Chicago ’68 recalls a Democratic convention and a political moment like no other

For some Americans, just saying “Chicago 68” is enough to bring it all back. Add the words, “Democratic National Convention” and millions more can visualize brawling delegates, billowing clouds of tear gas and police batons flailing at long-haired protestors.

The chant went up from witnesses of the street battle at the time: “The whole world is watching! The whole world is watching!”

Much of it was. And the memory has been a kind of curse on the Democratic Party and on the Windy City itself. Prior to 1968, Chicago had easily hosted the most presidential nominating conventions of any city. There had been nine Democratic conventions in the centrally located and convention-friendly city and -- 14 Republican ones.

But neither party returned after that until 1996, when the Democrats ventured back using a convention facility far from the downtown scenes reminiscent of 1968. This month’s return will be their first since then; and the Republicans have not been back at all.

National political conventions are by nature difficult-to-manage events. Even when the presidential nomination is not in question like it was in 1968, there can be conflicts and controversies that thousands of news people are standing by to amplify. But there has not been a convention to compare to Chicago ‘68.

In the months leading up to DNC 2024, Chicago ‘68 has been repeatedly conjured as the epitome of disaster like the sinking of the Titanic, or the stock market crash of ‘29. Organizers of various protests planned for this year have invoked the memory in promoting their own current plans. But if some saw dark clouds gathering over the Windy City again this August, the forecast may have brightened in recent weeks. Attempts will surely be made to protest