Why This Year’s Democratic Convention Will Be Nothing Like Chicago 1968
In August 1968, a young philosophy student from Indiana University, Craig Sautter, ventured to Chicago for the Democratic National Convention, anticipating a chaotic day. The year had already seen violent riots following the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy. As protesters, politicians, and police converged in Chicago to select the next Democratic presidential nominee, tensions were high, and Sautter had a feeling that things could get out of hand.
What he witnessed exceeded his worst expectations: National Guardsmen with bayonets, protesters being dragged from cars, beaten with police batons, and thick clouds of tear gas suffocating the masses. “We were mostly middle-class kids or business people in suits, protesting the Vietnam War,” Sautter recalls. “We never imagined the police would attack an unarmed group just singing and shouting. It was unbelievable.” The violence led to over 600 arrests and left more than 100 protesters injured, along with 119 police officers. The brutal clashes were broadcast nationwide, leaving an indelible mark on the collective consciousness.
As the Democratic National Convention returns to Chicago in 2024, some draw parallels to 1968. Anti-war protests are expected, this time against President Biden’s support for Israel in the Gaza conflict. Furthermore, just as in 1968 when President Lyndon Johnson stepped down before the convention, President Biden has recently withdrawn from the race. Despite these similarities, experts and activists from the 1960s believe the differences between the two conventions are much more significant.
Chicago’s police have pledged to respect the protesters’ right to free speech, as long as they remain peaceful. Some protest organizers, like Hatem Abudayyah from the Coalition to March on the DNC, see similarities between today’s protests and those of 1968. “This is the Vietnam War of our era,” Abudayyah said. His coalition, comprising over 200 groups, expects tens of thousands of participants. However, the Chicago police have made it clear they will not tolerate violence or vandalism, though Abudayyah insists that protests since the Gaza conflict began have been peaceful.
Others dismiss comparisons to 1968. Longtime Democratic National Committee member Elaine Kamarck argues that aside from being in the same city, the conventions are worlds apart. “The Chicago police used extremely brutal tactics in 1968, something we won’t see today,” she says. The 1968 DNC saw police actions later condemned as a “police riot,” and Mayor Richard J. Daley’s “shoot to kill” orders following Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination only fueled the chaos.
Marsha Barrett, a professor of US political history at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, echoes this sentiment, noting that Daley’s control over the police and antagonism towards protesters set the stage for inevitable conflict in 1968. “We don’t have that today,” she adds.
Craig Sautter, who experienced the 1968 violence firsthand, agrees that today’s police are better trained and unlikely to provoke violence unless it’s initiated by others. Social media and the 24-hour news cycle also make it harder for authorities to suppress or misrepresent events, as any heavy-handed tactics would be broadcast instantly.
In 1968, the DNC saw the nomination of Hubert Humphrey, who ultimately lost to Richard Nixon in the general election. The Vietnam War and the draft had deeply divided the country, with many Americans protesting against a war that claimed thousands of lives. The Democratic Party itself was split over the war, and the convention was a battleground, with no clear nominee until Humphrey was chosen, much to the dismay of many delegates.
In contrast, today’s DNC is much more unified, with Kamala Harris and Tim Walz expected to face little opposition. Don Rose, a spokesman for the 1968 protest group National Mobilization Committee to End the War, points out that the Vietnam War’s impact on Americans was far greater than the current conflict in Gaza, which doesn’t have the same broad-reaching consequences.
Reflecting on the 1968 convention, Abe Peck, who was then editor of the underground newspaper Chicago Seed, recalls the extreme violence he witnessed, which he believes couldn’t happen today. “Back then, there was a delay in news coverage. Now, it’s immediate, and that changes everything,” he says.
Looking back, Sautter, now a professor at DePaul University, believes that the 1968 protests had a profound and lasting impact on the US. “The people who watched were radicalized, and many more joined the anti-war movement,” he reflects. “It was a defining moment for a whole generation, something that the 2024 convention is unlikely to replicate.”
