CHEYENNE—The national pundits recently pointed out the similarities of the 2024 Democratic party shakeups and what happened in 1968.
True, there are some eerie resemblances to the violent upheaval that surrounded the August 1968 convention.
In 1968, Democratic President Lyndon Johnson announced he would not run for a second term. The polls showed him rapidly losing support because of his pro war position on Vietnam. He quit when he barely won the New Hampshire primary over anti-war candidate Eugene McCarthy.
In 2024, President Joe Biden announced he would not seek a second term. Congressional leaders told him he lost support and his poll numbers kept dropping.after a devastating debate with Republican opponent former President Donald Trump.
In 1968, there were two assassinations — Martin Luther King, Jr. in April and Robert Kennedy in June.
In 2024, there was one attempted assassination against Trump.
In 1968, the most contentious issue involving active protestors was the draft and the Vietnam War.
In 2024, the major issue involving protestors is Israel’s handling of the war on Hamas and civilian casualties in the Gaza strip.
In 1968, the Democratic convention was held in Chicago.
In 2024, the Democratic convention will be held in Chicago.
1968 Upheaval
Looking back at the 1968 convention, it took place during a year of total upheaval with mass civil unrest, riots, protests, political fights,
In researching that period, rather than just relying on my recollection, I learned that the anti-war movement was so strong then that the Secret Service refused to allow President Johnson to appear at universities or colleges.
They also barred him from attending the Democratic convention in Chicago.
Their wariness is understandable given the two assassinations and the general mood of the public and the anti-war protestors.
Johnson wanted the convention to be held in Houston in his home state of Texas, the state where his predecessor, John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
But William Daley, Chicago’s strong boss mayor, talked him into choosing his city.
Daley was determined to demonstrate his power to control the protestors. He had refused permission for “anti-patriotic” groups to demonstrate at the convention. He ordered the International Ampitheatre where the convention was held to be ringed with barbed wire.
He also had 11,0000 officers of the Chicago Police Department on 12 hour shifts and had 6,000 armed men from the Illinois National Guard who were called up by the governor to guard the Ampitheatre.
There also were orders to control the news media, which resulted in protests from the networks.
Alll told these actions fed the feeling that Chicago was a city under siege, according to one observer.
Inside the convention hall the nominations went on with Vice President Hubert Humphrey winning the nomination for president and Edmund Sixtus Muskie as vice president.
(Full disclosure: Vice President Hubert Horatio Humphrey was a distant relative of mine—a cousin— who looked exactly like my Uncle Herbert Humphrey as I saw once in a newspaper photo of them together. I never met him. My uncle Herb, a dentist in Sioux City, Iowa, was also a very active member of the Iowa Democratic party.}
Outside the hall when the sides started icing, the cops and their nightsticks were put to use while inside the building the guards were pushing reporters around.
The mayhem played out on radio and television for all to hear and see.
Later one observer said it was the Chicago cops, not the protesters that rioted during the 1968 Democratic convention.
Although the side by side look is spooky, the missing inflammatory element, the fuse, is the most important.
And it was collectively the Vietnam War and the draft.
Granted there are a number of other hot issues, principally abortion, immigration, Gaza and Israel, the Ukraine.
But the Democrats don’t have the draft or an intensifying despised war to deal with.
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Contact Joan Barron at 307-632-2534 or jmbarron@bresnan.net
