Trego's Mountain Ear

I was only 18 when the Convulsion happened.  The Dems were in charge of every branch of government, yet Lyndon Johnson decided against running for reelection.  So the Dems went into their convention much like today – with an incumbent President who couldn’t win . . . and he was facing Richard Nixon.

President Johnson was facing chants of “Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today” whenever he stepped outside . . . that may be an exaggeration.  I’m sure he wouldn’t have heard that at the military academies.  Anywhere else, though, the old bastard was fair game.  He had ran for reelection in 64 stressing that his opponent, Barry Goldwater, was a warmonger who would start a nuclear war.  By 1968, public opinion was that he was personally responsible for all the problems connected with Viet Nam. 

I got this far in writing when Donald Trump was shot.  Thinking about 1968 – it was June 6 when Bobby Kennedy was shot that year.  I had just come home from my Freshman year at MSU.  Martin Luther King was assassinated that April.  I thought the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention had similarities with what we’ll be seeing in 2024 . .  . but as I write, I realize that Sam and Jed, at age 30, aren’t so familiar with political violence as I was at 18.

As a nation, we made it through until 1865 before a Democrat actor brought presidential assassination into our political process.  Then President Garfield, President McKinley, and Teddy Roosevelt was shot while campaigning – but finished his speech before going to the hospital.  I was in Freshman English when Mr. Lehman came back into the classroom with the announcement that President Kennedy had been shot. 

So I have a nodding acquaintance with political violence.  The 1968 Chicago Convulsion wasn’t just something on the news – a college friend returned for Fall quarter with stories about being a 19-year-old delegate and being tear-gassed by Chicago’s finest.  To be fair, there were a lot of young protesters.  On the other hand, a kid from Townsend in his first suit really didn’t look like a hippy protester.

None of our candidates for President were popular – I recall the comment: “Nixon, Humphrey, Wallace – Three Strikes and You’re Out.”  Damn.  I forgot the shooting of George Wallace.  It was in the 1972 campaign when he was shot five times and paralyzed from the waist down.  Didn’t particularly like George Wallace – but assassination isn’t the answer to political differences.   Ronald Reagan – shot with a 22 by a nut who was trying to make points with an actress.  That was 1981.  

Heavens – I forgot Gerald Ford.  Our unelected President had two assassination attempts – Squeaky Fromme and Sarah Jane Moore – during the two years and a smidgeon he served as President.  As I think back, President Andy Jackson was probably the first to encounter an assassination attempt – it failed when both of the would-be assassin’s pistols failed to fire.  Rainy day and flintlocks. 

Few will remember the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention.  I liked the Sixties – probably all of us enjoyed the time when we went from high school to young adult – but I really didn’t remember how contentious the times were between my high school freshman year and the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan.