Richard J. Daley

In the article "Daley May Outlast Father As Chicago Mayor" by David Schaper, the political infamy of the Daley family is examined briefly. Most well known is Richard J. Daley, a long time mayor of Chicago who was, unfortunately for him, in office in 1968. He was looking forward to having Chicago be host city of the Democratic National Convention, and did not want the annoyance of long haired hippies interrupting this important event. One close friend of his stated, "He was the last of the big city bosses, he had a great pride in Chicago. He had a great love for the city. Throw into that a good measure of his Irish temper and you had a volatile mix"(Schaper). The article goes on to say that Daley's police response to the protesters' infringement on his turf was compared to that of "Gestapo"-like tactics. Deemed a police riot by a later inquiry, such handling of the convention week issues reflected poorly on the powers of Chicago and, ultimately, Mayor Daley himself.
I kind of have to agree with the article in that Mayor Daley could have handled the situation better, before and during the conflict. One news reporter from the time remembers, "There were plenty of warnings for anyone who was listening that there was going to be confrontation in the streets of Chicago. The only question was how was it going to be handled and what would the ultimate outcome of it be"(Schaper). I also thought the article was interesting in that it gave more of Daley and city's point of view and opinions of what happened. Although the majority of the nation disapproved of Daley's use of law enforcement to "maintain tight, iron-fisted control"(Schaper), most of the citizens of Chicago praised his crowd control tactics. I guess I had expected more of a negative reaction from the Chicago citizens than what I found, so that fact from the article surprised me. Overall, the article is okay. It talks a lot about Richard J. Daley's son, Richard M. Daley, both of which have been Chicago mayors and the latter not really relevant to my topic. The names got a little confusing to say the least. The article did help, though, in understanding better the city government's role in and thoughts on the riots.

Schaper, David. "Daley May Outlast Father As Chicago Mayor." National Public Radio (2008): n. pag. Web. 8 Apr 2010. .

Chicago 10 Review

In the Brett Morgen documentary, Chicago 10, a fresh view of the Chicago 1968 fiasco is given. The film also portrays the infamous court case that took place after the convention, in which eight activists and organizers were charged with "conspiracy to incite a riot". The movie takes a close look at the pivotal characters of the Yippie movement (people like Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin) as well as the city officials and police officers. It uses news media footage as well as private recordings to immerse the viewer in the atmosphere of Chicago. There are moments of contagious positive energy, but also dark scenes that can best be described as one movement leader put it, "Chicago has become a concentration camp"(Chicago 10). Another big part of the movie was animation. All of the courtroom scenes were animated, but the dialogue and events came straight from the trial's manuscripts. This documentary mixed modern editing with historical footage to create an innovative portrayal of the events of 1968 Chicago.

I absolutely loved this documentary. It brings all the events onto a whole new level of realness. It's one thing to read about a feeling or to look at a picture of a crazy mob; you can only get so much out of that. But, to see footage of dancing hippies at the Festival of Life and hear the vivid rhetoric from Yippie's loudspeakers is something different. To watch the reactions of peace marchers when cops and national guardsmen start spraying them with tear gas and charging after them with barbed wire covered trucks is a totally different experience than just reading some article about it. I also enjoyed the focus on the personalities of the people who organized it all. Abbie Hoffman and the other Yippies have a sarcastic, unedited yet lovable quality that was very entertaining. The movie doesn't edit or bleep out any words, which I was glad of since it made it more genuine. I found the trial in the aftermath to be very interesting as well. The movie does a great job of showing how exceptionally biased that Chicago courtroom was. I also learned something new thanks to this movie. Although all eight defendants were found "not guilty" of "conspiracy to incite a riot", they were sentenced to a couple of years of jail time for various contempt of court charges. Their lawyers were also sent to jail for such charges as well. Overall, I thought the movie was pretty great. It took a while to get used to the animation at parts, but I got over it. I definitely recommend this movie. It'll have you saying "power to the people"(Chicago 10) by the end.

Chicago 10. Dir. Brett Morgen. Independent Lens, 2007.

Growing Tensions

In the months and years before August of 1968, civil unrest in Chicago had been growing. Not only had there been race riots in many of the Chicago neighborhoods (especially during the summer of '66); there was also a festering animosity between the wild haired hippies and the straight laced police and city leaders. James P. Turner's essay, "Chicago '68 The Unconventional One", paints a picture of the tension that was in the Chicago streets. With shouts like "Off the pigs!"and obvious and purposeful infractions of the law, the counterculture participants were not afraid to get the Chicago cops riled up. On the flip side, the police officers weren't afraid to swing their billy clubs indiscriminately - battering protesters, innocent bystanders, and media officials alike. Overall, a distrustful prejudice grew between the Chicago P.D. and the hippies/Yippies. One off duty cop was reported to have given a ride to a teenager hitchhiking home, and upon hearing that the long haired teenager was a supporter of Eugene McCarthy (the anti-Vietnam presidential hopeful) the man "went ballistic, called him a "Hippie", hit him in the head and broke his glasses...chased him down, and, with pistol drawn, forced him back into his private car. He then drove him to his suburban home and aroused the family with loud banging. "Here's your Hippie kid!"" (Turner). Such exchanges were becoming more and more common as the date of the convention drew closer.
Overall, I think the essay does a pretty good job illustrating the mounting tension of both sides. One story in it describes some hot head protesters screaming profanity at cops, trying to start a fight, while others like in the paragraph above show other unprovoked attacks on members of the hippie culture. I was also pleased to see such an accurate, less opinionated account of the events that took place during and before the convention. The author, James P. Turner, was actually present throughout the convention and witnessed many of the riots. The essay brings light to both sides of the issue, and the with the tensions described it seems to say that conflict when these two groups met head on would have been inevitable.


Turner, James P. "Chicago '68 The Unconventional One." Turner Home. N.p., 1996. Web. 1 Apr 2010. .

The Whole World is Watching

1968 Chicago, generally the thing that comes to mind (if anything comes to mind at all) is the infamous protester versus police riots that occurred. In the Chicago Tribune article, "Democratic Convention 1968" an overall picture is give of the violent chaos that played out over those infamous days. The clash took place in August of 1968 during the Democrat's presidential nomination convention. Over 10,000 anti-war demonstrators under the satirical direction of the Youth International Party, most commonly known as the Yippies, had gathered not only to protest the ever unpopular Vietnam War, but also the potential re-nomination of Lyndon B. Johnson. They were met by a police opposition 12,000 strong as well as 6,000 National Guard troops. Ignoring the order of the police, the protesters continued with their mission of civil unrest. What happened next was nothing less than a police riot. The mass of news media present filmed and photographed the shocking violence and brutality used by the police to subdue demonstrators amid shouts from the crowd of "The whole world is watching." The chant was true. The alarmingly violent fiasco went down as an embarrassing blemish in Chicago's law enforcement and civil history.
Such an event grabs my attention. How does order fall apart like that? Was the riot planned by militant extremists? that's what the city thought when they put organizers of the demonstration on trial. Or, as others believe, it was the protesters that instigated the violence. However, I don't think that's how it all went down. I tend to side with the arguments that the bulk of the chaos was wrought by the police and guardsmen. Yes, they were following orders. Yes, the demonstrators were resisting and fighting back. But, that does not give excuse for the brutal methods used to dispel the marchers as is described here, "Officers pushed people through a plate-glass window and then, according to witnesses, attacked the dazed victims as they lay amid broken glass"(Chicago Tribune). On the flip side, I also know that history rarely has a single one cause for something, and that there are more than just one or two sides to a story. That's why more research is necessary to understand what went wrong at this free expression movement.

"Democratic Convention 1968" Chicago Tribune n. pag. Web. 24 Mar 2010. .