A question for the oldsters.

[Blue_In_AK]

Are you seeing similarities between this campaign season and 1968? The conventions are going to be must-see TV.

[JFKDem62]

1. Yes indeed and it is hitting me in a visceral way.

This will not end well.

[daleanime]

26. I agree.....

[JFKDem62]

28. It was a very scary and sad decade.

Younger Americans may not understand how this kind of thing can play out.

[Greywing]

50. Ditto ... I am relieving my feelings as a 12year old in 1968

just feel sick to my stomach at what I am seeing and feeling such rage at a lying hate mongering disgusting "presidential" candidate. Just that same helpless rage that I felt throughout the Nixon presidency.

[JFKDem62]

54. YES I have the same sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I think it is like a post traumatic reaction, bringing up a lot of old feelings for us.

I am seeing the Chicago Convention and Kent State in my mind.
JFK, Bobbie, all of it.

I resisted the comparison of Trump to Hitler, but I am changing my mind.
And yes, he is like Nixon as well.

[BigDemVoter]

64. I had very similar rage during the Nixon Cluster Fuck

and was equally outraged by GWB being allowed to squat in the WH for 8 years.

People are angry for similar yet different ideas now. . . It's all rigged--everything from the SCOTUS to the US Congress and down.

And people are convinced that the Donald will save them. They even think he has their best interest(s) at heart. . . . Blue collar voters with low hourly wages and no benefits love the Donald and are impressed that he "brought himself up by his boot straps. . ."

Strangely enough, we hear little about the Donald's huge ("yuge&quot inheritance from his pop. He's no more "self-made" than those shitty Little Debbie Snack Cakes.

[flamingdem]

2. No. I was a kid then but that was hard core violence and disruption inside the convention itself

The violence was the head beating outside the convention and I remember people snaking around the convention one group against another pushing shoving yelling.

Much worse than this scuffle. However, this scuffle is intense because of what Trump is getting away with. He is dangerous, worse than any candidate I can remember. Openly racist.

[crazylikafox]

3. LOL. My first thought watching this Chicago Trump riot was Chicago Dem convention 1968.

Of course, we're missing the police with billy clubs...

[leftofcool]

4. Oh yea and it will get worse.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. If my memories are anywhere near accurate, I think 1968 was uglier.

Protesters were beaten up in the streets by Chicago cops and there was trouble in the Convention itself. My memory may be faulty, though.

Hopefully someone with a clearer recollection will come along to give the details.

[Blue_In_AK]

9. I remember watching on TV, and it was awful.

But I'm also thinking of George Wallace's run and how similar in tone Trump is to him. There are just a lot of things that remind me of that year. I was 21.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

14. It's pretty hazy for me.

I was a new wife and mom and my life centered around those realities.

I was 24.

[StandingInLeftField]

6. I was only 9 in 1968

But I remember my father being VERY upset about the Democratic convention. He was a staunch Republican and the turmoil only provided ammunition for him.

[livetohike]

7. My Dad was at the 1968 Democratic convention. I remember my Mom and I watching the news and

worrying about him. I was 16 years old. I think the GOP convention will have the biggest problems with protestors. Trump is dangerous and Cruz is insane.

[leftofcool]

11. + a billion

[CanisCrocinus]

8. you bet

In '68 it was protesters vs police, and not about the candidates so much. And it wasn't Democrat vs Republican, but rather Hawk vs Dove (as we said then) or pro-war vs anti-war. But the vibe is very similar, and the flashbacks are strong. Also, seeing reporters getting singled out and attacked is very '68.

[oldandhappy]

10. I watched 1968 in TV. That was the convention.

Today was a rally and not nearly as awful as '68. But from what I see on CNN -- not a lovely event.

Trump needs to be peaceful and firm about future behavior. So far nothing.

That is all from this oldster! I do not remember the run-up to the 1968 convention.

I remember Robert Kennedy when Martin Luther King was murdered. He spoke in Detroit and ask the crowd to be calm. And there were no riots in Detroit but there were riots in other cities.

What Trump does now does matter. I suspect he does not remember Kennedy and Detroit. And not 1968!! He is not old enough. I do not know if he studied history.

[k8conant]

20. Detroit had already had a riot in 1967 and

I also saw RFK at Mercy College Detroit. I even shook his hand. (Back in 1963 I had met MLK in Detroit and shook his hand). I gave up after that wanting to shake hands with anyone famous that I liked.

[oldandhappy]

21. wow understand!

[ScreamingMeemie]

43. You sound like my uncle.

He was a technician for Wisconsin Bell and set up the phone lines for JFK, RFK and MLK when they were in town and got to meet them. He said he never wanted to do a political setup again.

[HereSince1628]

12. I don't remember -any- candidate saying it was ok to hit protestors at rallies.

Certainly a lot of protestors got into trouble in '68

[PufPuf23]

36. George Wallace stated his own intent to run over long haired protestors with his limo in 1968 nt

[HereSince1628]

38. Ok, I didn't remember that, but I remember Wallace was confronted with protestors

[PufPuf23]

44. I went to a George Wallace rally at the Cow Palace just south of San Francisco in 1968

on a high school field trip.

I was too young to vote but between anti-war rallies and the POTUS cycle spent the most politically active year of my life.

There were more protectors than supporters or at least the protesters were more vocal. Lots of Tact Squad but not much happened that day.

Seig heil! Seig heil!

Wallace relished the antagonism.

I went to Eugene McCarthy and Hubert Humphrey rallies in San Francisco and actually met and had a meal with McCarthy and part of his family in the Clift Hotel.

At the Humphrey rally security caged off long hair and anti-war folks away from Humphrey.

My roommate at a boarding school was the son of Maya Miller, a great Democrat and great feminist from Nevada.

I went with Eric and his Mom to a demonstration for the Presidio 33 (?) at the Marina Green and Arlo Guthrie played Alice's Restaurant.

I went to 6 or so large street anti-war protests in Berkeley or San Francisco including Moratorium Day.

[MuseRider]

13. I remember it

and I remember how upset it made me. I was almost 15 and paying as much attention as a kid with parents who did not watch the news could pay. It certainly cemented a belief that our government is important enough to pay attention to. While I was understanding only a little of it I was certainly moved.

The media who are talking about how terrible this is should be apologizing to this country for being a huge part of this happening.

[marions ghost]

22. Yes the corporate media has produced this

--at least back then there was journalistic integrity. The media worked to get the truth.

[MuseRider]

29. Very true.

It is so different.

I worry now about the already eroded right to protest. In fact this entire primary season worries me. This should NEVER have come to this. Anyone think the press might decide this is not a good way to go and stop? Me neither.

[Stinky The Clown]

15. The distinctive checkerboard bands on Chicago PD hats jumped off the TV at me.

[k8conant]

16. I keep hoping this isn't as bad as 1968...

when MLK was murdered in April and RFK in June (the night he won the California primary).

I was campaigning for Gene McCarthy (couldn't vote yet at age 19). A group of us from Alma College went down to Goshen, Indiana, to canvass.

Back then there weren't the 50-state primaries and caucuses. McCarthy won the most primaries: 6. The ultimate nominee, Hubert Humphrey, entered the race in April and won 0 primaries. I remember the great resentment by many of us. I was not in Chicago, but Detroit during the Convention maneuvers and clobbering of the protesters.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

17. Not a whole lot (at least yet), except for the contentious atmosphere.

In 1968 the big issue was the Vietnam War. There had been a lot of protests, mostly on campuses, and some had become violent. The Democratic party was even more divided then than it is now - LBJ announced he wouldn't run again; Gene McCarthy became popular with the antiwar movement; Robert Kennedy had more support among African-Americans. In June of 1968 RFK was assassinated, leaving his delegates up for grabs. LBJ's vice-president, Hubert Humphrey, was the "establishment" candidate, supported by the party PTB. Even though he hadn't run in any primary election (things were done much differently then), Humphrey won the nomination at the convention and all hell broke loose. I remember watching the chaos on TV - Chicago cops, directed by Mayor Richard Daley, were beating the crap out of antiwar protestors and tear-gassing them outside the convention. I also remember how security (or cops?) inside the convention roughed up Dan Rather and some other big-name reporters and threw them out of the convention. Daley's cops were really out of control.

I don't think we will see something like that again, at least I hope not.

[Blue_In_AK]

23. I hope not, too.

I also watched on TV and was horrified and disgusted, in fact decided not to vote that year even though it was the first year I was eligible.

I know there aren't exact parallels, but there seems to be more unrest this year than I can remember in decades.

[pangaia]

35. And Grant Park.

[malthaussen]

18. It is only March.

Who can believe things will cool off?

No, right now, it is not as bad. But it is trending in that direction, and there is nothing and no one to stop it.

-- Mal

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. I am not an oldster

just a student of history. YES

The two conventions will be must watch TV

[Holly_Hobby]

24. Not even close -

No injuries tonight, no arrests. No busted heads.

[Blue_In_AK]

25. True, but

it's still early.

[Holly_Hobby]

27. Agreed, let's hope for a peaceful ending n/t

[unc70]

30. Nothing like 1968. Far from it

1968 was one awful thing after another. So far tonight, this would be little more than an average day/night. It was intense, it went on for several more years, and most of the violence was away from cameras and reporters.

[Wounded Bear]

31. One big difference...

'68 the major stuff we remember was at the Dem convention in Chicago, which ended up being brokered. There were a lot of delegates that got really pissed when they came up with the candidate.

The thing is, it's the type of thing that could happen at the Repub convention this summer, if they have a contested or brokered convention and the favored sons don't get the nod. This is just a rally early in the season.

[Blue_In_AK]

32. Yes, I agree with that.

It just seems like things are getting really, really heated for so early in the process. Their convention is going to be a circus as long as Trump stays in.

[AnotherVoter]

33. Video of LBJ ad against Goldwater... Controversial convention reference.

Perhaps this is worth seeing and seems relevant to this conversation to me. Although this is from 1964, not 1968.

Confessions of a Republican

A lot of speech that describes Trump...

"Now it seems to me we're up a very different kind of a man. This man scares me. Now maybe I'm wrong. A friend of mine says to me just because a man seems a little responsible during a campaign doesn't mean he's going to act irresponsibly. I don't buy that"


"Sometimes I wish I'd been at that convention in San Francisco. I mean, I wish I'd been a delegate. I really do. Because I would have fought, you know? I wouldn't have worried so much about party untiy because if you unite behind a man you don't believe in, it's a lie. I tell you, those people who got control of that convention. Who are they? I mean, when the head of the Ku Klux Klan..when all these weird groups come out in favor of the candidate of my party. Either they're not Republicans or I'm not."

[Blue_In_AK]

39. I was a senior in high school in 1964.

Goldwater scared the crap out of me. These days he almost seems like a moderate in some of his views, especially his disdain for the religious nuts.

[deathrind]

34. My timeline began...

In May of 68. So obviously I do not remember it. But I have read about and it apparently got pretty ugly both inside and outside of the Dem convention in Chicago.

I hope we do not see a repeat at either convention (Dem or Repub)...ever again.

[longship]

37. I like what I see with the Dems, not like 68.

However, the GOP has gone utterly cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. And Trump is 100% Mussolini!

[Blue_In_AK]

40. Yes, Mussolini much more than Hitler, I think.

[Wounded Bear]

42. I've noticed that...

Trump may study Hitler, but his mannerisms and his expressions are quite reminiscent of Mussolini.

[xloadiex]

41. I lived 2 blocks from the International Amphitheater

My dad was CPD. He was stationed on the roof during the convention. I can remember him leaving everyday with his riot gear. I also remember large groups of protesters coming down my street trying to make their way to the amphitheater. I didn't understand too much of what was going on, but I found it all very exciting. I wanted to go out and talk to the "hippies," but my mother was having none of it.

[madinmaryland]

45. No. The 68 campaign season saw the MURDER of two prominent progressives

one a candidate for POTUS and the other trying to end racism. The campaign of 1968 was all about the Viet Nam War and the fact that the country did not want to be there. It reminds me more of the failed policies of the GWB misadmistration and the election of 2008, when the country wanted an end to the endless wars that GWB dragged us into.

I can not in anyway compare the candidates in 68 (LBJ, HHH, RFK RMN, etc) to tRump, Cruz, Rubio, or any of the other nut jobs in the rebupican party.

[Blue_In_AK]

48. I wasn't thinking specifically of the Democrats,

although the convention, of course, comes to mind, but more the divisiveness that was so prevalant and the feeling that violence could erupt at any time. And George Wallace, who reminds me so much of Trump with his rhetoric.

[Octafish]

46. The same old play.

The Money Trumps Peace crowd vs the Hippies.

I thought after Nixon got the ziggy, the peaceniks had won.

Gosh, was I wrong.

[Dont call me Shirley]

47. I was only 8 but remember seeing the violence on the tv news.

[jwirr]

49. Absolutely. Here on DU today there was a video call The

60s The Years that Shaped a Generation. I watched the whole thing and I was amazed at the similarities. One thing is different though - in 68 the police caused the riots - today they were incited by Trump.

And unless the Rs can find a way to get rid of him without him running in a 3rd party this is only the beginning.

[The empressof all]

51. The protests back then did not serve the left well IMO

People were frustrated and hopeless. We didn't have other avenues to speak. I worry that protests like we saw today...will just further solidify the impression that lefties are a bunch of loonie, radicals with a propensity for violence if they don't get their way. We need Independents to vote for Bernie....I don't think this is helpful.

I don't really see what the point is of these kinds of protests....

[flamingdem]

52. Read the Moveon statement, it had to be done and it is our duty

as citizens to protest a racist like Trump.

[Blue_In_AK]

53. But don't you think that people realize

the protests are in response to Trump's provocation?

[The empressof all]

55. No....

There are other avenues that are equally if not more effective now to communicate. Look what Twitter, Facebook, and other social media have already done to get the message out. These kinds of physical confrontations even if they are not violent just frighten people who are already frightened even more. I don't think this will prove helpful in the long run....But time will tell. I do think people are frustrated and feel desperate....but we can win this without resorting to these tactics...Trump is all over the news about this.....where is the Left. Trump ...trumped this...To the Right He comes off having wisdom to prevent further violence....He looks decisive and compassionate. These protests were stupid and ill conceived and will backfire.....

[JohnnyLib2]

56. Some similarities (rising tension and tempers), but also vast differences--

the protests leading up to the convention had to do with ending the war and many protesters were Democrats going against "the establishment," i.e. Humphrey.

I won't be surprised at attempted disruption at both conventions this year, considering the deep divisions in both parties.

[Cleita]

57. Anybody read "The Drifters" by James Michner?

It was about the 1968 Chicago convention and protests and the effects it had on a group of college aged kids involved in it, well the first couple of chapters anyway. Although fiction, Michner had a pretty firm understanding of what, why and how it happened.

Yes, you are right. There are some striking similarities, except that time it was protests against the Democrats and the corruption in Chicago's City Hall culture.

[Blue_In_AK]

59. I'm still trying to finish Michener's "Alaska."

I've been reading it for about seven years now, and I haven't even made it past the Nome gold rush. LOL.

[Cleita]

62. I get you. He really writes encyclopedic tomes.

This book is one of his shorter and less well known ones. I don't even know if it's still in print. It was published around 1971.

[Tess49]

58. As an oldster, I can tell you that this is frightening to me. I remember the sixties well

and I am worried.

[liberal N proud]

60. Yes

But I don't recall this level of hate rhetoric from the candidate.

[Blue_In_AK]

61. Except for Wallace.

It's easy to forget his part in the whole 1968 story.

[liberal N proud]

63. I may have blocked him out

The biggest memory is from the convention.

[LiberalElite]

65. There was a lot of violence in 1968 and

there is violence now but IMO that doesn't mean 2016 = 1968. Let's see how the next few months play out.