chicago riots 1968 trial

“Even on the first day, Tom Hayden gave a fist salute to the jury and he was given a contempt of court citation,” he says. These police and military forces violently clashed with Vietnam War protesters, resulting in hundreds of injuries and 668 arrests during the four-day convention. The 1968 Chicago riots, in the United States, were sparked in part by the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. “It got a lot of attention, and should have.”. Rioting and looting followed, with people flooding out onto the streets of major cities. Three months before the Chicago Eight trial began, a group of prominent writers and thinkers published a letter to the editors of The New York Review of Booksarguing that the The idea was tabled when both men had other projects in the works, but Sorkin wrote a draft in 2007. After violence erupted at the Chicago DNC, Mayor Daley wanted the government to prosecute some of the demonstrators under the new act. 17th Annual Photo Contest Finalists Announced. Hoffman—played by Cohen with a surprisingly respectable New England accent (Hoffman hailed from Worcester. Seale (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) was head of the Chicago Panthers, which leaned towards more militant methods. Under Attorney General John Mitchell (John Doman), the government aggressively pursued the defendants deploying prosecutors Richard Schultz (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Thomas Foran (J.C. Mackenzie). You will get the essence of these real-life people and the kernel of who they are as human beings, not the historical facts. ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’. But the wheels of justice turned, and in 1972, all charges against the defendants were dropped. Hayden is depicted as a clean-cut anti-war activist who stands up when the judge walks into the courtroom (he reflexively forgets that the defendants all agreed to stay seated) and gets a haircut for his first day in court. The oldest of the Chicago defendants by 20 years, he was a leading antiwar organizer in the 1960s. image of a black man in shackles, rendered by courtroom artists, Amateur Treasure Hunter Finds Trove of 1,000-Year-Old Viking Jewelry, Archaeologists Discover 12th-Century Bathhouse Hidden in Spanish Tapas Bar, The Pitfalls and Promise of America's Founding Myths, The Once-Classified Tale of Juanita Moody: The Women Who Helped Avert a Nuclear War. From left, standing, are: Abbie Hoffman, John Froines, Lee Weiner, Dave Dellinger, Rennie Davis and Tom Hayden. Abbie Hoffman: After spending years underground, Hoffman resurfaced in 1980, lectured at colleges and worked as a comedian and community organizer, He died in 1989 at 52 from a self-inflicted overdose of barbituates due to manic depression. We would get 30 death threats a day while on trial,” recalls Davis, who jokes that he wasn’t as nerdy as he is portrayed in the movie. They cooked up this indictment that made no sense,” he says. For the sake of good storytelling, some timelines are rearranged, relationships are changed and fictional characters are added (a Sorkin-invented female undercover cop lures Jerry Rubin, for example). https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-trial-chicago-7-180976063 According to Gitlin, once Nixon became President in 1969, his Justice Department formed a special unit to orchestrate a series of indictments and trials. “The effect of this ‘anti-riot’ act is to subvert the first Amendment guarantee of free assembly by equating organized political protest with organized violence,” it read. ), This unforgettable scene is recreated in Netflix’ upcoming courtroom drama The Trial of the Chicago 7, which starts streaming on October 16—52 years after the real proceedings unfolded in downtown Chicago. He makes no claims of hewing exactly to the true history, explaining that the movie is meant to be a “painting” rather than a “photograph”— an impressionistic exploration of what really happened. On October 29, about a month after the trial started, the judge became irate and ordered staffers to chain Seale to his chair and gag him so he couldn’t speak anymore. On October 29, 1969, Bobby Seale, a co-founder of the Black Panther Party and one of eight co-defendants standing trial for inciting the riots that erupted at Chicago's 1968 Democratic National Convention, was gagged and chained to his chair for refusing to obey Judge Julius Hoffman’s contempt citations. “Nixon was throwing down a marker in order to intimidate the entire anti-war movement. Judge Hoffman (no relation to Abbie) was so angry that he continuously cited contempt. “[Sorkin] shows that Abbie is willing to sacrifice his life. But a year later, the U.S. government accused him, Davis and six other men of conspiring to incite a riot at the DNC. Courtroom drawing of Bobby Seale bound and gagged during the trial, by Franklin McMahon. Fifty years ago, the trial raised questions about the First Amendment and exposed a culture clash in America. We wanted to give up the illusion of change through the existing electoral system.”. When the judge demanded they remove their robes, they took them off and stomped on them. The author of 17 books, he was also director of the Peace and Justice Resource Center in Los Angeles County. Dellinger wrote From Yale to Jail: The Life Story of a Moral Dissenter. The arrest of the eight defendants during the 1968 protests and the subsequent trial were part of the federal government’s efforts to punish leftists and organizers of the anti-war movement. Protesters outside the courthouse each day chanted the iconic mantra: “The whole world is watching!”. Netflix's 'The Trial of Chicago 7' tells the story of a protest at the 1968 Democratic National Convention that turned into a fight with police and the Nation Guard. Jeanne Dorin McDowell is a Los Angeles-based journalist and editor. There were no cameras allowed in the courtroom, but newspapers printed the shocking sketches of Seale bound and gagged in court. Soon riots began, primarily in black urban areas. The road to the trial began the previous summer, when more than 10,000 antiwar demonstrators flocked to Chicago for five days during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. 'The Trial of the Chicago 7' production designer Shane Valentino breaks down his biggest challenges on the set of Aaron Sorkin's drama. In shaping his portrayal, Cohen says he came to believe that despite his theatrics, Hoffman was a serious activist. Hayden married three times, but his most high-profile union was to actress and fellow activist Jane Fonda for 17 years. Sorkin’s introduction to the Chicago 7 began more than a decade ago when director Steven Spielberg contacted him to talk about a movie on the trial. “We’re seeing the demonization of protest right now, especially in the midst of this political campaign,” says Sorkin. Get the best of Smithsonian magazine by email. The trial of the “Chicago Seven” became a defining event in public debates about the Vietnam War, A leader in America’s civil rights and antiwar movements, he moved into mainstream politics and served in the California State Assembly for a decade and the California State Senate for eight years. In 1973, Seale ran for mayor of Oakland, California, and came in second out of nine candidates. or The Chicago Seven defendants hold a news conference in Chicago, Ill., during their 1969 trial on charges of conspiracy to riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. The True Story Of The Chicago 7 Trial That Shocked 1960s America Learn the history behind the trial of the Chicago 7 and how defendants like Abbie Hoffman and Bobby Seale protested the Vietnam War during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. The seven defendants and their attorneys also received prison sentences for the more than 170 contempt citations levelled at them by Judge Hoffman—which ranged from two-and-a-half months (for Weiner) to four years and 18 days (for Kuntsler). As it turns out, the events from this past summer share many parallels to 1968. That said, the trial of the Chicago 7 reflected the era: the cultural and political clashes of the late ‘60s and a Nixonian view of the world as the first federal trial aimed at intimidating anti-war activists. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Seale hadn’t been involved in organizing the anti-Vietnam War demonstration, which began peacefully before turning into a bloody confrontation with police that resulted in nearly 700 arrests. We put the government on trial.”. The trial took place in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and lasted five months, from September 24, 1969, to February 18, 1970. The trial arising from the “police riot” at the 1968 convention thrust him into the spotlight. “Myself and others in [the antiwar group Students for a Democratic Society] (SDS)] went to Chicago to convince the kids in their teens and early 20s who had been campaigning for McCarthy to give up their illusions about getting change within the system,” says Michael Kazin, a history professor at Georgetown University who is currently writing a history of the Democratic party. The protests turned to bloodshed. From a left-wing point of view, the conflict between the “revolutionaries” and the Chicago establishment was a straightforward story of good vs. evil. California Do Not Sell My Info Outraged at being falsely accused, Seale vociferously interrupted the proceeding, asking to represent himself and denouncing the judge as a “racist pig.” Hoffman, an irascible 74-year-old with blatant disdain for the defendants, ordered Seale restrained. “What becomes clear is that in the end, Abbie is willing to challenge the injustice of the time,” says Cohen. 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The drama and histrionics in the courtroom were reflected in daily headlines. Froines and Weiner were acquitted of all charges. You will get the essence of these real-life people and the kernel of who they are as human beings, not the historical facts.”. None were convicted of conspiracy, and although five of them were convicted of inciting a riot, an appellate court dismissed the charges because it found that the judge had been biased against them. The following year, the new Government of Richard Nixon – thanks to a hardline attorney general and a new administration keen to demonstrate its ‘law and order’ credentials – rounded up a smorgasbord of protestors and charged them with crossing state lines to incite a riot. At one point, Judge Hoffman even prevented former attorney general Ramsey Clark from testifying in front of the jury in favor of the defense, arguing that Clark had nothing useful to say. How could this happen? Hoffman and Rubin pretty much spent the next four-and-a-half months at the defendants table turning the trial into political theater. Here, we explore the true story that inspired Aaron Sorkin's 'The Trial of the Chicago 7,' which happened after the protests and riots at the 1968 … T he 1968–1970 trial of the Chicago Seven seemed from the outset a made-for-TV farce, and the hippies who followed the trial closely quickly saw its theatrical promise. To its credit, the movie includes, if only suggests, some of these undercurrents. A subsequent investigation and report concluded that the 1968 demonstration’s bloody turn was instigated by the police. This has to be appealed.’”. Vote Now! Former Black Panther chairman Bobby Seale speaking with press during the Chicago Eight trial. [71] The 2010 documentary Phil Ochs: There but for Fortune features interviews with a variety of Ochs' associates, including Tom Hayden, Jerry Rubin, and Abbie Hoffman. Married, he lives in Boerthoud, Colorado and also does personal growth coaching. The country was in turmoil, reeling from the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Senator Robert Kennedy and the worsening Vietnam War. Underneath, they were wearing Chicago police uniforms. Courtroom drawings of poet Allen Ginsberg and musician Country Joe McDonald at the Chicago Eight trial. In the fall of 1967, members of the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (often referred to as "MOBE"), which was directed by David Dellinger, proposed a massive anti-war demonstration to coincide with the 1968 Democratic National Convention.In early 1968, the National Mobilization Committee opened a Chicago office directed by Rennie Davis and Tom … The image of a black man in shackles, rendered by courtroom artists because cameras weren’t allowed in the courtroom, was circulated by media around the world. . Lee Weiner: Now 81, Weiner recently wrote Conspiracy to Riot: The Life and Times of One of the Chicago 7, a memoir about the1968 Democratic National Convention. The Trial of the Chicago 7: Plodding and pedantic reading of the 1968 riots Review: The film fails to engage with the radicalism of Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin. All Rights Reserved. The judge was not only politically hostile towards the defendants but, historians say, tone-deaf to what was happening in the country and seemingly unaware of the symbolism of chaining Seale to a chair in his courtroom. Continue Seale in turn rejected the court-appointed lawyer and asserted his right to defend himself. “It was very intense, yet no one ever forgot that we were there for one reason only: our opposition to the war in Vietnam. On February 18, 1970, the seven defendants were acquitted of conspiracy charges but fined $5,000 each. At the time, a lot of prominent writers and performers were involved with the anti-war movement, and the witness list reflected this. “Potentially, this law is the foundation for a police state in America.”. Charges against Seale were also dropped. He resides in Connecticut. Among other reasons, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit cited Judge Hoffman’s “antagonistic” courtroom demeanor. The “ police riot ” at the time, a lot of,. Between Hayden and Hoffman a fist salute to the rules of drama and,! Taught at Occidental College and Harvard 's Institute of politics demonstration ’ s bloody turn was instigated the! Riots began, primarily in black urban areas by the assassination of Martin Luther King.... Of whom had been in Chicago that weekend, having travelled there to fill in as speaker. Los Angeles-based journalist and editor defense and encouraged readers to make donations, had... 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