Sean Wilentz was at the convention when someone handed out copies of a news flash. “I remember the first sentence,” he says. “It said, 'Tonight the lid blew off on our convention city.'” The article went on to report chaos and bloodshed in Chicago as police clashed with anti-Vietnam War demonstrators.
Wilentz, who was just 17 at the time, rushed to the scene in downtown Chicago with some friends. “It was horrible. The cops were angry and hated the kids, and the kids were angry and hated the cops. We saw cops on motorcycles out on the sidewalk and pinning kids against the wall. It was very scary.”
Police and protesters gather near the Conrad Hilton Hotel in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Photo: Bettman/Bettman Archive
It's been more than half a century since police violence left scars at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Democrats return to Chicago in high spirits on Monday, ready to nominate Kamala Harris as their presidential candidate. But comparisons to the events of 56 years ago are inevitable.
Just like in 1968, an assassination attempt attempts to change the course of political history. Just like in 1968, a sitting president steps down and a vice president wins the Democratic nomination without receiving a single primary vote. And just like in 1968, protesters gather to express their anger at America's involvement in an unpopular war.
Democrats are hoping that the similarities end there. As the tear gas cleared in Chicago, self-described “happy warrior” Hubert Humphrey emerged as the standard-bearer for a bitterly divided party. He went on to push a “law and order” message similar to his Republican colleague Donald Trump, losing the election to Richard Nixon, who played on white voters' fears and prejudices.
Rifle-toting military police at the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention. Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
A lot has changed since Trump won the Republican nomination at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last month. With 81-year-old Joe Biden losing ground in the polls, the Democratic race has become something of a death march. But Biden's decision to withdraw from the race and focus on Harris has sparked an outpouring of relief, confidence and growing enthusiasm.
Next week's Democratic National Convention will be the culmination of a dramatic turnaround: After drawing huge crowds at rallies and raising millions in donations, Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, will be formally nominated and deliver the most important speeches of their careers, likely leading to another surge in the polls.
But the tightly choreographed event, which will also feature Biden, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and A-list celebrities, may stray from the script. Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters are expected to gather outside to demand that the United States halt military aid to Israel as the war rages on, with the death toll exceed 40,000, according to the Gaza Strip's health ministry.
The March for the DNC, a coalition of more than 200 groups from across the US, plans to hold demonstrations on Monday and Thursday, the days Biden and Harris are scheduled to speak. On its website, the group denounces the president as “Genocide Joe Biden” and warns that “even if the Democratic Party leadership changes its presidential candidate, it will not wash away the blood of more than 50,000 Palestinians.”
While far-reaching security plans are being drawn up by federal, state and city governments, some activists vow to repeat the events of 1968, when years of unrest over America's failure in the Vietnam War came to a head in Chicago. Then, and now, students demonstrated against the war in campus protests; at Columbia University in New York, Hamilton Hall was occupied in both 1968 and 2024.
Demonstrators gather for a sit-in in Chicago's Grant Park during a political protest during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Photo: Miriam Boxer/Viron Films/Getty Images
There had already been political uncertainty since President Lyndon B. Johnson's shock announcement at the end of a speech about the Vietnam War that he would not seek reelection. Biden similarly dropped out of the race, but later in the election cycle and for entirely different reasons.
The US was also shaken by the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, the Democratic nominee, and cities burning in protest against racial discrimination. Last month, Trump narrowly survived an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, which left one of his supporters dead.
Mr. Wilentz, now 73 and a history professor at Princeton University, recalled: “What happened in Chicago was the culmination of a crisis that had been building in American politics for five or six years, and that had implications for the civil rights movement. There was a sense of despair that this disaster was going to continue. Politics was very tense and intense, and it wasn't necessarily possible to think strategically.”
In late August, more than 10,000 protesters against the Vietnam War and a variety of other causes staged a mass demonstration near the convention site. Some threw red paint to simulate blood and occupied major roads to block traffic. The response from the authorities was brutal, with widespread use of tear gas, beatings and arrests by police and National Guard troops. The massacre was broadcast live on television, with protesters chanting, “The whole world is watching.”
Students gather around the General Logan Memorial during the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention. Photo: Chicago History Museum/Getty Images
Taylor Pensonow, 83, a witness who worked as a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, recalled: “The protesters were very provocative of the Chicago police. They were throwing bottles and rocks at the police, they were calling the police pigs, they were confronting them. It was a very inflammatory situation.”
“It seemed inevitable that the Chicago Police Department would respond at some point. And they ended up responding very heavy-handedly, brandishing batons and shoving protesters to the ground. A number of people were injured. It was a riot.”
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There was even mayhem inside the convention, including attacks on journalists, as supporters of anti-war candidates such as Senator Eugene McCarthy clashed with supporters of Humphrey, who had won the nomination with the backing of party elites and who did not dare cross Johnson on the war until much later.
At first glance, Humphrey doesn't seem to have much in common with Harris. But there is a common tone. Humphrey painted “Happy Warriors” on his plane and said when he first announced his candidacy, “This is what American politics should be: a politics of happiness, a politics of purpose, a politics of joy.” Phrases like “happy warriors” and “politics of joy” have been widely applied to Harris and Waltz.
With children dying in Gaza, such a happy approach could be seen as outdated, according to Norman Solomon, national director of the progressive group RootsAction. “I was 17 in 1968 and I remember thinking, what are you talking about, politics of joy? I might be happy, but I live in a regime that's committing mass slaughter in Vietnam,” he said.
“Harris has a great relationship with Walz and is good for beating Trump, but she has a pretty deep disconnect with the people of Dearborn and the people who will be on the streets of Chicago next week. Harris talks about the politics of joy, while Congress spends billions more on weapons. The US continues to support the killing of people in Gaza, while Harris sends her national security adviser to say she is totally against an arms embargo. It's like split screen.”
Ms. Harris’ acceptance speech on Thursday night will be watched for clues as to whether, unlike Mr. Humphrey at the convention, she is prepared to draw a clear line between herself and Mr. Biden, an ardent Zionist on Gaza. That could be crucial in persuading Arab Americans, Muslims and younger voters to give her the benefit of the doubt.
“She was the first to call for a ceasefire. She was the first to call for Palestinian self-determination. She was the first to use very powerful language about the devastation in Gaza and the suffering of the people who live there,” said James Zogby, founder and director of the Arab American Institute in Washington.
“She's been as clear as she can that there are differences in how they view this issue. I'm not going to give away all of it, but there are signs that they want to change things on this. They've already opened the door in terms of language and policy will follow.”
Zogby also doesn't expect a repeat of the 1968 convention hall unrest. Of the more than 4,000 delegates, only 30 are “independents,” representing a grassroots coalition of voters opposed to Biden's Gaza policies. That's “nowhere near the number needed for any kind of on-site demonstration,” he said.
Delegates in New York hold up a banner reading “Stop the War” on the third day of the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Photo: Archive Photo/Getty Images
“If there is any disruption, it will be a handful of people in a sea of other delegates. It's not like 1968. Outside, on the other hand, it's a different story. Many of the groups protesting are trying to remain civil and constructive, but anything this large inevitably creates its own dynamics.”
The parallels with 1968 are undoubtedly striking. But the differences may be more significant. The Vietnam War and its draft affected far more Americans than the current Gaza conflict. Few analysts, outside of Michigan, think Gaza matters much in the election. Nixon was embroiled in Watergate, but he never threatened democracy the way Trump does.
Wilentz commented: “1968 was a time completely different than any I've experienced in this country. There are certain similarities between this year and that year in that events happened quickly and were traumatic, but it's nothing compared to what '68 was like.”
