The accepted starting point of the convention week’s violence is the shooting of Dean Johnson by Chicago police officers. Dean Johnson, age 17, and another boy were stopped on the sidewalk by the officers for a curfew violation early on the morning of Thursday, August 22. Dean Johnson reportedly attempted to draw a pistol that misfired. The police officers shot Johnson three times.[16] As news of the shooting spreads among the protestors, various memorial services are organized. At the rallies, speakers said Johnson died of “pig poisoning”.[citation needed] On the surface, it is surprising that Johnson's death did not spark a major reaction from the protestors. Johnson died almost two full days before the main contingent of protesters were scheduled to arrive. The vanguard that was in place at the time of the shooting was busy planning for the arrival of the bulk of the protestors. MOBE leaders were downtown trying to deal with the lack of permits and decide on an alternate course of action for mass protests. The Yippies were meeting with CBS to coordinate media coverage when they heard of Johnson’s death. The Yippies and SDS hastily threw a memorial service together but, as one observer noted, due to poor planning “it turned out that no one had made any plans to actually do anything. We just milled around and began to fill up the intersection. Two squad cars pulled up and the cops got out and told us to keep moving . . . but they were pretty gentle about it”.[17] In the absence of a leader, some type of plan, and significant numbers, the crowd simply faded away. Johnson never became the public martyr he could have been, as the only person to die in conjunction with convention week.
On Friday, August 23, the planned protests began. Jerry Rubin and a band of Yippies attempted to formally nominate the Yippie candidate for president, Pigasus the Pig. By the time Rubin arrived with Pigasus, “several hundred spectators and reporters had gathered” on the Civic Center plaza. The event was almost over before it started. Police officers were waiting, and as soon as the pig was released, Rubin, Pigasus, and 6 other Yippies were arrested. The media was still able to obtain their interviews and pictures by grabbing anybody who was left that looked ‘Yippieish’. A local reporter’s wife was asked to pose with a ‘Pig for President” sign that she had picked up off the ground. The picture of her and her child in a cradleboard later made the Chicago Tribune and the Walker report. This planned act was a demonstration not only of the Yippie mentality to the general public, but a demonstration to other would-be Yippies and protestors on how to protest. Everyone knew that at about 10 a.m., Pigasus would be nominated. The police knew and planned to control the ‘disorder’, the media knew that the nomination itself would be a good story, and the police controlling the ‘disorder’ could turn into a better one, and Yippie used that to create a sensation. The planned kick off for convention week created more of a frenzy than Dean Johnson’s death.
At 6 a.m. on Saturday August 24, full convention week strength continuous surveillance began in Lincoln Park. For the last several nights, the police had cleared Lincoln Park at 11 pm and maintained a significant presence during the day. Most of the protestors were engaged in preparing for mass demonstrations and confrontations, and most had a more comfortable place to sleep than Lincoln Park, so violence was avoided. Saturday, however, marked the beginning of mass demonstrations, as opposed to the street theatre of Yippie. Women Strike for Peace attempted to hold a women-only picket at the Hilton Hotel, the main delegate hotel. Despite plans for buses from around the country to bring hundreds of picketers, only 60 or so women showed up. The lack of permits, and the threats of violence made by both radical protesters and security forces, caused many moderate protestors, which formed the majority of MOBE participants at the Pentagon and Spring Marches, decided to not participate in the Chicago Action. This apparently failed protest was the catalyst for much of the convention week violence. MOBE and the SDS contingent realized that their “‘liberal base’ has finked out big” .[18] It was apparent to all that the expected hundreds of thousands of protestors would not be descending upon Chicago to disrupt the convention with their presence. It was generally agreed upon to not attempt to stay in Lincoln Park after the curfew, but to rather to take the fight to the streets because “In parks, ain’t no place to go. Can’t fight battles on a grassy plain. No ammunition (unless you carry it)”.[citation needed] By leaving the park, the protestors put themselves in a position where they could carry on a protracted conflict with the police while avoiding situations where mass arrest was possible. At exactly 11 pm, noted poet Allen Ginsberg led protesters chanting ‘Ommmm’ out of the park into the streets of Old Town. SDS leaders organized several hundred of the protestors to march through the streets chanting things such as ‘Peace Now’ while the police simply guarded Lincoln Park. When the crowd stopped at Wells and North Avenue, blocking the intersection, a police contingent arrived and cleared the crowd using standard crowd control measures. Eleven people were arrested and several police cars were stoned before the crowd dispersed into the normal Saturday nightlife.[19]
On Sunday, MOBE had scheduled a ‘Meet the Delegates’ march and picket. At 2 p.m. there were between 200-300 picketers marching across the street from the Conrad Hilton, and another 500 marching south through the Loop chanting, “Hey Hey LBJ, how many kids did you kill today”. The police rushed men from the Task Force to meet the marchers. After the police arrival, those who were picketing moved into nearby Grant Park to hopefully avoid a mass arrest situation. MOBE wanted to fill the streets as much as possible, not be held in jails on exorbitant bail. Once the marchers had reached Grant Park, there was a brief rally where Davis and Hayden claimed the day a success, and then beat a hasty retreat[citation needed] to Lincoln Park where the Festival of Life was beginning.
The Yippies had been working all day on the logistical problems of running a music festival. They threatened, cajoled, and pleaded with city officials in Lincoln Park to get electricity and permission to use amplified sound. At 4 pm, the Festival started with MC-5, the only band who showed up for the festival. The police did not allow a flatbed truck to be brought in as a stage, fearing Yippie would use it to incite the crowd. In an attempt to see the band play, many spectators kept pushing forward, creating tension in the crowd.
When the concession stand owner insisted that Yippie stop using his electrical outlets to run the amplification equipment, confusion ensued. While Rubin and other Yippies tried to make frantic deals to get the sound back on, Hoffman used the confusion to try and bring in the flatbed truck. The police stopped the truck partway into the park. The crowd began milling about it as Hoffman talked with the police.
A deal was struck allowing the truck to be parked nearby, but not in, the park. The crowd that had gathered around and on the truck did not realize an agreement had been reached and thought the truck was being sent away. The crowd surged around the truck, pinning in the police officers.[citation needed] The protestors screamed obscenities at the cops, and the cops yelled right back. The police made a few token arrests of ‘crowd leaders’ as policy dictated, and forced their way out of the crowd with their prisoners.
Hoffman declared that the police had stopped the music festival, and proceeded to conduct a workshop on dispersal tactics to avoid arrest by police. As the 6 pm to 6 am shift came on duty, they were informed of the tense situation in the park. Due to the number, frequency, diverseness, and exposure of the threats made by radical protestors[citation needed], the police were concerned about facing protesters armed with unknown weapons and unknown intentions.
At 9 pm, police formed a skirmish line around the park bathrooms. This drew a crowd of spectators who heckled the police.[citation needed] The heckling drew more spectators, who joined in the heckling, and the incident snowballed until the police charged into the crowd swinging their batons, scattering the crowd. This process happened twice more as rumors of the incident spread about the park. The protestors exaggerated the violence and numbers of the police[citation needed], and the police exaggerated the violence and numbers of the protesters.[citation needed] In the dark, it was difficult to confirm or deny the rumors that over 10,000 protestors and 1,000 police were in the park. Fear on both sides escalated the tensions.
More and more protestors were determined to stay in the park after the 11 pm curfew. Veteran protest organizers were explaining the best tactics for engaging the police without putting oneself into jeopardy.[citation needed] At 11 pm the police pushed the protestors out of the park. Most protestors left the park and congregated at the intersection of Clark and LaSalle Streets, taunting the police.[citation needed]
Initially when the police reached the edge of the park, they maintained their skirmish line. When a squad was ordered to ‘clear’ Clark Street to keep traffic flowing the police lost control. The police tried to clear the streets, most using their batons to jab and push people along, but some using them to beat protestors bloody. A running battle began, with police reinforcements arriving unsure of what was going on. MOBE leaders watched from a doorway, amazed but not displeased. Yippie Jerry Rubin told a friend “This is fantastic and it's only Sunday night. They might declare martial law in this town.”[citation needed] Order was not restored in Old Town until early Monday morning.
The rest of the convention week violence followed the pattern set Sunday night. The hard line taken by the City was also seen on the convention floor itself. In 1968, Terry Southern described the convention hall as "exactly like approaching a military installation; barbed-wire, checkpoints, the whole bit".[20] Inside the convention, journalists such as Mike Wallace and Dan Rather were roughed up by security; both these events were broadcast live on television.
When Senator Abraham Ribicoff (D-Conn) delivered a speech nominating George McGovern for President, he infuriated Daley by saying, "with George McGovern as President of the United States, we wouldn't have Gestapo tactics in the streets of Chicago."[21] Daley responded by shaking his fist at Ribicoff, and shouting a phrase that was inaudible, and which has generated much speculation. An uncredited author for CNN wrote, "Most reports of the event also say Daley yelled an off-color epithet beginning with an "F," but according to CNN executive producer Jack Smith, others close to Daley insist he shouted 'Faker,' meaning Ribicoff was not a man of his word, the lowest name one can be called in Chicago's Irish politics."[22]
Subsequently, the Walker Report to the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence assigned blame for the mayhem in the streets to the police force, calling the violence a "police riot.
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