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