Generational struggles

In the summer of 1968, I was assigned to the Central Intelligence Agency’s task force on the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. The task force met around the clock in the CIA operations center, which was outfitted with myriad television screens. Most of these screens were showing the Soviet invasion. But several screens were devoted to the violence and mayhem on the streets of Chicago, where Mayor Richard Daley’s police force was pummeling young people holding a protest rally against the Vietnam War. The chaos and the violence, which a federal commission labeled a “police riot,” played a key role in Richard Nixon’s narrow defeat of Hubert Humphrey in the election several months later.

Once again, we are looking toward a Democratic Convention in Chicago in August as well as an election in November that will be close. It could well be decided by the national reaction to the chaos that is taking place on college campuses around the country and that will presumably be followed by demonstrations in Chicago. Does the Biden White House understand this?

In 1968, the Vietnam War was the decisive moral issue of the time. In 2024, Israel’s genocidal warfare in Gaza is the decisive moral issue. The likelihood of an ugly Israeli military campaign in southern Gaza will lead to additional Palestinian deaths and to increased fury at home and abroad.

Hubert Humphrey lost support in 1968 because he was terribly late in speaking out against the immoral war in Vietnam being pursued by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Joe Biden is losing support on a daily basis because he is unwilling to stop underwriting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s immoral military campaign in Gaza.

In 1968, the Prague Spring and the Tet Offensive contributed to violent activism and protest activity in the United States. The assassinations of two key anti-war leaders, Martin Luther King, Jr and Senator Robert F Kennedy in April and June, respectively, meant the absence of two key anti-war protagonists at the Democratic Convention. When the peace plank was defeated at the convention, additional college students and an assortment of activists and progressives rallied against the US role in Vietnam. Prior to the convention, there were walk-outs at high schools around the country, which contributed to the anti-war fervor that was building before the convention.

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley contributed to the tension by orchestrating a news blackout in an attempt to keep the public from learning about the protest activity in the city. The Chicago police beat protestors at will with clubs and fists. At the convention, Senator Abraham Ribicoff blasted Mayor Daley for what he called the “Gestapo” tactics of the Chicago police. Daley called Ribicoff a “kike” from the floor of the convention. These events garnered more attention than the nominations of Humphrey and Senator Edmund Muskie.

Just as the violence and madness in 1968 pushed conservatives and independents to rally on behalf of Richard Nixon, the potential for violence in Chicago in August could hurt Biden’s chances for reelection in November. Nixon won in 1968 by a narrow margin – less than one point – in a nation divided by the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement. He prevailed in most states outside of the Northeast, and won the electoral vote easily. Joe Biden is facing similarly beleaguered international and domestic situations.

Excerpted: ‘The Years 1968 And 2024: Will History Repeat Itself?’. Courtesy: Counterpunch.org