'68 Democrat Convention

Don D

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 08-25-04 AT 04:57AM (CST)[/font][br][br]Most of you probably were not alive, but, for those who were, do you remember what you were doing or where you were when you watched television to see Mayor Daley's Chicago police force bashing heads and spraying mace? x:=| I was lying in the Cleveland, Bolivar County, Mississippi Hospital in traction for a back injury as a kid. I was a kid, not a republican or a democrat. I laid there and watched Dan Rather get punched out and watched the gestapo antics of the Chicago police department. Where were you and what do you remember?

irenesmsaclaims

Oh Don, I was a college freshman at the University of Hawaii and at a sit-in against the war in Vietnam, a peaceful one. 1968 was Bobby Kennedy being murdered and also Martin Luther King. So, the democratic convention rather paled in my memory. Transferred to the University of Wisconsin and most know the history there. I really don't remember Dan Rather being punched out in Chicago! There was so much going on.

Don D

I remember seeing Bobby Kennedy shot on television and (football player) Rosie Greer forcing his large way through the crowd to get to his side. I was in college too. I remember Parchman State Penitentiary sent two long black buses to our school on the days of protests just as a signal to the kids of where we might wind up if we 'got out of hand'. I will never forget Walter Cronkite's voice each and every night giving Westmoreland's headcount for the day.

Rockie

Don - I was still in my crib,but I remember viewing the TV thru the slats in the side.

Seriously, I have thought about this point in time as when the country really began to lose its innocence. I remember wondering "what the heck is going on here" with all the riots, the war, the killings(King and then another Kennedy). It was a very scary, unsettling and upsetting time. I can remember thinkig "Nothing will ever be the same" and it hasn't been.

ray a

I remember many of the events of that time quite well. I was just starting my soph year in HS and often wondered where I would end up. The thoughts of going to Viet Nam were very scary for a 15 year old. Watching the riots and demonstrations that took place all over the country was very disconcerting leaving me to wonder if it we could survive. Students at our local university staged some peaceful sit-ins, but no violence as was found in other cities. And yes, I saw the Democratic convention that year, probably the first time I ever watched any of the conventions on TV. I could not understand how people could behave like that.

LarryC

I was a junior at Michigan Tech University. Quite a year as I recall. Two assassinations and I'm trying to remember if that was also the year that George Wallace was gunned down. At the Democratic convention, I remember a defiant Mayor Richard Daley on one side and a equally defiant Abbie Hoffman on the other side. Who were the other six of the "Chicago 7"? Anybody know?

Whatever

I was in NY glued to the TV. I remember very clearly Dan Rather being hauled off the convention floor while still talking into his microphone. I remember the confusion (how's that for a tactful term) both in the street and in the convention hall. And, I remember the defiant look on Mayor Daley's face. That was one the worst periods in America's history.
The only good news was I got engaged to my now ex the night before.

Whirlwind

I was 16 years old in 1968 so I do remember the Democratic convention, but the event of that year that hit me hardest was the assassination of Bobby Kennedy. He was the first presidential candidate I ever felt strongly about, and I don't think anyone since has struck such a chord with me.

For those of us alive and old enough to be conscious of it, 1968 was brutal.

Hunter1

What was brutal about it was to be in Viet Nam and see/read about what was going on back home in addition to your own daily 'concerns'.

System

Our newspaper published a page with the names of soldiers who were overseas in Viet Nam. We picked some and wrote letters - lots of them, but didn't really understand what the war was about. We just wrote letters and sent pictures.

Sue2

Anyone remember the MIA/POW bracelets? I still
have mine.

System

I had just graduated from a 'Trade College.' I was working as a cashier in a grocery store, applying for jobs as a Key Punch Operator. (now who remembers THAT?) I saw clips of those events on TV but didn't really understand what most of it was about. I was too busy going to the Hilltop Inn (underage) with a friend and dancing every chance we got.

AnneLa

I was only 8 years old in 1968, but I do remember exactly where I was when I heard that Bobby Kennedy had been shot.

AnneHa

I remember the convention and the other atrocious events going on at that time.

More vivid are the riots that tore our city apart that summer - the violence, the fires, the looting - such senseless destruction. The most terrifying moment of my life also occurred when I inadvertently (the day I got my driver's license)drove solo through the area where the worst of the riot activity was going on. The police almost arrested me for which I was truly grateful.

Anne in Ohio

Shadowfax

Just returned from 4 years duty with our Uncle, and for the first time in my life I questioned what I had been doing for 4 years and what my countrymen were thinking.

Leslie

I was 13 and had just moved from Illinois to Arizona. Didn't know anyone, so voraciously read every newspaper, and sat in front of the TV and watched the assassination of Martin, then the primaries, then the assassination of Bobby then the convention. It was a time that shaped a lot of my political views to this day.

Don D

....A 13 year old who reads every newspaper in sight?

Leslie

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 08-26-04 AT 05:42PM (CST)[/font][br][br]We'd just moved, I knew no one, loved newspapers. Didn't I ever mention my BA is in Journalism/PR?

Anyway, just to prove I was somewhat normal at 13, I also pitched a hardball into a square painted on the fence several hours a day convinced I would someday be the first female major leaguer. Somehow, through the years, I lost interest in the bat, ball and glove and caught interest in the players. x:D

HRinNH

I was just 6 years old and starting 1st grade. Didn't watch any of this on t.v. but I remember my mom sobbing about Kennedy being assassinated.

Don D

Are you sure it wasn't because 'As The World Turns' was pre-empted?

HRinNH

Well...now that you mention it, she was a 'soap' addict back then.

rad

I was not born until 69 and had no idea what you all are talking about so I did a web search. Wow. During Boston's DNC this past July, my mother expressed dismay that protestors were expected to do their thing in a fenced in structure. Perhaps I should print out what I found and remind her of 68 and what can happen.

Don D

OK! Quit braggin' about your youth and return to your cell!

mushroomHR

I was 19 years old at that time and believe me, it was a very scary time. My most vivid memory of that era was the list of names the newspaper would publish of soldiers who died in Vietnam. The memory of looking at the list to see if there were any familiar names still makes me shudder. It was definitely an era that made history. There was a lot going on; here and abroad.

JudyT929

I was 11 years old that summer and remember it well, was living in a small town in Pennsylvania. My dad and my brother were both in Vietnam. Dad came home in August of '68 in one piece physically but never the same mentally; my brother stayed in Nam for an extra tour and came home the next year in one piece as well. That year does stay in my mind as the end of innocence for our country as well as for me personally. Dang where's my prozac!

Don D

Judy: I appreciate your post and spent some time inside it. It is interesting that you often post your strong Democrat ties while knowing the Democrat administrations were the ones who kept us mired in this inextricable, ill-defined conflict for all those years. (Peace)

JudyT929

I would not say I have "strong Democratic ties", I don't consider myself political at all I just tend to lean towards the left. I'm personally opposed to any and all war, primarily because I was somewhat a casualty of vietnam, without ever leaving home. I don't blame democrats today for a war that started 40 years ago anymore than I would fault a German today for the atrocities of the holocaust. I try to look at the current situation and react accordingly.

And by the way, what are you doing "spending time inside" my post?... There are too many dang voices in my head already! get out get out!!! (smile)

marc

That "end of innocence" comment sort of sums it up for me as well. I was a freshman in college, bright eyed and bushy tailed, all agog with the wide world outside of the small town in Kansas where I was raised. The assassinations were particularly un-nerving and the war in Nam was just to real. I could not imagine having to line another human being up in my sights and pull the trigger to snuff out a life. I still cannot imagine it and for those that had to go there and do that....I have a great deal of empathy.

In the years since my perspective has greatly changed. If I had to describe my political viewpoint then, I would have been very liberal and was deeply hurt with the violence people used toward those with a different viewpoint. The grand ideas of our nation and founding fathers were not well represented in those times - Many of the protestors thought that protest without violence to back it up was pointless and of course, law enforcement was paid to stop the violence - protect and serve.

Looking back, the clashes were almost inevitable, and a tragic breakdown between people who all wanted good things for our country and each other, but completely disagreed as to what that was and how to get there.

Dasher

Yes, well said Marc, and may we always have the priveledge of disagreeing and protesting and agreeing and so on... It is really what makes this country a true blessing to be in.

As a bright-eyed and eager college student in 1968, I was absolutely sure that my generation would change the world -- and only for the better. Because of course, our point of view was the only right one to hold. I still cringe when recalling our "take-over" of the university's admin building.

Now as a well-ripened almost senior citizen, my innocence may be gone -- but my love for the USA and its true ideals are as fresh as ever. Perhaps I would not take-over a building these days, but I will still defend the rights of even those I disagree with to tell me about it.

This thread is a good opportunity to remember!

Don D

This is no original thought, but 'I wish I had as much sense then as I do now'. What a dumb but true statement. I too remember being in a herd of people piling down the shiney, waxed hall of the administration building and blocking the doors to the suite that supposedly contained the college president. I don't even know if I knew then or now why that was done or to what end. It was probably a combination of reasons, not one particular one. Kids collectively saying "we can do this and you can't stop us". Students acting unreasonably because they felt driven up the wall by a world of un-reason. Doing what we thought was cool because we saw a far away group doing it on Channel 3. Taking the dare of the guy in the white collar over at the Wesley Foundation House. Through projection, slapping our daddies by insultive behavior toward the president. Calling attention to our fears and sense of feeling lost. Just being fed up with whatever 'it' was and thinking this was the best way to say 'I ain't takin' no damned more'. Sewing wild oats. Feeling like we had absolutely no voice in any other respect and assuming this kind of thing actually gave us a voice, of some sort. Who knew then? Who knows now?

Two years later on my first performance review of my professional life this statement appeared: "Wears his hair and sideburns longer than I personally like."

safety

Well let's see, in 68 I was . . . oops, almost gave that away. Anyway I vividly remember sending care packages to four of my uncles who were on active duty. All four came away from the service in tact and without injury.