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Chicago DNC 2024: Chaos, Convention, or Coronation?
What to expect when you’re expecting trouble.
The 1968 Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago is remembered as a pivotal moment in American history, marked by violent clashes between anti-Vietnam War protesters and the Chicago police. The week-long event, held from August 26 to 29, 1968, attracted tens of thousands of demonstrators, many of whom were frustrated by the Democratic Party’s continued support for the Vietnam War.
As many historians have noted, 1968 offered a perfect storm of factors that led to the riots.
“In April, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, setting off riots and fires that seemed they might consume the city,” reflected Bill Kurtis for the Chicago Sun-Times on August 14, 2024. “Robert Kennedy was assassinated June 5 in Los Angeles, and the nation was thrown into another upheaval.”
“The televised images of the Vietnam War had begun to sour the public support for the conflict and the veterans who were fighting in what seemed a losing battle,” added Kurtis. “On these hot days, it all hung like the smell of the stockyards near the International Amphitheater, at 42nd and Halsted, where the Democratic National Convention was being held.”
As tensions escalated in 1968, Chicago’s Mayor Richard J. Daley ordered a heavy…