1968
I was trying to think what I could remember from the year 1968, as far as Things That Happened.
I came up with six:
- in the month of March - President Johnson announces that he will not run for a second term
- April 4 - Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated
- April 23 - student protesters "took over" Columbia University in New York City
- June 5 - Bobby Kennedy assassinated
- in August, huge anti-war protests rocked the city of Chicago, during the Democrats' National Convention to nominate a candidate for President
- in October, on the Greek island of Skorpios, Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy married shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis
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Internet synopsis of the Chicago protests in August 1968:
----------------------------- The 1968 Democratic National Convention was held from August 26 to August 29 at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois. It remains one of the most volatile and defining moments in modern American political history, exposing fierce internal party splits over the Vietnam War, and marked by massive civil unrest in the streets.
The Political Backdrop
The convention took place during a year of unprecedented national trauma and political upheaval:
) LBJ Steps Down: Incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson announced in March that he would not seek re-election, largely due to growing unpopularity over his Vietnam War policies.
) Assassinations: The country was reeling from the assassinations of Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in April and anti-war presidential candidate Senator Robert F. Kennedy in June.
) The Insiders vs. The Primaries: Anti-war candidates like Senator Eugene McCarthy had won significant support in state primaries. However, the party establishment backed Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who had not competed in a single primary.
Chaos Inside the Convention Hall
The deep ideological fractures within the Democratic Party triggered open hostility on the convention floor:
) The Vietnam Plank Battle: Delegates engaged in furious debates over the party's stance on the war. The pro-war establishment faction defeats a proposed peace plank, outraging anti-war delegates.
) Floor Violence: Tensions escalated into physical altercations. Security guards aggressively handled delegates and members of the media; CBS News correspondent Dan Rather was famously knocked to the floor on live television.
) The Nomination: Despite the party's deep fractures, the establishment successfully steered the nomination to Hubert Humphrey.
The "Police Riot" in the Streets
Outside the convention, an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 anti-war demonstrators, including groups like the Yippies, and Students for a Democratic Society, converged on Chicago parks.
) The Crackdown: Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley took a hardline stance, mobilizing nearly 12,000 police officers, the Illinois National Guard, and federal troops.
) The Confrontation: On August 28, the situation boiled over in front of the Conrad Hilton Hotel. Police advanced on crowds with billy clubs and tear gas, indiscriminately beating protesters, bystanders, and journalists.
) "The Whole World is Watching": Network television cameras broadcast the bloodied streets live into millions of American living rooms while protesters chanted the iconic slogan.
) Official Finding: A subsequent federal investigation famously characterized the violent police response as a "police riot".
Aftermath and Legacy
The convention dealt a severe blow to the Democratic Party and fundamentally reshaped the U.S. political landscape:
) Nixon's Victory: The televised chaos convinced many voters that the Democrats could not maintain order. Republican nominee Richard Nixon seized on this sentiment, running on a platform of "law and order" to win the 1968 presidential election.
) McGovern-Fraser Reforms: To heal the internal rift, the Democratic Party overhauled its nominating process. The resulting McGovern-Fraser Commission shifted power away from backroom party bosses and elites toward the state primary system, a model that defines modern presidential campaigns today. --------------------------------- [end, Internet excerpt]
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[Side note: McGovern of the McGovern-Fraser Commission was George McGovern, U.S. Senator from South Dakota. The Democrats' candidate for President in 1968, Hubert Humphrey, was also originally from South Dakota, (although he built his political career in the neighboring state of Minnesota.)]
Mayor Daley; Walter Cronkite
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