The 1968 Democratic National Convention took place in Chicago from 26-29 August against the backdrop of international unrest following the assassination of Martin Luther King in April, the May Events in France, and growing opposition to the Vietnam War. By then, a military draft was in effect, and 500,000 US Americans were serving in Vietnam. It was an election year, and President Lyndon B. Johnson had announced he would not seek re-election.
Chicago mayor Richard P. Daley was a Democrat with a track record of repression. In April 1968, cops under his command had attacked peaceful anti-war marchers, and following King’s assassination he ordered police to “shoot to kill”. For the Convention, Daley put 12,000 police on 12-hour shifts and called in 13,000 National Guardsmen. Demonstrations were called outside the Convention, but the threat of police violence meant that only 10,000–20,000 demonstrators came to Chicago.
On 28 August, protestors marched to the conference headquarters in the Conrad Hilton Hotel, where cops wielding clubs and pepper spray attacked demonstrators, journalists, and passers-by. An official investigation later called this a “police riot”. On the conference floor, Senator Abraham Ribicoff denounced the “Gestapo tactics”. Daley replied by shaking his fist at Ribicoff and yelling, “Fuck you, you Jew son of a bitch.”
The attack was captured on TV news, which showed the demonstrators chanting: “The whole world is watching!” The US state looked for revenge, and put eight people on trial for allegedly organising the demonstrations. The only Black defendant, Black Panther leader Bobby Seale, was bound and gagged before he was allowed to enter the courtroom. Six of the defendants were sentenced to four–five years in prison. All convictions except Seale’s were overturned on appeal.
Looking back at the 1968 Convention, it is easy to spot similarities to the latest. In 2024, an election year in which an unpopular Democrat President—who would not stand again—was financing an unpopular war, the Democrats held their convention in Chicago. Later that year, Richard Nixon, a right wing Republican, won the election. Then, as now, the Democrat establishment blamed the anti-war movement for their defeat. Then, as now, they had only themselves to blame.
