And if you were filled with so much less excess hubris, you might look far less stupid for your ignorance of history. And maybe pause and consider more deeply before commenting.
Havign a few years on you, I was around and rememer quite well the events of the Democratic Convention in Chicago in 1968.
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The Democratic Convention of 1968 was held August 26-29 in Chicago, Illinois. As delegates flowed into the International Amphitheatre to nominate a Democratic Party presidential candidate, tens of thousands of protesters swarmed the streets to rally against the Vietnam War and the political status quo. By the time Vice President Herbert Humphrey received the presidential nomination, the strife within the Democratic Party was laid bare and the streets of Chicago had seen riots and bloodshed involving protesters, police and bystanders alike, radically changing America’s political and social landscape.
Goal of Protestors at the 1968 Democratic Convention
Though the 1968 protest at the Democratic National Convention were largely against the
Vietnam War, the country was undergoing unrest on many fronts. The months leading up to the infamous 1968 Democratic Convention were turbulent: The brutal assassination of
Martin Luther King, Jr. in April had left the country reeling, and although segregation had officially ended, racism and poverty continued to make life difficult for many blacks.
The Vietnam War was in its 13th year and the recent
Tet Offensive had proved the conflict was far from over, as the draft sent more young men into the fray. It was only a matter of time before a showdown would take place between the government of President
Lyndon B. Johnson and America’s war-weary citizens.
By the time delegates arrived for the convention in
Chicago, protests had been set in motion by members of the Youth International Party (yippies) and the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (MOBE), whose organizers included Rennie Davis and
Tom Hayden.
But Chicago’s Mayor
Richard Daley had no intention of letting his city or the convention be overrun by protestors. The stage was set for an explosive face-off.
A Divided Democratic Party
The Democratic Party in 1968 was in crisis. President Johnson—despite being elected with a huge majority in 1964—was soon loathed by many of his peers and constituents due to his pro-Vietnam War policies.
In November 1967, a relatively unknown and unremarkable
Minnesota senator named
Eugene McCarthy announced his intent to challenge Johnson for the Democratic presidential nomination. In March 1968, McCarthy won 40 percent of the vote in the
New Hampshire presidential primary, thereby validating his candidacy.
A few days later, Senator
Robert F. Kennedy abandoned his support for Johnson and entered the presidential fight.
President Johnson saw the writing on the wall and, on March 31, told a stunned nation during a televised address that he would not seek reelection. The following month, Vice President
Hubert Humphrey—backed by Johnson—announced his candidacy for the nomination, further dividing the Democratic Party.
Humphrey focused on winning delegates in non-primary states, while Kennedy and McCarthy campaigned hard in primary states. Tragically, the race was turned upside down again when Robert Kennedy was assassinated after giving his victory speech following the
California primary on June 4.
Kennedy’s delegates were divided between McCarthy and dark-horse candidate Senator
George McGovern, leaving Humphrey with more than enough votes to clench the Democratic presidential nomination, but also leaving the Democratic party in turmoil just weeks before their national convention.
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Pigasus
Fed up with Democratic leadership’s penchant for war, yippies
protesting at the 1968 Democratic National Convention conceived their own solution: nominate a pig for president.
Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman came up with the idea, named their candidate “
Pigasus the Immortal” and pledged, “They nominate a president and he eats the people. We nominate a president and the people eat him.”
Pigasus the Immortal’s presidential campaign may have been the shortest in recorded history. His chance to become leader of the free world ended abruptly when he, Rubin and other members of his campaign staff were arrested at his first press conference in front of the Chicago Convention Center. (Pigasus’s eventual fate remains unknown to this day.)
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About a week before the convention, despite not having permission, thousands of protestors—many of them from out of state and from middle-class families—set up camp at Lincoln Park, about ten miles from the Amphitheatre. Expecting resistance, protest leaders organized self-defense training sessions including karate and snake dancing.
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The convention soon became a battleground between anti-war supporters and Vice President Humphrey’s—and indirectly, President Johnson’s—supporters. On Tuesday night, when a promised televised prime-time debate on Vietnam was postponed until after midnight when most viewers would be asleep, the anti-war delegates made their fury known to the point that Mayor Daley had the convention adjourned for the night.
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The 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, Illinois, was marked by violent protests and party upheaval as Hubert Hump...
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See Also;
en.wikipedia.org