Notes

1. (1) During the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, anti-war protesters and police interferences took over the media.  10,000 protesters were being pushed off the street by the police.

2. (4) During the Convention, the Chicago Police Department extended police shifts from the normal 8 hour shifts to 12 and 15 hour shifts.  Even wit the extended police hours and violent clashes, there were no casualties from the fighting.

3. (2) The outbreak around the Conrad Hilton hotel received the most media coverage due to the media being stationed at the hotel.  The police beat up and attacked groups of protesters by the hotel with violent force.

4. (5) The police used excessive force to stop the protest from ruining the Democratic National Convention, and suppress the demonstration.  They were given permission to use violent force if necessary to calm the streets of Chicago.

5. (6) Mayor Richard J. Daley took a lot of pride in holding the convention in Chicago, and did everything in his power to make sure the protests did not disturb the peace.  Protest permits were no longer given to anyone, and picketers were kept off the site of the convention.

6. (3) Chant by protesters against Vietnam war: "Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh! Ho Chi Minh is going to win!" "Hey, hey, LBJ! How many kids did you kill today?"

7. (3) The Convention harmed Chicago's reputation to the point where the Tribune did not post much information on the riots.  Chicago was embarrassed greatly due to the riots.

8. (7) "Only about ten thousand protesters showed up for the convention, with as few as five thousand coming from outside the Chicago area." The violence in the riots were the only story within Chicago.

9. (7) Only one casualty occurred as a result of the riots, but over 700 people were injured from the fighting.  More than 100 of those were hospitalized.

10. (7) Although the majority of people supported the riots, it was still labeled as a "police riot," and Daley had criticized the media for projecting negative bias towards the Chicago Police Department.

11. (8) After the 1968 Democratic National Convention, Chicago was so embarrassed the next convention wasn't until 1996, but some worry persisted through the convention.

12. (9) "The Whole World is Watching" became the chant used by protesters and the phrase was repeated throughout national television.  The riots accumulated much national news coverage.

13. (10) The Yippies who were rioting used threats to help the protests.  They threatened to throw LSD into the water supply, riling up the Chicago Police.


14. (11) "[The] police used arrests as a form of intimidation—as one officer put it, to send the message 'down the food chain' to other protesters of what they could expect if they were to get out of hand."  Police also used death threats against protesters.

15. (11) The police also showed no remorse to the hippies, and injured hippies were not important to some policemen.  The policemen had worked long hours trying to withhold the riots.

16. (11) More than 1,500 protesters were present in Grant park and were verbally assaulting officers.  The officers finally allowed the protesters to stay overnight to protest.

17. (11) The riots had become so out of hand the Chicago Police Department called the National Guard.  Many protesters were worried they may start shooting protesters and starting an all out war with the protest.

18. (18) The riots lasted over a period of five days, and 11,900 Chicago police, 7500 Army troops, 7500 Illinois National Guardsmen, and 1000 Secret Service agents were involved in stopping the riots.  The protesters did not receive a permit to protest, the initial reason for police action.

19. (18) The fear of negative press affected the police force, and 17 reporters were attacked.  The press would give bad publicity to Chicago and the police force.

20. (18) The police had also attacked bystanders, other reporters, and doctors giving medical aid to the protesters.  The violence had been recorded on the news media as a result.


21. (16) Stanley Sopala, a 32-year-old Chicago resident at the time, was walking home from work, and walked through Lincoln Park.  He noticed many different kinds of young people camping out at the park, not just African Americans or Caucasians. Some were friendly and were peacefully protesting, while others appeared belligerent and hostile, smoking marijuana and using foul language.

22. (16) Stanley's opinion is if the crowds had been allowed to peacefully protest and march downtown, the situation would not have gotten out of control.  The violence was a result of lack of planning by the city and the lack of experience of police force to deal with that type of situation.

23. (16) While he didn't actually see the police action in front of him, he watched the footage on the news that night and was shocked at how brutal the riots became compared to the peaceful demonstrators in Lincoln Park.

24. (16) In the end, both sides were to blame in his opinion, as the police overreacted to the protesters and some of the protesters became angry and unruly.  The year had been terrible for Chicago, and it was part of the movement to change the culture by young people.

25. (21) Robert Griffin was a 17-year-old high school student.  His next door neighbor, a south side Chicago policeman, asked him to accompany him to Grant Park to see the events of the riots unfold.  He put on a Chicago Policeman jacket and observed the protests.

26. (21) In his view, the demonstrators were primarily to blame for the riots, despite the media's portrayal as a "police riot".  He witnessed demonstrators throwing plastic bags filled with human feces and balls with nails sticking out at the police.  He felt overall the police showed great restraint in light of the violence directed by the demonstrators.

27. (21) He thought the media showed the events as very one sided; they only showed the police's reaction to the protesters and didn't show the aggressive and threatening behavior of the crowds.

28. (21) He also mentioned that the demonstrators took over the Hilton Hotel, trashed the hotel, and were also throwing the said bags of fecal matter out of the window.

29. (19) "[The hippies and Yippies] had made up their minds during the last three years that civil rights were mandatory and that the war was a disaster. About a thousand activists, hippies, yippies, and some street people were camping in Lincoln Park to prove it."

30. (19) The hippies and Yippies had been held up by the 11:00 PM teen curfew.  The curfew was actually enforced in this case, and the police told the protesters they had to leave, but they remained where they were.  Because of this, teargas was shot and sent the crowd into a frenzy.

31. (19) Negative press was given about the cops, with reports such as "If you were in the streets, and if you moved, you were a yippie."  The hysteria and long hours caused the policemen to react with hostility, and Chicago's reputation worsened as a result.

32. (19) 90 million Americans had watched the news coverage, and the police brutality was actively covered, with the New York Times reporting how all bystanders, including seniors, Women, and children being attacked by the police.

33. (12) The late 1960s was a period of civil and social unrest in the United States.  A small group of young rebels who garnered a lot of media attention wanted to overthrow the American establishment and change American democracy.  These rebels strongly protested America's involvement in the Vietnam War, and viewed it as a loss of control of the political system in the United States.

34. (12) These groups of radicals chose Chicago as the perfect place to protest the war and bring their message to the American public.  Chicago hosted the 1968 Democratic National Convention as it had many times in the past, and these rebels knew there would be a lot of media coverage, and their protests could potentially be broadcast across the country.

35. (12) "To demonstrators, Chicago in 1968 was a symbol, a place from which to make their voices heard. To Mayor Daley, the city was home, where things had to work. When police and protesters clashed in the streets and parks, both sides struggled to use Chicago for their own ends."

36. (20) The police riots damaged Chicago's reputation and disrupted the Convention much more than if the protesters had actually been allowed to march to the convention center.


37. (7) After the riots, most of the media agreed that the protesters had been disrespectful and provoked the police to take action, but still blamed the police for inciting the riots.  The media's negative view of Chicago after the riots was also a result of the police physically assaulting journalists at the scene.  Some saw it as a plot by the Mayor and the police to limit the media coverage of te bloodshed.

38. (18) The broad media attention paid to the bloody events of the convention promted the U.S. government to commission a study, led by Illinois businessman Daniel Walker, to analyze the cause of the riots.  The Walker Commission found that the Chicago police were mostly to blame for inciting the riots.

39. (19) In the immediate aftermath of the riots, people in the U.S. and around the world were shocked and dismayed by the police's violent reaction to the demonstrators.  However, polls taken after the fact showed that most Americans agreed with the police's reaction to the difficult and violent situation at hand.

40. (19) The Walker Commission stated "to read dispassionately the hundreds of statements describing at firsthand the events of Sunday and Monday nights is to become convinced of the presence of what can only be called a police riot."  The opposing American view of who was to blame for the riots brought to light the conflict of the divided American society of the time.