Chicago-1968

On this date, August 28, 2014, in 1968 protests and riots broke out at the Democratic National Convention in the streets of Chicago. Perhaps, at the end of the convention Mayor Daley regretted his maneuvers to obtain the convention for his city, which would run from August 26 through August 29.  Daley was one of the last of a powerful breed of Democratic Mayors in large US cities that ruled through patronage and activities that are not looked fondly on today. If someone today comments on Chicago style politics, it is not meant as a compliment. He ruled with a level of power that Mayor’s today wish to emulate, and for which I have worked with some who think they may be his reincarnation (not something you would expect in a weak mayor--strong council form of government that exists in much of Wisconsin). 1968 was a turbulent year in the United States, in early April Martin Luther King, Jr was assassinated and two months later the same fate befell Robert F. Kennedy. The year was also strife with race riots and division. Perhaps as 1968 wore on Richard Daley would have thoughts about what may happen in Chicago. If he did not, the signs were present. For it was his own party that was in the throes of division.

Photo from Google images

RFK and Eugene McCarthy would enter the race in March of that year.  This would be part of the reason a sitting president of the party would bow out of the race at the end of March.  Today news commentators talk about a failed campaign if a primary race is not locked up before the end of March. In March 1968, before Super Tuesday’s and ever moving up the calendar primaries we see today, the democratic primary race was just starting. Hubert Humphrey, the then Vice-President, who hailed from the same state as McCarthy would enter the race, but only in caucuses, he would not enter a primary, closed or open. The well-oiled Democratic Party machine would see to it that HHH would be the candidate for president. He was the one best viewed as carrying on the priorities established by LBJ, and that of course meant the war.  80% of the primary votes would go to candidates who supported an end to the Vietnam War. The smoke controlled big-wig controlled caucuses thought otherwise and HHH would enter the primary with the highest delegate count. Back door maneuvers by Mayor, "the Boss, Daley" and Lyndon Johnson would give the nod to Humphrey.

Photo from Google images

Protests would break out in the convention center, and outside with what has been termed the “Battle for Michigan Avenue.”  These battles would be fought in front of a nation watching on television. It was a watershed moment in US History. The protesters may not have won the battle with the Democratic party on that late August day, seeing their preferred candidate go down to defeat, but in the long run they would claim victory. One commentator of today has indicated that the long agreed to “Cold War consensus” would receive a fatal wound that day.  American ventures to stop the red menace of Communism would move to one of containment. Vietnam, is known more in the US as a war, and not as a country, but it produced a turning point in American history. Today, Americans still do not like long campaigns involving ground troops, but as Bosnia under Clinton, and the current ISIS campaign illustrate the American public do not seem to mind high tech bombing where US troops are not on the front line.  I suppose there is something about shooting from far above that makes one feel less engaged, less messy for the one in the bomber or for those at home.  It was a result of Chicago 1968 that American’s would appropriately start to question actions of their government as it related to the policies of the cold war. A law and order mode would take heed directly after Chicago and its protests, perhaps playing a part in the election to Richard Nixon.  But, distaste would the war would ferment and eventually make its way through. Some things just take time.

Richard J Daley, signed photo reading:
To Thomas Hovel Sincerely, Richard J Daley
(obtained for me by my Uncle Leo)

If one thought this would draw the city down, think again. It was just after this that Sears would build the Sears Tower, to become at that point, and for many years thereafter, the tallest building in the world until surpassed by those abroad, and Standard Oil would build a gleaming white 80 story building near the lake shore. Of the modern era skyscrapers the former Standard Oil building is my favorite, and not just because I once visited my lone surviving uncle who worked in the building.  The John Hancock Center, further north on Michigan Avenue, while not occupied in 1968, would see its construction top out in the middle part of that year. In the end, Chicago avoided some of the fate of large employers leaving down-towns, and "the Boss" and his city would prove resilient. It would live up to its moniker as the City of Big Shoulders. The can do attitude of the Mayor, and his patrons, would through this construction make the city proud and create one of the more famed skylines world-wide.  

Chicago Skyline, Google images

An Uncommon Courage

Courage can manifest itself in many different ways.  When we think of the term "courage" most of us think of those in harms way who helped others, such as a Medal of Honor recipient, or perhaps a human rights activist in a hostile land.  Yet, courage is in our midst by people that we see and walk by, and are by all outward expressions not unlike ourselves.  Perhaps, expressions of courage reach the greatest levels of realization through common people doing uncommon acts in face of some negative event.  In doing so they directly face the trials of circumstance, they bear the tribulations that beset onto them, and address the turmoil that pervaded their lives.  Circumstances arise that will change our daily routine and our lives.

Sunflowers on a porch step
Photo by author 8/12/2014 Red Wing, MN

When given a set of unpleasant circumstances or occurrences that upsets one's life, and that of others, some will continue their journey and let life takes it course, some will seek blame and retribution, but a few will show the courage to face the occurrence directly and take action to assist or minimize its negative consequences on others.  Common people doing uncommon things is one measure of goodness.  How we face our trials, tribulations and turmoils is an interplay between past and present values.  At present, I can think of no better example than the family who started the Triumph Fund to assist in the fight against cancer.

Glass sculptures of sun flowers.
Photo by the author, 8/13/14 Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

Four years ago the fund's main spokesperson was diagnosed with stage IV colo-rectal cancer. The Triumph Fund was an expression of values by that person and his family in a fight against a disease that is one of the leading killers of Americans. Perhaps it was his own suffering, perhaps it was the death of brother-in-law with the same disease, perhaps it was the doctor's with whom he was in contact that led him to create the fund.  It was likely an combination of a series of factors, but the desire to assist and do better was part of his larger value system.  When given an opportunity he took the means he had to advance beyond the common. He and his family took action when they could have left it to others.

Sportsmanship Award, 1966

As admirable as the Triumph Fund is, I like to think that the greater act of courage was in the way this man faced his disease. A determination to not let it get the better of him, A desire to live life with a deeper purpose.  A duty to struggle on.  He did it with dignity, and a grace that we who have not directly faced such difficulties or troubles may have trouble comprehending.  Yet, he did not do it alone.  The support of a wonderful, and courageous spouse to take on care and support of a person with dynamic health struggles, kept him strong and purposeful.  The love and support of his two daughters who, due to the set of circumstances which beset their father, see and view life in a different light.

John Hovel family, 2012.  Photo by author

For you see the father of those two young women, my brother, passed away today due to cancer.  Cancer may have claimed yet one more life, but the purpose of the Triumph Fund is to slow the disease, to find a cure so others may benefit.  He has passed on and the Triumph Fund will now have to find a new chief spokesperson.  His daughters will lack the counsel and support of their father.  His wife will no longer have a partner with which to share.  The three will face times more critical than in the past, and times when they need to have courage.  But, what they will have are prayer to a merciful God, memories of their father, and an example of his own uncommon courage when faced with a terrible turmoil.  His values and courage will live on through the Triumph Fund.  His uncommon courage will live on through his wife, daughters and others of us who knew him well.  For his greatest gift to us is the intangible act with how he lived with an uncommon courage, and how he shows us the precious nature of life here on earth.

Rest in Peace John Francis Hovel, 1952--2014.

Bearer of News

Now working for a school district, my spouse has part of the summer months off and so may often be found at home doing gardening and preserving, sewing and mending, cleaning and laundry. She seldom seems to sit down. Of course, there is another part of what she does, something that has a long history, but I seemed to have just realized. She is the bearer of news. I do not mean the kind that Walter Cronkite would have reported, but I mean family or friend event type of news. This important role has a long and colorful history over our nearing 24 years of marriage.

Rose in author's garden

Typically, I arrive at work about 7 am, and if she was calling within about an hour or so of my arrival I knew it related to what she would refer to as a “fire drill” involving one or even both of our children. It must be something about mother’s, but when they begin a sentence to the effect of: “Do you know what your son did now…” you know you will not be receiving any good news. Little could I do in many of these situations, but to hear her out and perhaps offer a few words. As the boys advanced in age I guess the frequency of the fire drills would decrease, but they were present up to at least their senior year in high school. Funny, but most often the fire drill involved some aspect of school. I am sure my wife has the history of fire drills categorized in her mind, but I have forgotten most. I think the last one either related to an assignment that he forgot to take to school, or to bring in some food for a class on that day.

As she and our youngest gather and arrange all of his stuff for us to transport as he begins another year of college this Sunday, she looks at the loss she will experience with him being out of the house for another school year. One has a tendency to look at the halcyon days days of time past when the boys were young, and the vigor, curiosity, playfulness, and adventure that would go with the years of childhood. Yet, those positive traits are also combined with traits that would lead to the dreaded fire drill. Fire drills are part and parcel of growing up and I would guess cannot be divorced from childhood traits that produce the positive outcomes that we often look back at with a certain yearning. The past is always brighter in the future.

Rose in author's garden

I do have to say most calls involve news that is important, but many times something one would not rather hear, but needs to know. To date, the most distressful was in early September 2006, the day after Labor Day, when she called work late in the afternoon asking that I be pulled out of a meeting. Being early September, I thought perhaps one of the boys was injured in football practice, but it was to inform me of the unexpected death of her only brother. Some news should just not wait, and unfortunately it is usually the bad news. I knew it could not be good if she went to the trouble of asking that I be called out of a meeting. But I never expected the news I received.

Bouquet of flowers at family picnic of 9 Aug 2014
Arranged by Carolyn Hovel 

Just this week two incidents occurred, with the second prompting my thought of my spouse being the bearer of news. The first occurred on Monday when my dutiful spouse noted oil under where my car was parked. Having just had some significant service work accomplished, I checked the car parked at work, and checked the dipstick, and found no oil and topped off oil.  Yet, I made arrangements to drop it off at our mechanic on the way home from work. It turned out an interior set clip failed to function properly, where it would secure the axel in its correct position. Luckily it was caught, due to her diligence. The second occurred on Thursday when she notified me of a text she had received with information that a close relative who is battling cancer had been taken to the emergency room. All good information to know.

Moon, August 9, 2014

My spouse is a very orderly person and does not like fire drills, but yet she is a nurse by profession, where unknown occurrences are a daily happening. While it may seem odd, perhaps it is makes perfect sense as she does not wish to be in crises mode all day, every day. Plus, her training has her equipped to deal with medical emergencies. Perhaps it shows that being a mother is more intense than being a nurse. Whatever it is, she did not like the fire drills. As I look back, it would have been helpful to keep track of these incidents over the past years if for no other reason than the humor we would likely find in many today. As I pick up a phone a call and see the home number show up, it makes me wonder what news I will next receive.  And sometimes it is news that it would best for us to hear when we are together.  But it is the nature of news that it does not wait.  

Guns of August

August, particularly in Europe is the month for vacation. But it was on this date 100 years ago that the first guns roared and bullets flew indicting the start of the Great War, which we now refer to as World War I.  Back then, the term “great” was not used as we would often connote it today.   Today we think of something better than good, but great also has the connotation, which in this case is apparent--to be indicative of its range, its level of calamity, and probably of its effects.  The war engulfed much of Europe and beyond, affecting what Europeans and Americans would term most of the civilized world.  As one historian commented, the “guns roared to life and rattled the summer tranquility of Europe.”  Europe would not be the same after the war.  As that same historian noted, the war, in killing 2% of the world’s population affected a generation of Europe’s best and brightest, it brought down venerable institutions, and it brought down a way of life.

Trench warfare of WWI

The war is often thought to have begun in late June of 1914 when the Archduke of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and his wife were assassinated in Sarajevo.  However, it would take over one month for the first shots to be fired.  The murder was the spark that led to the war.  There was a seeming indifference to this war, and its causes have been much debated, but perhaps little recognized.  Political, economic, territorial conflicts had been bubbling for over a decade.  An intriguing web of alliances, of which only the Vatican could well appreciate, would enter into play.  Colonial issues, and a rise in nationalism cannot be understated either.  The Austro-Hungarian Empire stretched well east into the Balkans and beyond.  For the first time the world would find itself in a wide ranging conflict, where modern inventions would come into play and show the brutality of weapon systems of which man is capable.   The advance of the industrial age not only brought furnaces and central plumbing and cheaper goods, but a different way of warfare.

WWI era tanks

As the armistice was completed on that November 11 day in 1918, many thought it was the war to end all wars.  But yet, we know that not to be the case, a more world-wide conflict would erupt less than thirty years later, driven in large part by decisions made with the armistice.  Punishment of Germany would lead to strict sanctions, driving up inflation, affecting trade, and more importantly the national psyche, this would lead to the rise of Adolph Hitler, and that much greater conflict into which he and the axis powers would lead the world.  It would also lead to the destruction of the Ottoman Empire, and the coming of the British Mandate over Palestine.  These decisions would be further modified by the treaties ending World War II.  European powers have always tended to have a certain hubris and the aftermath of both wars would allow Western Europe and the US to be in command of the peace.  Artificial national boundaries were created, a decision with which is still in play today.  With the fall of the totalitarian regimes, some supported by communism, no strong dictators were available to quell or subdue national tendencies.  This would lead to the Balkan war in the 1990’s, driven by the varied ethnic groups with a desire for independence.  Nationalism is again at play today, perhaps most famously in Ukraine, where Russia went in and reclaimed Crimea earlier this year; this was an area which it had, under Khrushchev, gifted to Ukraine.  Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine receive support from Russia in a continued fight for their viewed nationalism.  Nationalism is not limited to Eastern Europe.  It also shows itself in the Mideast.

WWI trench

Today as hard-liner Islamists fight to fill the void of falling (Syria) or fallen (Iraq and Afghanistan) ruling elites.  Showing that Christians are not the only religious group to quarrel amongst themselves, the Shiite—Sunni battles take internecine warfare to new heights.  The Mid East is an area around which much of the world pivots, and it is filled with strife.  The current Israeli—Gaza conflict (shoving the strife in Syria to the side of the news) takes center stage in our European-American world view.  Hamas and its Muslim leaders prefer no state of Israel.  Israel’s largest alley, the United States is supplying more defense material for their Iron Dome, but the US also a country that has alliances with a number of Arab states, particularly nearby Saudi Arabia.  An intricate web of alliances is again at play, showing that perhaps we still have to learn from history.  

Draft card for Rudolph James Hovel.  He did not serve.

In the meantime, individual lives are affected.  Christian communities in Syria, which have been present since the beginning of Christianity are being driven out by an Islamist hate group demanding payment for them to stay, although in the west we have another name for it—extortion.  Africa is seeing an outbreak of Ebola, which may lack the 90% death rate of the 1976 outbreak, but with higher levels of travel is more wide spread.  Individual lives go on, but circumstances, whether individual or from a larger scale can affect the comfort of the life one has grown accustomed.  The guns that fired in August 100 years ago proved how a seemingly small event, can trigger events that reshaped individual lives, nations and the world order.  An order of which we still see the effects 100 years later.

Note:  The Guns of August is the title of a book by historian Barbara Tuchman.

Photos from Google images.  Image of draft card from historical records.