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1 000000 000000 Prof. John Ryan HIST 1378, Sec 0102 7 August 2007 Youth at The Chicago Convention Amidst the combined turmoil of the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the national protests against the Vietnam War, anti-war college students were forming organizations around the country. In fact, throughout the spring of 1968, just months from a U.S. Democratic National Convention, a coalition of antiwar groups were preparing a substantial number of people, originally 500,000, for a peace demonstration outside the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois where the convention was to take place. Rumor of a large number of people in his city, Mayor Richard Daley publicly announced that protests of any kind would be refused permits and called for any force necessary to subdue crowds that appear in the city. However, many Democrats were apprehensive about Daley's aggressive approach. Lyndon B. Johnson, although not participating in the convention, was urged to stay away from the area in case the demonstration turned violent. For only the fact that politicians considered the possibility of violence, proved to show the turbulence of American society in equal civil rights and war protest sentiments. In the months of preparation for the Chicago peace demonstration, thousands of young men drafted publicly burned their draft cards in a violent response to the foreign war. Demonstrators blocked trains supplying military equipment and army induction centers, usually always ending in vicious confrontations with local police. Colleges 000000 2 around the country particularly got involved with anti-war actions. For instance, Columbia University students seized and trashed several campus buildings that researched "warrelated" information. A strike sprung up in response to hundreds of police arrests and the university was forced to close down for the semester. A forefront leader of many demonstrations was the Youth International Party, also known as yippies. Their nickname is derived from the word "hippies" to symbolize their free love and justice sentiment in more modern and political time. The group was established in 1966 as an extreme political party of anti-war movements. Unlike their role models, yippies represented a radical youth-oriented society apart of the counterculture, which distorted the purposes of earlier interests. Ironically, in general, hippies were known to oppose political and social institutions; instead, choosing an ideology which emphasized peace, love, and individual freedom. As a youth movement, hippies consisting of white young adults adopted Bohemian tradition, which rejected the Vietnam War, established authority, and suppression of free will. In turn, yippies represented theatrical political actions to mock political leaders. For example, during the 1968 Democratic Convention, while holding workshops on LSD production, the Youth International Party nominated their own presidential candidate in response LBJ, a pig by the name of "Pigasus the Immortal". With him, the slogan that "They nominated a president and he eats the people. We nominate a president and the people eat him." The 1968 U.S. Democratic National Convention was originally planned to be held for three days during which the Party would nominate their presidential nominee, like any other election year. However, the convention received national attention by the media coverage of the anarchic chaos of police and protester interaction. Ironically, Chicago was 000000 3 described by the media as a war zone when 6,000 troops, 5,00 National Guardsmen, and hundreds of Chicago riot arrived police to dissuade protesters to leave. The demonstration at the Chicago Convention included speeches from many different leaders, rock performances, dancing, LSD workshops, signs and banners, poetry readings, and the nomination of presidential candidate Pigasus. On the second day of the convention, demonstrators tried to march into the Amphitheatre, which spurred police to fire tear gas into the large crowd and swing about clubs and mace into the impending fog. Hundreds of protests, reporters, and innocent bystanders were badly injured and beaten; police at the convention did not discriminate against anyone present: women, journalists, tourists, clergymen, or even celebrities like Hugh Hefner. However, a co-founder of the Yippie Party was quoted to say, "We came to plan a confrontation." Yet, whatever the reason for the peace demonstrations, the American public agreed that police force was excessive and violated civil rights. The atmosphere inside building that held the convention, although not good, was better off then that which was outside. The building has been described as "a military installation; barbed-wire, checkpoints, the whole bit". Politicians, distracted by the mayhem outside, quarreled among each other; chiefly blamed for the riot outdoors was Mayor of Chicago Daley. Reports of the violence outside shocked the convention and with great effort, the upset delegates ended the convention with presidential and vice presidential Hubert Humphrey and Edmund Muskie, respectively. However, the end of the convention did not mark the end of the peace demonstration turned police riot. Although thousands of people participated in the protest and were consequently arrested, the grand jury is most known during this time to have indicted specific eight activists and eight police officers. The eight protesters were 000000 4 members of the Youth International Party, which included founders Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin. Unfortunately for the one defendant, a member of both the Yippie and Black Panther Party, Bobby Seale, was cited for contempt early in the course of the trial and his case was severed from his political members. Thus, the trial became known as the Chicago Seven. It found its way into national fame and reputable credit among Americans youth due to theatrical stunts performed by the defendants in the face of government authority. Founders Hoffman and Rubin especially mocked the judiciary when they appeared in court dressed in judicial robes with Hoffman blowing kissing at the trial judge. The trial lasted for months under criminal charges of conspiracy and inciting a riot. A year later, all seven defendants were found not guilty of conspiracy, two were completely acquitted, and five were convicted of intent to incite a riot. Although the five were sentenced to jail time and a fine, all convictions were reversed on appeal on the grounds of a bias judge and refusal to screen jurors for personal cultural prejudices. Through violence, unjust application of law, and a still-prevailing anti-war sentiment, the Chicago Seven trial stands to this day as a symbol of American youth sentiment during the time In a total digression of the paper's flow, and without added value to the length of the paper, I would like to add an image of a Chicago 8 Yippie flyer. This image is and has been my desktop background since high school. You are welcome to attempt a call of the number on the flyer; I haven't called for years, but my reception from the respondents were particularly interesting. Chicago area codes are: 312, 773, and 708. All standard roaming rates apply. Enjoy!! 000000 5

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