On Mar 1, 2010, at 12:19 PM, John Sessoms wrote:
From: P N Stenquist
On Mar 1, 2010, at 10:22 AM, Bob Sullivan wrote:
> Careful Bill or you might find some surprises on the unquestioning
> obedience/civil disobedience issues. Some of us are children of
the
> '60's and were in Chicago for the '68 Democratic Convention fuss.
> Regards, Bob S.
>
I was at the "Battle of Balboa." We never made it over the bridge,
but we did get some elected officials to pay attention -- no to
mention the millions who saw it on TV.
TV portrayed it as a bunch of dirty pinko-commie anti-war hippies
attacking the police. Don't discount effects of the law of
unintended consequences. Chicago 68 played a major role in sweeping
Nixon into the White House.
It wasn't really until after Watergate that the relative roles of
the Chicago Police Dept vs the hippies was reevaluated.
And at that, I doubt 1 in 10 Americans today yet understand what
happened during the "Chicago Police Riot".
During the actual broadcast there was broad condemnation of the police
role. Walter Cronkite said the police were rioting. A number of
delegates stood up and spoke in protest of the police action on the
street. It was only in the subsequent retelling that the picture
started to shift.
It's true that what happened at the convention hurt the Dems. It was
meant to. Nixon won the '68 electon because Humphrey wasn't a viable
alternative. He was every bit as pro-war and conservative as Nixon. On
top of that, he was a wuss. That's why we were protesting. We felt the
Dems had swept Gene McCarthy under the carpet. Which they had.
Although LBJ was somewhat of a social liberal, the Dems who controlled
the party politics in 1968 were every bit as conservative as the
Republicans. The part only turned in the years that followed.
You're right that most Americans don't know what happened in Chicago
that day, but I think it had a considerable effect on the future of
American politics.
In any case, it no longer matters, but it was an interesting time to
be a college student on a Chicago campus.
Paul
--
PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List
[email protected]
http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above
and follow the directions.
--
PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List
[email protected]
http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow
the directions.
