Chicago Democratic Convention Demonstrations, 1968

Originally numbering eight, the Chicago Seven were a group of radical protest leaders arrested at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, Illinois, in 1968. Members of the group were charged with conspiracy, crossing state lines with the intent to incite a riot, obstructing justice, and promoting the use of incendiary devices (stink bombs) during an act of civil disobedience that drew thousands of protestors to the city.

The demonstration, initially conceived as a nonviolent disruption of the DNC, was intended to express opposition to the war in Vietnam and to mock the electoral process represented by the convention. Protestors spoofed the convention by staging a carnivalesque “Festival of Life”—music, poetry, and a guerrilla theater performance in which demonstrators announced the candidacy of a pig, Pigasus the Immortal, for president. As the demonstrators resisted police intervention, the protest escalated to a significant component of one of the most controversial riots in American history.

Tensions around the convention were high, as Chicago became a focal point for radical activist groups and their supporters planning massive demonstrations. In response, the city's mayor, Richard Daley, issued severe statements about maintaining order and summoned more than 5,000 National Guardsmen to support Chicago's police force. Clashes between demonstrators and police grew increasingly violent in response to curfew and other restrictions and antagonism from both sides. The climax was reached when protestors marching on the convention hall were met with sanctioned, excessive force by the police, and several hundred were injured and arrested. Key among these were the Chicago Eight.

The original Chicago Eight were Abbott (Abbie) Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, founders of the Youth International Party (Yippies); peace activist and chairman of the National Mobilization Against War, David Dellinger; Rennie Davis, national director of the community organizing program of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS); SDS founding member, Tom Hayden; SDS member and founder of the Radical Science Information Service, John Froines; Lee Weiner, local organizer and activist; and Bobby Seale, founding member of the Black Panther Party. The Eight became the Chicago Seven when Seale's case was severed from the rest, after receiving 16 citations for contempt for repeated inflammatory outbursts. Seale was ordered bound and gagged in the [Page 310]courtroom and was subsequently sentenced to 4 years on the contempt charge.

The trial of the Chicago Seven ran from September 24, 1969, until February 18, 1970, and its proceedings were marked by mockery and farce delivered by the defendants, while their attorneys, William Kunstler and Leonard Weinglass, of the Center for Constitutional Rights, delivered a steady stream of celebrity witnesses, including Phil Ochs, Timothy Leary, Dick Gregory, Arlo Guthrie, Norman Mailer, Allen Ginsberg, Jesse Jackson, and Judy Collins. Ultimately, Froines and Weiner were acquitted of all charges, and the remaining five defendants were convicted of crossing state lines with the intent to start a riot, sentenced to 5 years each, and fined $5,000. These convictions were overturned on November 21, 1972, by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, due to judicial bias and the inability of defense attorneys to question prospective jurors on their cultural biases.

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