The 1968 Democratic National Convention was held August 26–29 at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Earlier that year incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson had announced he would not seek reelection, thus making the purpose of the convention to select a new presidential nominee for the Democratic Party. Vice President Hubert Humphrey and Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine were nominated for president and vice president, respectively.
The event was among the most tense and confrontational political conventions in American history, and became notorious for the televised heavy-handed police tactics of the host, Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago. The most contentious issues were the continuing American military involvement in the Vietnam War, and expanding the right to vote to draft-age soldiers by lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 years old. Dissatisfaction with the convention led to significant changes in the rules governing delegate selection, ushering in the modern primary election system.
The year 1968 was a time of riots, political turbulence, and mass civil unrest. The assassination of Martin Luther King in April of that year, following his opposition to the Vietnam War, further inflamed racial tensions, and protest riots in more than 100 cities followed. The convention also followed the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, a candidate in the primary, on June 5. Currently second in delegates at the time of his death to the pro-war Humphrey, the loss of Kennedy saw his committed delegates go for Humphrey over candidate Eugene McCarthy, who had been third in delegates.
The Humphrey–Muskie ticket failed to win the confidence of Democratic voters, to unite liberals, or to attract anti-war voters. They were later defeated in the presidential election by the "silent majority" Republican ticket of Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew.
Before the convention
The Democratic Party, which controlled the House, the Senate, and the White House in 1968, was divided. Senator Eugene McCarthy entered the campaign in November 1967, challenging incumbent President Lyndon Johnson for the Democratic nomination. Senator Robert F. Kennedy entered the race in March 1968.
Johnson, facing dissent within his party, never entered the 1968 race but won the New Hampshire presidential primary in March 1968 as a write-in candidate; he then announced on March 31 that he would not seek re-election.LBJ Address to Nation, LBJ Presidential Library The Wisconsin primary was scheduled for April 2, and public opinion polls showed Johnson as third in the race, behind McCarthy and Kennedy.Karnow 1983: 559 In his television address announcing his withdrawal from the presidential race, Johnson also announced the United States would stop bombing North Vietnam north of the 19th parallel and was willing to open peace talks.Langguth 2000: 413–414 On April 27 Vice President Hubert Humphrey entered the race but did not compete in any primaries; instead he inherited the delegates previously pledged to Johnson and then collected delegates in caucus states, especially in caucuses controlled by local Democratic bosses.
Vietnam War peace talks had begun in Paris on May 13, 1968, but almost immediately became deadlocked as Xuan Thuy, the head of the North Vietnamese delegation, demanded that the U.S. give a promise to unconditionally stop bombing North Vietnam, a demand rejected by W. Averell Harriman of the American delegation.Langguth 2000: 506 From the start of the bombing under Operation Rolling Thunder in 1965, the North Vietnamese had demanded the U.S. unconditionally halt the bombing as the first step towards peace.Langguth 2000: 413 It soon became apparent that no progress would be possible in Paris until the U.S. promised to unconditionally cease bombing, as the talks floundered on that issue through the spring, summer and fall of 1968.
After Robert Kennedy's assassination on June 5, the Democratic Party's divisions grew. At the moment of Kennedy's death the delegate count stood at Humphrey 561.5, Kennedy 393.5, McCarthy 258.The Killing of Robert F. Kennedy, Dan E. Moldea Kennedy's murder left his delegates uncommitted. Support within the Democratic Party was divided between McCarthy, who ran a decidedly anti-war campaign and was seen as the peace candidate;Farber 1988: 100. Humphrey, who was seen as the candidate representing the more hawkish Johnson point of view;Farber 1988: 93. and Senator George McGovern, who appealed to some of Kennedy's supporters.
When Vice President Humphrey arrived in Chicago, Daley was not at the airport to greet him, instead sending a police bagpipe band to welcome him.Solberg 2003: 357 As Humphrey was driven to the Conrad Hilton hotel, he noticed that no one in the streets cheered him, in marked contrast to the arrival of McCarthy, who had been greeted by 5,000 cheering supporters.
Convention
The convention was among the most tense and confrontational political conventions ever in American history, marked by fierce debate and protest over the Vietnam peace talks and controversy over the heavy-handed police tactics of the convention's host, Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago. The keynote speaker was Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii.
Before the start of the convention on August 26, several states had competing slates of delegates attempting to be seated at the convention. Some of these delegate credential fights went to the floor of the convention on August 26, where votes were held to determine which slates of delegates representing Texas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and North Carolina would be seated at the convention. The more racially integrated challenging slate from Texas was defeated.
The Conrad Hilton Hotel served as the headquarters hotel for the convention.
Vietnam war plank and Johnson's influence Within the convention, tensions arose between pro-war and anti-war Democrats. One of the principal issues at the peace talks in Paris was the North Vietnamese demand that the U.S. unconditionally cease bombing North Vietnam before discussing any other matters. The more dovish Democrats favored the North Vietnamese demand while more hawkish Democrats demanded the North Vietnamese promise to close the Ho Chi Minh Trail as the price of a bombing pause, a demand the North Vietnamese rejected.Langguth 2000: 514 Vice President Humphrey, confronted with a divided party, attempted to craft a party platform that would appeal to both factions, calling for a bombing pause that "took into account, most importantly, the risk to American troops as well as the response from Hanoi."Langguth 2000: 514–515 Humphrey's platform tacitly implied that he would order a complete bombing pause if elected.Karnow 1983: 580 Anticipating the "Vietnamization" strategy later carried out by Richard Nixon, Humphrey's platform called for the "de-Americanization" of the war as the U.S. gradually pulled American troops out from South Vietnam and shifted the burden of fighting back to the South Vietnamese.Karnow 1983: 580–581
Johnson, despite spending the week at his Texas ranch, maintained tight control over the proceedings, going so far as to have the Federal Bureau of Investigation illegally tap Humphrey's telephones to find out his plans.Langguth 2000: 515 Humphrey previewed his platform to two of Johnson's more hawkish advisers, Secretary of State Dean Rusk and National Security Advisor Walt Whitman Rostow. Rostow very reluctantly gave his approval while Rusk told Humphrey, "We can live with this, Hubert." Johnson angrily rejected Humphrey's compromise peace plank as a personal affront, telling Humphrey in a telephone call to change it at once. When Humphrey protested that "Dean Rusk approved it," Johnson shouted over the phone: "That's not the way I hear it. Well, this just undercuts our whole policy, and by God, the Democratic Party ought not to be doing that to me, and you ought not to be doing it. You've been a part of the policy." To put further pressure on Humphrey, Johnson called up General Creighton Abrams, the commander of the U.S. forces in Vietnam, to ask if a complete bombing pause would endanger the lives of American soldiers; Abrams, unaware of the intra-Democratic dispute, wrote back that it would. Johnson gave a copy to Hale Boggs, chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), who in turn showed it to various leading delegates to show how reckless and "unpatriotic" Humphrey was in contemplating a bombing pause. Faced with Johnson's fury, Humphrey gave in and accepted a plank more to Johnson's liking. Johnson always felt contempt for Humphrey and liked to bully him, telling Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford that he would respect Humphrey more if only he "showed he had some balls".Langguth 2000: 521 Though some of Humphrey's advisors counseled him to defy the lame-duck president, Humphrey resignedly stated: "Well, it would not look like an act based on principle or conviction; it would seem like a gimmick. It would seem strange. And it would enrage the president."Solberg 2003: 362
The platform that Humphrey had written on Johnson's dictation was intended to be introduced onto the floor of the convention at the end of Day 2 — well after midnight — before Donald Peterson, the manager of Senator McCarthy's campaign in Wisconsin and the head of the Wisconsin delegation, motioned to adjourn the convention and platform fight until the next day. A supporter of the minority plank, he stated his desire for the viewing public to see the debate and for the plank to be debated with full energy. Convention chairman Carl Albert claimed the motion to adjourn was not a recognized motion and declared Peterson out of order. The exhausted delegates on the floor rallied behind the adjournment motion and began chanting "let's go home!", leading to Mayor Daley taking to a microphone and calling for the removal of people in the rafters whom he mistakenly believed to be responsible for the uproar. When this failed to quell the enthusiasm, Daley took to the mic again, now to second the adjournment motion; Daley was not declared out of order, and the mayor's motion was recognized by chairman Albert.
When the plank was finally introduced, it prompted a passionate three-hour long floor debate as anti-war Democrats obstinately objected.Karnow 1983: 581 The platform was passed with 1,567 delegates (60%) voting for the platform and 1,041 (40%) voting against. When the platform was passed, the delegation from New York put on black armbands and began to sing "We Shall Overcome" in protest. Humphrey later stated that his biggest mistake of the election was to give in to Johnson, contending that if he stuck to his original platform it would have shown his independence and given him a lead in the polls. Humphrey always believed that if he had given his planned speech (which he instead gave in Salt Lake City on September 30, 1968) calling for an unconditional bombing pause of North Vietnam as "an acceptable risk for peace", that he would have won the election.