Page 47 - Historical Dictionary of Political Communication in the United States

1968
DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION
OF
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DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION OF 1968 became a flash point for the deep
divisions in this country over the United States' involvement in the Vietnam
War. Instead of seeing the usual hoopla and party camaraderie leading up to the
nomination of the presidential candidate, the American public saw live on tel-
evision a society at war with itself: police, army, and National Guard troops
battling protesters outside the convention hall while a deeply divided Democratic
Party clashed on the floor of the convention hall. President Lyndon Johnson
may have set the stage for the Chicago confrontation when he announced he
would not seek reelection and instead would devote himself to ending the war.
Most party faithful threw their support to Vice President Hubert Humphrey,
who had backed the president's hawkish stand in Vietnam. But antiwar pro-
testers backed the candidacy of Eugene McCarthy, a senator from Minnesota
who ran on a peace platform. Members of the antiwar movement, led by Yippie
protesters Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, decided to use the Democratic Con-
vention as an opportunity to sway public opinion. They and other members of
the antiwar movement descended on Chicago, where Mayor Richard Daley was
prepared to use force to maintain law and order. Soon the protest turned violent,
and riot police reacted by beating protesters and even journalists who were
covering the confrontation. Tempers flared inside the convention hall as well.
At one point a security guard slugged CBS reporter Dan Rather, prompting
network anchor Walter Cronkite to call the guards "thugs." The chaotic and
violent images of the Democratic Party Convention may have cost Humphrey
the 1968 presidential election. By a narrow margin, Richard Nixon, the Repub-
lican candidate, won.
SOURCE: Norman Mailer, Miami and the Siege of Chicago: An Informal History of
the Republican and Democratic Conventions of 1968, 1968.
Churchill L. Roberts

DEMONSTRATION. Protest by which members picket, carry signs, march,
sing, and/or convene to show their support for a candidate, cause, or issue.
Demonstrations were a popular form of political protest in the 1960s during the
Civil Rights movement and the Vietnam War era. Another form of demonstra-
tion is picketing during a labor strike. Still another is the parade. All are rec-
ognized as means of communication and, by various Supreme Court decisions,
are protected by the First Amendment. Some demonstrations become violent,
and such violence is not protected by the First Amendment and is unlawful.

SOURCE: Jay M. Shafritz, The HarperCollins Dictionary of American Government and
Politics, 1992.
Guido H. Stempel III

DENNIS, JACK, professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin,
is a leading authority on political socialization and electoral behavior. He joined