Violence Rocks 1968 Democratic Convention - HISTORY

In reaction to violence that broke out at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley defends his city's police, blaming instead the anti-Vietnam War demonstrators for the clash.

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When bloody riots broke out between anti-Vietnam War protestors and Chicago police outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention, Sen. Abraham Ribicoff ditched his prepared support speech for George McGovern and instead criticized Mayor Richard Daly's handling of the situation.

For his second run for the presidency, Nixon hired filmmaker Eugene Jones to produce ads that captured the turbulence and unrest in the nation at the time. Convention was one in a series -- mimicking the uneasy mood and tension in the US, suggesting that Nixon was the only man to bring the country together again.

During the Democratic Convention of 1964, Robert Kennedy addressed a supportive and vocal crowd.

Jerry Rubin, founder of the Youth International Party, or Yippies, addresses his party members at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, prepping the participants for the impending clash with law enforcement.

Explore the violence that unfolded at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago in this Ask Steve video. Steve Gillon explains how three different groups of people came together, and how attempts at peace were met with violence. The anti-war Democrats were angered at the assassination of Robert Kennedy and Eugene McCarthy not winning the party's nomination. The party nominated Hubert Humphrey who ran on a pro-war platform. The Yippies attended the convention to poke fun of the entire process, while Mayor Richard Daley wanted to prove he was still in charge of his city. Rough tactics were used on the protestors who chanted "the whole world is watching". However, most people who saw this on television supported Daley, giving Richard Nixon the ability to run on a law and order platform and win the White House.

On July 27, 2004, Barack Obama, then a little-known Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate from Illinois, delivers the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention. His speech, in which he describes his personal story of the American Dream, catapults him into the national spotlight.

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