Tom Hayden

On August 24, 1968, as the Democrats assembled in Chicago for their presidential convention, more than 50,000 protesters from across the country descended on the city for what was billed by organizers as a week-long "Festival of Life" to protest the war in Vietnam. The event leaders planned to stage nonviolent protests against the war, picket the convention, and hold peace rallies in Grant, Lincoln, and Hyde Parks. The protesters hoped that their presence in Chicago would force the Democrats to take a position against the war which had been escalated under the Democratic administration of Lyndon Johnson.

Permits for the rallies were repeatedly denied by Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley. By the time the convention began, eleven thousand Chicago police were on full alert, ready to face off with tens of thousands of protesters who descended on the city. In addition to...