1968 was a tumultuous year of protest. Anti-government and anti-authoritarian sentiment, amongst a host of other issues, resulted in these all over the globe, including in France where millions went on strike (but somehow the 5th Republic survived), in Ireland where the Troubles began and in eastern Europe where opposition to Communism was expressed at scale. There was blood spilled in Mexico and Brazil. And in the United States there was a culmination in the Civil Rights movement, a reaction to the growing U.S. involvement in Vietnam and a couple (including MLK in April) extremely notable assassinations that combined to ignite passions. By-and-large it was many and disparate left-wing groups (peace, black power, woman's liberation...) out in the streets, being countercultural or anti-establishment was cool!, but a notable result was a great deal of political violence. I think 1968 was just a very bad year.
Hopefully that sets the stage for the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Weeks after Republicans picked a refreshed, following years out of politics, and 'New' Richard Milhous Nixon, Democrats gathered to decide who would oppose him. It'd been a wild primary. The incumbent, Lyndon B. Johnson, bailed early on running for reelection (after NH), sensing his unpopularity amongst widespread political unrest (see above, plus the race riots) and, most importantly, the escalation in Vietnam. VP Hubert H. Humphrey soon jumped in but with the raging Tet Offensive anti-war candidates did increasingly well. One of these, Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated in June. At that point RFK and Eugene McCarthy (the other anti-war candidate) actually combined for more delegates than Humphrey, and with RFK's now unbound, it would actually come down to the convention. I find it amusing the top two candidates that year (HHH and McCarthy) were both from Minnesota but that's neither here nor there. It was to be a battle inside, and outside, the convention hall and the chaos was just getting started.
Protests at the DNC were planned going back to the previous year. With VP Humphrey seen as a continuation of the current Administration (see: Vietnam), these intensified and large numbers descended on Chicago to either pressure change or outright support McCarthy, the anti-war candidate with the highest remaining support. A few left-wing anti-war groups would be especially prominent. One, the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, or 'the Mobe,' was an organizational group that'd been putting together sizeable protests for a couple years. They accomplished this by endorsing basically all conceivable tactics, legal or otherwise, in order to maximize turnout. It was they that first proposed gathering during the convention. Another, the anarchist Youth International Party, or the 'Yippies,' were formed in the months prior and known for street theater and marijuana 'smoke-ins.' They made outrageous threats about their upcoming visit to Chicago, saying they'd throw buckets of nails from overpasses, dump LSD in the water supply and send women in to seduce the delegates. Whether or not any of this was serious it drew attention, from the media and the authorities.
To understand what happened next we have to look at the mayor of Chicago, Richard J. Daley. A boss, arguably the last, of the old school political machines that long ran big American cities, he was quite proud of the progress Chicago has made under his management and didn't want an unruly rabble to mess it up. Assembling a massive army of law enforcement, with at times more than 20,000 active policemen (outfitted in riot gear) and National Guardsmen, he promised law and order. Yes, there was once a time when even Democrats operated this way. He took threats, including alleged assassination plots, in addition to more wacky ideas like the ones mentioned above, very seriously. He was also a party man, and thus a supporter of Humphrey.
The DNC ran from August 26-29. The protests began on August 23. Or the first couple days it was peaceful and implemented curfews were respected. The situation began to devolve on the night of the 25th when police first broke in their batons on a bunch of hecklers and later a crowd that wouldn't leave the street. Some skirmishing continued in subsequent days.
The main event would be on the 28th during the heat of the convention. 10,000 assembled in Grant Park with the intent of marching on the International Amphitheatre, site of the DNC. Someone in the park lowered, or removed, the American flag there and the police attacked. The crowd was confrontational before dispersing and the police chased, beat and arrested many of them. Later the Mobe arranged a march on the Conrad Hilton where many of the delegates were staying. A host of police moved in on the marchers, and anyone else who was around, and it became a huge melee where hundreds were injured. What made this incident, the 'Battle for Michigan Avenue,' particularly famous was that the entire street fight was caught on camera, and the wanton violence perpetuated by law enforcement could be described as a 'police riot.' Certainly that's how the news media attempted to play it. They were also tiffed that one of their own, Dan Rather, was himself roughed up by security inside the convention. Mayor Daley's heavy-handedness was apparent everywhere you looked.
What's almost amusing about the whole ordeal is that Americans seemingly approved, siding with the police over the protesters. Daley (though not an objective source) talked about how many letters of support he received. Humphrey ended up taking the nomination and eventually lost to 'law and order' Nixon. What went down during the DNC probably helped seal the deal.
Btw, do you know where the DNC will be this summer? We again have a Democrat incumbent in decline and possibly on the way out, an ongoing war supported by the Administration that's wildly unpopular with much of the party's base and an emboldened protest movement following the 'Summer of Love' (the first was 1967, the more recent 2020). And the party is once again meeting in Chicago. It could be, uh, interesting.
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