Democratic National Convention Records

The Democratic National Convention was witness to controversy and suspense both within the convention hall and without. Held in Chicago’s International Amphitheatre August 26-29, 1968, the Convention determined who would be the Democratic candidate for president. In March of that year, amid criticism over his handling of the Vietnam War, President Lyndon B. Johnson announced he would not seek a second term in office, leaving a field of multiple candidates vying for the position.

Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York was a strong candidate with a great deal of support. On June 5, 1968, however, shortly after winning the California Democratic primary, Kennedy was shot. He died on June 6. Entering the Democratic National Convention in August, it was still unclear which remaining candidates Kennedy’s supporters would endorse.

Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy and South Dakota Senator George McGovern were the leading candidates at the Convention in Chicago. McCarthy ran as the anti-war candidate. Ultimately, Hubert Humphrey was nominated, with Maine Senator Edmund Muskie as his running mate. Humphrey went on to lose the presidential election in November to Republican Richard Nixon.

While the race for the nomination played out inside the convention hall, another story was unfolding outside. As the war in Vietnam escalated, so did anti-war sentiment among American citizens. Additionally, the recent assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 4, 1968, was freshly fueling the Civil Rights movement. Two main groups of Vietnam War protesters—the Youth International Party, or Yippies, and the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, or MOBE—planned a series of protests throughout Chicago to coincide with the Convention.

Chicago’s mayor, Richard J. Daley, was aware of the protest plans and conscious of the racial climate in America’s urban centers. Race riots had occurred in Los Angeles in 1965, in Detroit in 1967 and around the country after King’s death, including in Chicago. Daley boldly advertised that his host city would maintain “law and order.” Yippies and other anti-war groups were repeatedly denied permits to assemble and to march, especially in African American neighborhoods, for fear that their purportedly peaceful movement would lead to riots and violence. Though a few events were granted permits, late August approached with antagonism and tension already sewn between city officials and protesters.

In the days leading up to the Convention, police increased their presence and instituted a curfew. On August 23, planned protests began. Most of the protest activity took place in Lincoln Park or Grant Park, both several miles north of the Convention site. Throughout the week, various bouts of violence broke out between the police and the protesters. Hundreds of people on both sides were injured, and hundreds more protesters were arrested. Eight leaders of the protest groups went on to face a years-long trial and appeal process with charges of crossing state lines to incite a riot, among others. Ultimately, the Chicago Seven, as this group of leaders came to be called, were acquitted of most charges and served nominal sentences, if any, for their convictions.