May 16, 2004)

This is a good bibliography of books, newspapers and magazine articles related to the demonstrations at the Chicago Convention. It includes more references than I consulted and is a good jumping off place for further research.

The "Chicago Seven" Trial. Famous American Trials.

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/Chicago7/chicago7.html (May 16, 2004)

Very comprehensive site with a narrative describing and discussing the trial of the "Chicago Seven" (sometimes called the Chicago Eight as Bobby Seale had been part of the original indictment.) Included in the site is alot of primary source material including photographs, audio clips, trial transcripts and maps.

A Convention in Crisis. Parades, Protests and Politics in Chicago. Chicago Historical Society.

http://www.chicagohs.org/history/politics/1968.html (May 16, 2004)

Short narrative describing background to the convention and then events within the convention and in the streets. It is interesting to see how the events are distilled by mainstream historical societies.

Dementia in the Second City. Time. September 6, 1968.

http://www-cgi.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/analysis/back.time/9609/06/ (May 16, 2004)

This Time article, published right after the convention, gives a good flavor of much of mainstream coverage of the convention. It was striking to read this material at the time as it seemed striking to see the support in the press for the protestors. This article also gives a very good description of Eugene McCarthy and his role in the convention.

Freeman, Jo. The Chicago Convention: A Baptism Called a Burial. Moderator. October, 1968.

http://www.jofreeman.com/sixtiesprotest/baptism.htm (May 16, 2004)

This article gives a description of some of the demonstrations in the streets during the convention and with some participants quoted discussing the impact of the demonstration on their political plans for the immediate future.

Humphrey/Muskie. Life Magazine.

http://www.life.com/Life/conventions/gallery/D.6.html (May 16, 2004)

An interesting juxtaposition of a few photographs from Life Magazine from the Chicago Convention.

Kaiser, Charles. This Wheel's on Fire. Chapter 11 from 1968 in America. 1988.

http://www.orlok.com/tribe/insiders/chapter11.html

This is from one of the many works on that year. It was used as the basis for a CBS documentary.

McCarthy, Eugene. Chicago 1996. The Progressive Populist.

http://www.populist.com/8.96.McCarthy.html

Eugene McCarthy discussing the choice of Chicago for the 1996 Democratic Convention and his memories and thoughts of 1968.

Morrow, Lance. The Whole World was Watching Time. August 26, 1996.

http://www-cgi.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/analysis/time/9608/26/morrow.shtml (May 16, 2004)
A first person memory of the convention.

Psychedelic 60's: Four Radical Groups. University of Virginia Library.

http://www.lib.virginia.edu/speccol/exhibits/sixties/radical.html (May 16, 2004)

Group of some interesting primary documents of the time including some leaflets and posters.

Raskin, Jonah. Remembering Abbie Hoffman: A Yippie Script for Chicago, 96.

http://www.pacificnews.org/jinn/stories/2.17/960816-abbie.html

A short piece on Abbie Hoffman written at the time of the 1996 Chicago Convention. Jonah Raskin who has written a book on Hoffman gives an interesting perspective on him.

Schultz, John. Pigs, Prague, Other Democrats and the Sleeper in the Park. The Evergreen Review #60, November, 1968.

http://www.evergreenreview.com/100/articles/schultz2.html

This is a wonderful description of the experience of Chicago from the inside written shortly after the convention. It does a particularly good job of capturing the mood of the Yippie demonstrators in Lincoln Park.


Southern, Terry. Grooving in Chicago, Esquire Magazine, November 1968:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/convention96/retro/southern.html (May 16, 2004)

Terry Southern had been sent to Chicago as part of a team from Esquire Magazine that included along with himself Jean Genet and William Burroughs. This piece gives a first person description of his experience of the Chicago Convention. It provides one interesting perspective on the events.

Speeches - Richard J. Daley, mayor of Chicago: Discusses violence at the Democratic National Convention.

http://www.historychannel.com/speeches/archive/speech_62.html (May 16, 2004)

This is an audio clip that enables one to actually hear Mayor Daley describe the violence in his own voice.

The Whole World is Watching: An Oral History of 1968. South Kingstown High School and Brown University's Scholarly Technology Group.

http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/1968/index.html

This web site is primarily a collection of oral histories which have mixed interest. In addition though is a good glossary identifying terms and people important to understanding the era. Also there is a detailed hyperlinked timeline for 1968.

[chill_wind]

10. Chicago 68- Google Images

Pages of Google Images of Chicago 1968:

Police riots
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=chicago+police+riots+1968

DNC
http://images.google.com/images?q=chicago%20DNC%201968

[Mz Pip]

11. I still have

my YIPPEE! button. I wear it eary four years. It was an interesting night and in retrospect I'm sort of surprised no one was killed. It was pretty crazy on Michigan Avenue.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

12. Thank you! There is a documentary out "The Chicago 10" which is supposed to be superb.

Although I never went to Chicago (I was 16), I had attended one of the meetings held by the Yippies that discussed demonstrating during the convention. This was at the New School in NYC. Being the flower child that I was, I temporarily gave the meeting a comic break by blowing up balloons and many of us there batted them around. Someone then came up with the idea of blowing up condoms in Chicago. I always wondered if anyone did that.

Needless to say, but I'll still say it, I was horrified by the violence that was used on the demonstrators, some of which I'm sure I met at that meeting. That incident combined with the senselessness of the Vietnam War, Kent State, etc. left me to this day distrustful our government. After that there was Watergate, the Pentagon Papers were released, numerous countries being subverted by our CIA, Iran-Contra, etc. etc. My distrust is still justified as we're still so screwed.

[chill_wind]

13. Thanks. Found some Youtube stuff! -- footage inside and outside the Convention. Dan Rather getting

punched in the stomach and more. And there are a couple trailor clips from the documentary you cited.

Convention and Riot Footage- Youtube videos

http://www.youtube.com/results?search=related&search_query=%201968%20Chicago%20Democratic%20Convention%20Police%20Riot%20Vietnam%20War%20Protest%20Brutality&v=6FDuCfRaj5w

Strong-arm tactics at 1968 Democratic Convention
One of the delegates is man-handled...1968 Chicago Democratic Convention Police
Richard Daley CBS News Cronkite Rather Wallace

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EeGV-gKnIM&NR=1

"Another Sad Chapter In American History"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FDuCfRaj5w

police riot coverage

Here's an alternate link
http://www.rickyhitmanhatton2.com/video/video/6FDuCfRaj5w/1968-chicago-police-riot.html

others-


Dan Rather Punched in Stomach

Chicago 10 official trailor (1:58)


Chicago 10- "Take the Hill!"