Political parallels between 1968 and 2024 as the Democrats return to Chicago

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The whole world is watching.

They want to see what unfolds this week in Chicago as Democrats convene their quadrennial political convention and anoint Vice President Harris as their 2024 standard-bearer.

But, the mantra "the whole world is watching" is from 1968.

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That was a battle cry from demonstrators who descended on the Democratic convention in Chicago in 1968. They brawled with delegates, reporters and police. The war in Vietnam raged. And anti-war protesters wanted the world to know how they felt. So what better opportunity to converge on the Democratic convention and air their grievances – often within the view finder of a television camera.

The 1968 Democratic convention was the most volatile in American history.

Democrats hope to avoid such controversies this year. But with raucous, anti-Israel protests raging on college campuses and across the nation all spring, that may be tough to avoid. Moreover, this highlights the schism in the Democratic Party over the Middle East.

As they said in 1968, the world is watching.

Long before the demonstrations, political observers were already making comparisons between 2024 and 1968. After all, Democrats announced plans to hold their convention in Chicago. Parallels between 1968 and 2024 intensified.

1968 was the year where American society changed. The year featured massive disintegrations in political order. Meantime, social disarray reigned in the streets. 1968 was a temporal storm. A set of months and days on a calendar – metamorphosed into indelible and at times horrific images for history.

2024 might not rival 1968 yet. But its tumult stands out – even against other recent years of bedlam and chaos.

Kamala Harris is pictured over a view of the United Center, as preparations are made for the Democratic National Convention, scheduled for Aug. 19-22.  (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Vietnam besieged President Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1968. Republicans won three Senate seats and an attention-grabbing 47 House seats in the 1966 midterms. Johnson may have lost political support. But he never lost his political acumen. Johnson barely won the 1968 Democratic primary in New Hampshire and knew what to do.

Like President Biden in 2024, Johnson didn’t formally contest New Hampshire, Johnson ran as a write-in. Mr. Biden’s only true competition in the primary was Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn. Much of the party upbraided Phillips for even challenging the President, lashing out at suggestions that the President wasn’t fit enough for another term.

In 1968, Sen. Eugene McCarthy, D-Minn., held Johnson to just under 50 percent of the vote in New Hampshire.

Flustered, but keen to the political stakes, Johnson bowed out in late March 1968.

"I have concluded that I should not permit the Presidency to become involved in the partisan divisions that are developing in this political year," declared Johnson in a legendary Oval Office address.

In fact, President Biden’s words echoed those of Johnson when he made the decision to drop out after his disastrous debate performance with former President Trump in late June.

"I’ve decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. That’s the best way to unite our nation," said the President.

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Political violence was a hallmark of 1968. The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. fueled riots across the nation.

Two months later, Robert F. Kennedy celebrated his victory at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after winning the California and South Dakota primaries.

"My thanks to all of you. And now it’s on to Chicago and let’s win there," presaged Kennedy – an ominous namecheck of what lurked ahead for Democrats.

Sirhan Sirhan – a pro-Palestinian anti-Zionist who popped out from behind an ice machine in the kitchen of the hotel - pumped multiple, point blank shots into Kennedy. Sirhan Sirhan opposed Kennedy over his support for Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.

The current Middle East conflict rocks the country today – taking the place of the Vietnam conflict of the 1960s.

But there are other similarities.

In 1968, former Alabama Gov. George Wallace (D) ran as a third party candidate.

In 2024, Kennedy’s son Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wages a challenge to Vice President Harris and former President Trump.

Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump is rushed offstage during a rally on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania.  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

And there’s political violence in 2024, too. A gunman nearly killed Mr. Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania last month.

Once President Biden abandoned his re-election bid, Democrats quickly pivoted to Harris.

This mirrors what Democrats did in 1968. Democrats switched their allegiances to another vice president to be their nominee: Vice President Hubert Humphrey.

Democrats formally rally around Harris this week in Chicago – home of the most-ignominious convention on record.

"Unless they were looking for this comparison, the Democrats are going back to Chicago for what's expected to be an unusually turbulent convention," said Luke Nichter, a professor at Chapman University who has written about 1968.

While protesters scuffled with police outside the hall, reporters tangled with security guards inside. Guards roughed up CBS correspondent Dan Rather on the floor.

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Unflappable CBS anchor Walter Cronkite was none too pleased with how authorities manhandled his colleague.

"I think we've got a bunch of thugs here, Dan," said Cronkite on the air.

Tension gurgled between Democratic delegates over Vietnam.

"With (Sen.) George McGovern, D-S.D., as President of the United States, we wouldn't have to have Gestapo tactics in the streets of Chicago," said Sen. Abe Ribicoff, D-Conn., of the anti-war senator.

McGovern would have to wait until 1972 to secure the Democratic nomination.

The echoes of 1968 worry Democrats ahead of this year’s convention.

"You have to re-do the right things from the legal point of view. And also from a political point of view. We want everyone to be safe. And I'm holding my breath," said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill. "We have law enforcement at every level, local, state and federal, give me their assurance that they're ready for this. And I pray that they are."

But it’s unclear whether disturbances and civil unrest could supersede the convention narrative.

Former President Bill Clinton raises his hand to the crowd before giving his acceptance speech Thursday night at the 1996 Democratic National Convention at the United Center.  (Harry Hamburg/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)

"As in 1968, a lot of it will depend on how the media covers the protesters," said Nichter. "A lot of it, like ’68, is going to come down to (whether) the cameras glorify the violence and turn the protesters into the stars during the convention."

However, 1968 wasn’t the last time Democrats convened in Chicago.

Democrats nominated former President Clinton for a second term in Chicago in 1996. And that isn’t even what most people remember.

In 1996, a pop cultural phenomenon consumed the convention.

Every night, the bopping, electronic tones of Los del Rio and the Bayside Boys would echo inside Chicago United Center. And within a few moments, tens of thousands of Democrats were gyrating to the unmistakable rhythm of the Macarena. On the floor. On the stage. In the aisles. The Democratic National Committee even published an animation on their official webpage, showing people the moves to do with the song.

The Macarena spent an astonishing three-and-a-half-months at number one on the Billboard chart. It was the number one song in the nation for 1996.

By the time the Macarena began to slip on the pop charts that fall, former President Clinton handily vanquished late Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan., and returned to the White House.

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In 1968, President Richard Nixon defeated Humphrey.

Democrats hope the end result of their 2024 convention is a lot more like 1996 than 1968.

But win or lose, they probably won’t perform the Macarena.