The Chicago Seven

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The Chicago Seven

It was violent clashes between anti-war protesters and police during the Chicago Democratic Convention of 1968 that created the Chicago Seven's place in political and cultural history. The seven political radicals were indicted for the so-called "Rap Brown" law, which made it illegal to cross state lines and make speeches with the intent to "incite, organize, promote, and encourage" riots, conspiracy, and the like. There were originally eight defendants: David Dellinger, a pacifist and chairman of the National Mobilization against the Vietnam War; Tom Hayden and Rennie Davis, leaders of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS); Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, leaders of the Youth International Party—or "Yippies;" John Froines and Lee Weiner, protest organizers; and Bobby Seale, co-founder of the Black Panther Party. The riots and subsequent trial triggered more massive and violent anti-war demonstrations around the country. The conflict in Chicago, however, was not simply about America's involvement in Vietnam. The conflict was also about the political system, and to those millions who watched the confrontations between police and demonstrators on television, it marked a crisis in the nation's social and cultural order.

The demonstrators, many of whom had been involved with civil rights battles in the South, saw their protests at the convention as an opportunity to draw media attention to their cause. Following the murders of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, many protesters were anxious to become more confrontational and militant with political and police forces. The Yippies, led by Hoffman and Rubin, looked to harness the energy of America's rebellious youth culture, with its rock music and drugs, to bring about social and political change. The Yippies were formed solely for the purpose of confronting those involved with the Democratic Convention. They believed that the mass media and music could lead young people to resist injustices in the political system. Hoffman and Rubin, the most flamboyant and disruptive participants in the court trial—after Seale was removed—did not believe that the "New Left" would be able to bring about change through rational discourse with existing powers. Hence, they led a movement which relied upon guerrilla theater, rock music, drug experiences, and the mass media to broadcast their agenda of social revolution to a generation of alienated young people brought up on television and advertising. Influencing policies or candidates was not the aim behind the radicalism of the Chicago Seven. Rather, they worked to reveal the ugliness of a country full of poverty, racism, violence, and war through a confrontation with the armed State. The fact that their actions took place in America's second largest city, during a nationally televised political convention, only intensified their message of resistance and rejection.

Chicago mayor Richard Daley and his police force characterized the demonstrations as attacks upon their city and the law. They viewed the Chicago Seven and the national media as outside agitators who trampled on their turf. The Walker Report, however, which was later commissioned to investigate the events of the convention week, concluded that the police were responsible for much of the violence during the confrontations. Perhaps the most memorable statement about the events surrounding the rebellion were uttered by Mayor Daley at a press conference during the convention: "The policeman isn't there to create disorder. The policeman is there to preserve disorder."

The trial of the eight defendants began in September of 1969 and lasted for five months. Judge Julius Hoffman inflexibility and obvious bias against the defendants provoked righteous anger, revolutionary posturing, guerrilla theater, and other forms of defiant behavior from the defendants. Bobby Seale's defiant manner of conducting his own defense—his attorney was in California recuperating from surgery—resulted in his spending three days in court bound and gagged. Judge Hoffman then declared his case a mistrial and sentenced him to four years in prison for contempt of court. Hence, the Chicago Eight became the Chicago Seven. William Kunstler and Leonard Weinglass were the defense attorneys. Judge Hoffman and prosecutor Thomas Foran constantly clashed with the defendants who used the court as a setting to continue to express their disdain for the political and judicial system. In February, all of the defendants were acquitted of conspiracy but five were found guilty of crossing state lines to riot. Froines and Weiner were found innocent of teaching and demonstrating the use of incendiary devices. An appeals court overturned the convictions in 1972, citing procedural errors and Judge Hoffman's obvious hostility to the defendants.

—Ken Kempcke