1860 to 2024 via 1968: Why Chicago has hosted most US Presidential conventions

The Democratic National Convention (DNC) kicked off on August 19 in Chicago, a month after US President Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 US Presidential Election race. The four-day event will see the coronation of Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for the November polls, where she will go head-to-head against former US President Donald Trump.

Apart from grand speeches by former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, this year’s DNC is notable because Chicago will be hosting it. Fondly called the “Windy City,” Chicago has hosted the most number of conventions in the United States, this being the 26th. Interestingly, the first-ever US political convention was also held in Chicago in 1860.

While hosting several Republican and Democratic Conventions, Chicago witnessed the most chaotic and turbulent DNC as well. Many easily get reminded of the doomed DNC convention of 1968 with the phrase “Chicago 68”. The convention is still engraved in people’s minds because of the mayhem that happened inside and outside the DNC headquarters.

In an exclusive conversation with Firstpost, Professor from DePaul University and author Craig Sautter explained what happened during the 1968 Democratic Convention. Prof. Sautter has written several books elucidating the history of political conventions. What makes him one of the best people to speak on the subject matter is the fact that he was there when the protests took over Chicago and left the city scarred for decades.

Chicago: The Convention City

Hosting a convention for either the Republican or Democratic parties can be a matter of pride and joy for any city, however, it takes a lot of work. “Different states lobby the national committee, either the Republican or Democratic committee. Usually, there are three or four cities that want to hold the convention and each committee puts on their case why they should hold the event,” Sautter told Firstpost. He mentioned that often a convention is held in a state where a party wants to win in November.

“For example, this year the Republicans held their convention in Wisconsin because that’s going to be a very close state. But Chicago has had twice as many conventions as any other city,” he added. Referring to Chicago as the “convention city” Sautter explained what makes the city stand out.

“We’re really the convention city and part of that is because we’re right in the middle of the United States. So, people from the East Coast or the West Coast can get to our city easily,” he said.

Sautter also emphasised that holding the convention in Chicago this year also reflects the kind of approach the Democratic Party will be taking in the race for the White House. “Well, Chicago, Illinois is a progressive place and the Democratic Party has a progressive platform. Kamala Harris is a progressive candidate on issues such as abortion, housing and immigration. Illinois and Chicago really fit everything that the Democratic Party is trying to project to the country,” he said.

1968 DNC: The doomed convention

Over the years, Chicago has hosted 14 Republican and 11 Democratic elections However, after the 1968 convention, neither of the two parties came back to Chicago, until 1996, when Democrats conducted the DNC that chose former president Bill Clinton as their nominee. Sautter noted that during the 60s, Chicago witnessed all sorts of turbulence.

• Temperament of Chicago before the convention

Sautter recalled that two big issues that dominated American politics at that time and became the cause of tensions in Chicago were the civil rights movement against the segregation that was still in practice in the southern states and public resentment over the ongoing Vietnam War.

Sauter explained that while the Democratic Party dealt with the former by introducing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Civil Rights Act of 1965, the latter has left the party divided. “Since about 1966, some members of the Democratic Party were very upset that we were bombing North Vietnam, that large numbers of Vietnamese were being killed and by 1968, 25,000 American soldiers had been killed and tens of thousands others had been injured,” he said.

The police at that time called the anti-war protesters communists, traitors, hippies, and things like that. So, there was a natural confrontation,” he recalled.

He also mentioned that there was growing public discontent over the assassination of renowned American activist Martin Luther King Jr. in April 1968, four months before the DNC. “100 cities in the United States were set on fire, including Chicago, where two square miles almost burnt to the ground,” he added. Sautter emphasised that the assassination of Former US Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy also added fuel to the fire.

The author of the book titled “Inside the Wigwam: Chicago Presidential Conventions 1860-1996,” noted that RFK was a leading anti-war candidate and would have gotten the nomination. However, his assassination and the party’s push for Johnson’s Vice President Hubert Humphery did not sit well with the anti-war faction within the party.

Sautter stated that while Humphery was strong on civil rights his decision to keep backing Jhonson on the war and the fact that he hadn’t run in any primaries, made many people question his nomination.

• Then why Chicago

Amid all the chaos that was happening within the Democratic party and in the US, Chicago’s then-Mayor Richard J. Daley came up with his share of draconian laws to curtail the protests. Two of them were “Shoot to kill arsonist” and “Shoot to maim looters”. “During the Martin Luther King riots, there were lots of arsons going on. So, Mayor Daley said an arsonist is equivalent to a murderer because there’s people living in these buildings. So, he issued a shoot-to-kill order,” Sautter averred.

When asked why was the city still chosen to conduct the convention, Sautter had a simple answer to the question: Daley was in good books among the top brass of Democrats. “Well, the city was chosen because of Mayor Daley, who was a big backer of the party and was a person who is credited with Jack Kennedy (former president John F Kennedy) winning the election. He was a favourite of the presidents, and he was a big backer of LBJ,” he told Firstpost.

• The Convention: Mayhem that was happening inside

During the insightful conversation, Sautter emphasised that the demonstrators on the streets represented the divisions in the convention hall. The DNC was holding its events at the Stockyards International Amphitheater.

“About two-thirds of those delegates backed President Johnson but about one-third were in favour of ending the war immediately. There were fights inside the hall. The hall was actually too small for all the delegates, so nobody could really move around without some kind of tension,” he explained. Sautter also emphasised that the diverse composition of the parties in 68, also reflected the diverse opinions of that time.

“The delegates in the past were picked by the bosses of the parties in each city or each state. But because of the big turmoil in 1968, both presidential parties changed their rules so that 50 per cent of the delegates had to be women, 50 per cent had to be men, and they had to have a racial composition reflecting the state that they were from,” he said.

When asked if things would have been different if Republicans were hosting their convention in the city than Democrats. Sautter emphasised that nothing would have stopped the eventual volcanic eruption. “Well, the Republicans held their convention in Miami Beach, and there was actually a riot after that among African Americans,” he added.

• The May Day: Riots that ensued outside

Sautter was a 21-year-old Philosophy student from Indiana University, who drove to Chicago for the 1968 Democratic National Convention. During the interview with Firstpost, he recalled what he witnessed on the streets of Chicago. He mentioned that during the run-up to the convention, “the demonstrators were really upset since they’d been involved in primaries and anti-war people had won all these primaries.”

“Well, I think there were a lot of young people there, and their idealism was sort of crushed. We’re under the illusion that if the police were going to arrest you, they would just take you and put you in a police wagon. Instead, they charged with billy clubs and tear gas, and it was just a horrible situation,” Sautter recalled.

“Police were all around the anti-war demonstrators in Michigan Avenue. There were helicopters in the air, there were firecrackers going off. Eventually, an order was given to clear the streets, and the demonstrators sat down in the streets, and the police fired tear gas. At that point, there were fights, and it was a mess.”

“People were greatly disillusioned. When I went back to campus, there were three or four times as many anti-war protesters as there had been in the spring, because everybody watched this on TV, 30 million Americans and people around the world were watching it,” he added.

He recalled that part of the reason why the clashes erupted was because Mayor Daley did not issue proper permits to demonstrators. “Mayor Daley said there would be law and order in the streets of Chicago, and he issued no permits for demonstrations, for example, in the parks and things like that. So, there was really nowhere else to go except the streets. The difference this year is that permits are being given, and there are marching corridors for the protester,” Sautter explained.

• The Trial of Chicago Seven

One of the major events that followed the turbulent DNC was the “Trial of Chicago Seven”. The Chicago Seven, originally the Chicago Eight were seven defendants – Rennie Davis, David Dellinger, John Froines, Tom Hayden, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, and Lee Weiner – charged by the United States Department of Justice with conspiracy, crossing state lines with intent to incite a riot during the 1968 DNC. The Chicago Eight eventually became the Chicago Seven after the case against codefendant Bobby Seale was declared a mistrial.

Recalling the trial, Stautter noted that “some of the leaders were arrested on conspiracy charges of crossing state lines to incite riots, which was really not the case, because both the anti-war and the civil rights movements were totally democratic, and they were totally decentralized. So, we didn’t need leaders to tell us what to do.”

The long-term impact of Chicago 68: 1996, the year of redemption

When asked if there was any sort of long-term impact of the convention, Sautter said the rules were completely changed after Chicago 68. “As I said, the rules were totally changed after that. So, instead of the convention picking the candidate, the people in the primaries in each one of the states leading up to the convention get to vote, and whoever they pick, the delegates are bound to vote for who the people actually voted for. So, it’s much more democratic now,” he said.

However, Sautter highlighted that exceptions were made his year. “This year is an exception because President Biden stepped down and all the primaries were already over. So, his VP stepped forward and people seemed to rally behind her, mostly because they wanted to defeat former President Trump,” he added.

While elucidating how the 1996 Democratic National Convention became the “era of redemption” Sautter noted that the convention went smoothly. Interestingly It was Richard J Daley’s eldest son Richard M. Daley who was the Mayor of Chicago when the Democrats came back to the city after 28 long years.

“Well, the convention went very smoothly and it was like a big party. There was a dance craze that year called the ‘Macarena’. There were very few protests. It was a renominating convention. So, there was no turmoil at all. It sort of knocked 1968 off the front page,” he recalled.

Chicago of Today: How DNC 2024 will not be a Chicago 68 2.0

If one looks at the circumstances under which the DNC happened in 2024 and 1968 closely, one can find a lot of odd similarities. Both the DNCs took place in Chicago, both the sitting presidents at the time dropped their re-election bids and pushed their VPs for the ticket and both second-in-commands were not tested in primaries. The political climate of 2024 is also tense with growing discontent among Americans over the United State’s support of Israel and the ongoing Gaza crisis.

Earlier this year, we saw many pro-Palestinian supporters using tactics used by anti-Vietnam war protesters while raising their voices; one of the notable examples was the Hamilton Hall sit-ins. However, Sautter said that chaos like 1968 won’t happen this year. “I think for one thing the police are very different from 1968. In 1968, a lot of the members of the police had been in Vietnam or they had served in Korea. So, they were very pro-US Army,” he exclaimed.

“Now, it’s much more different, much more professionalised. There will be protests here among the pro-Palestinians and there may be very big protests, even bigger. But I think that there won’t be the clashes. The police superintendent Snelling said that unless there’s violence committed by the protesters themselves, the police will not get involved,” he added.

During the conversation with Sautter, he also explained what holding a DNC would mean for the newly elected Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. “Well, I think that there’s great enthusiasm for Kamala Harris as the candidate. So, if she does very well, that means that other people down the ballot, as we call them, governors, people running for the United States Senate or the United States House of Representatives will do well, depending on the state. Pritzker has a good record. He’s been a good governor for Illinois, and particularly from the Democratic point of view,” he said.

“He’s on top of the issues that Democrats care about. So, I think that he’s probably a little disappointed that Kamala Harris ended up instead of Joe Biden. Joe Biden might have been defeated, and then Pritzker would have been in line in four years. Now, he might have to wait eight years, and he may be out of this picture by then,” he added.

Wigwam: Other notable conventions that happened in Chicago in the past

While the 2024 DNC is happening at the famous United Center, things were different in the past. In his book, “Inside the Wigwam: Chicago Presidential Conventions 1860-1996,” Sautter mentioned how temporary structures were built to hold the event.

“The building that former President Abraham Lincoln was nominated in, in 1860, actually only had three sides and was built up against a brick building next door. So, it was a temporary building that they tore down after the convention,” he said.

He emphasised that over the years the infrastructure to hold the election has grown but he also pointed out that “in the old days, you could come right up to the convention centre and hear the speakers. There was no security thing. Now, we have, fences all around the United Center to keep people far, with helicopters overhead.”

When asked what some of the other notable conventions Chicago hosted, Sautter pointed out that the city conducted the convention where Franklin D. Roosevelt gave the New Deal speech and Dwight D. Eisenhower was also nominated here. However, one of the Chicago conventions he fondly spoke about was the 1896 convention.

“One great one in 1896, that was called the Cross of Gold Convention, where the US was suffering from the Great Depression, and people wanted silver to be, like, minted instead of gold. William Jennings Bryan, the candidate, got up and said ‘You shall not press down upon the brow of labour this crown of thorns; you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold’,” he said.

Another odd similarity that came out during the discussion was the fact that both Humphry and Harris called themselves “candidates of Joy”. “Humphrey’s first slogan was, I’m the candidate of joy, just like Kamala. But because the war was going on and the cities were burning, he had to drop that one,” he recalled. When asked who he thinks will win the November polls, Sautter closed off the interview with a smile, saying “Expect the unexpected”.