1968 Revolution Rewind
 

For the Press: July 26, 2008 Media Advisory

Democratic National Convention, August 1968, Chicago

Rare Restored Audio Available from the Pacifica Radio Archives: War, Growing Poverty, Struggle for Civil Rights – The Inside Story and the Story of the Streets

“Out on the streets, Pacifica reporters were in their element, covering the quickly changing action, the fiery speeches and the violence. Throughout the 1960s, in Pacifica Radio, one name seemed always be connected to the biggest events of that decade: Pacifica, produced an award-winning documentary called A Night in Chicago about the events outside the convention that summer in 1968. This recording is universally acknowledged as one of the most quintessential Pacifica programs in the Archives' collection.”

— AMY GOODMAN, award-winning journalist, host and executive producer, Democracy Now!

In August of 1968, there were two stories unfolding in Chicago. Inside the Democratic National Convention (DNC), a struggle was being waged for the “heart and soul” of America. Outside in the streets, protestors fueled by frustration with the Viet Nam War and the struggle for Civil Rights, who were still grieving from the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy, gathered together to insist that a change had to come. The Chicago police responded with tear gas and gunfire, heard in these historic recordings. Pacifica reporters were there in the streets; themselves running from the violence as they recorded these explosive turn of events in the election climate of 40 years ago. Recordings include sound from inside the DNC, Bobby Seale (Black Panther Party co-founder), comedian Dick Gregory at President Lyndon Johnson’s “un-birthday” party; and reports on the police brutality from poet Allen Ginsberg and radio personality-author-oral historian Studs Terkel.

These are the sounds of history not heard on mainstream media of 1968, but have been restored and are available for all now bringing sounds of this era alive today. This audio will assist in your storytelling of the 1968 DNC.

"Thanks to the Pacifica Radio Archives, this generation can listen to the sounds of Chicago 1968, the speeches, the sirens, the police clubbing, that carry an eerie resemblance across the decades to this time, to this illegal and unjustified war, and to these places, St. Paul and Denver, where peace and justice advocates will be out in the streets keeping the Bill of Rights alive. Pacifica was there for us then, and Pacifica is there for us now. You can’t say the same for the mainstream media."

—TOM HAYDEN, author and activist, member of the Chicago 8.

Just published by City Lights Books:

  • Writings For a Democratic Society: The Tom Hayden Reader
  • Voices of the Chicago Eight: A Generation on Trial

Voices of the Chicago Eight features dramatically edited transcripts from the explosive 1969 conspiracy trial paired with historic contextual writings to provide the essential Chicago conspiracy handbook. Writings For A Democratic Society collects the best of Tom Hayden's writings from the turbulent 1960s to the Iraq war. Read more about both books at: http://www.citylights.com.

Tom Hayden is available for interviews. Contact Stacey Lewis (stacey@citylights.com, 415-362-1901).

Excerpts from 1968 Convention

  • Pacifica Reporter: “There are two Democratic Party Conventions in Chicago in August of 1968. One is inside the International Amphitheater, with banners and placards and gavels and speeches. The other is in the streets and parks of Mayor Richard Daley's city with tear gas and rocks and mace and clubs and, most of all, with blood. And the cloud marked Vietnam hangs over both, tangling them together.”
  • Inside the ‘68 Convention, Senator Wayne Morse: “The issue is whether or not the Democratic Convention is going to vote today to continue to kill American boys in South Vietnam. We can't possibly justify this killing of our boys. We gotta have a change in policy and I hope the Democratic Party will take advantage of the opportunity to unite the party. And they'll never unite this party unless they change the policy in Vietnam.”
  • Outside the convention, a Pacifica reporter is caught between police and demonstrators: "There's now a line of police in helmets.There's a few brave photographers and others in the middle. I am now in line between the demonstrators on one side. I'm going to get out the way as a few demonstrators are throwing rocks, etcetera. I had to quickly retreat as someone began to throw a few cans. I want to get close enough so that they can see that this is Pacifica Radio here and not police radio. You can begin to now feel the gas. They're moving back slowly. I don't know where we are in the park, there are no street signs.The kids are now moving back into the street. And for the first time, this reporter can't feel whatsoever it is — that's... They're firing and pushing and shoving. I'm trying to get far enough back so I can see what's happening but it's almost impossible to be able to give you a report as my eyes again. I'm going to have to... [starts coughing hard]."

Featured Clips

  • Allen Ginsberg telling Pacifica Reporter about police brutality. Listen >>
  • Black Panther Bobby Seale in Lincoln Park Protest (:47). Listen >>
  • Pacifica Radio reporter Bill Watson reporting while getting tear-gassed during protest. Listen >>
  • Convention Chairman Carl Albert trying to call a disruptive delegation to order.
    Listen >>
  • Senator Wayne Morse (D-OR) Describes the major conflict in the platform on Viet Nam. Listen >>
  • Highlights of the Pacifica Coverage of the 2004 Democratic and Republican National Conventions. Listen >>
  • Pacifica Radio’s 2008 live coverage of the Democratic National Convention, the Republican National Convention and the Green Party Convention can be heard at www.pacifica.org.

Resources for planned demonstrations of 2008 Democratic National Convention

For more information about these, and other recently restored recordings from the Pacifica Radio Archives, check out the 1968 Revolution Rewind Project on your local Pacifica Radio station, or on this site.

Or contact: Brian DeShazor 800.735.0230 ext 263, bdeshazor@pacificaradioarchives.org

Funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

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