Under the baobab: Remembering the past does not require repeating it
We are buoyed by the effervescence of hope and possibility. For us old geysers, watching the world’s young athletes perform in Paris is like splashing around in a fountain of youth. The Kamala Harris and Tim Waltz ticket has put wind beneath the wings of the Democratic Party. After the Philadelphia rally introduced the Minnesota Governor, millions of dollars were raised, tens of thousands have attended rallies, hundreds of thousands have volunteered to work on their campaign.
The popularity polls have begun to shift. But the road forward is not without its potential stumbling blocks. Those of us old enough to recall remember the last time the country was in similar circumstances.
In 1968 President Lyndon Johnson, the incumbent, decided not to run for reelection. The country, in turmoil, was divided over U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Johnson decided to use his office to fix it. Over a half million American troops were deployed there. North Vietnam and the Viet Cong had recently scored a propaganda victory with the Tet Offensive. Some presidential candidates supported the U.S. military efforts. Others ran on a peace platform. The leading candidate was Senator Robert Kennedy, an anti-war candidate and brother of the slain President John F. Kennedy. In June, RFK won the California primary. Tragically, that very night he was assassinated by Sirhan B. Sirhan, a Palestinian Christian. He objected to RFK’s support for Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War.
Six months before that, Rev. Martin Luther King had been gunned down in Memphis, which resulted in riots and insurrections in many American cities. That spring anti-war and anti-racist student protesters took over Columbia University. Hundreds were arrested, which sparked protests on other campuses. Led by Coretta Scott King, hundreds of protesting poor people camped out in Resurrection City. The DC police evicted them. The year 1968 was a bloody and chaotic time.
Democrats held their National Convention in Chicago, hoping to unify the party and the country. This was not to be. Thousands of anti-war activists, mostly young people, protested outside on the streets. “The whole world watched” as the mayor of Chicago, Richard Daley, used tear gas and billy clubs to suppress the demonstrators in a “police riot.” Even some delegates and members of the media were assaulted. There was conflict inside the hall as well. Candidates, pro-war and anti-war, vied for the nomination. Ultimately the Convention selected Hubert Humphrey, Johnson’s vice president, who had not won any primaries, to be the candidate. After Chicago the Democratic Party imploded.
In November Republican Richard Nixon narrowly defeated Humphrey by a half million votes (0.7%). The American Independent Party candidate, Alabama Gov. George Wallace, ran on a white supremacist platform. He won 14% of the popular vote and five deep South states. The Democrats barely kept control of both houses of Congress. Nixon was reelected. He remained president until he resigned during the Watergate scandal.
Fifty-six years later the country is in a different but similar situation. We have fortunately survived an assassination attempt on a major party candidate. Though no American troops are on the ground, our country’s resources are heavily committed in two wars. People are divided over U.S. involvement in the Israel/Palestinian conflict. A U.S. aircraft carrier group has been deployed to the front.
Thirty neighbors petitioned the Bellefonte Borough Council for a cease-fire resolution. The State College Borough Council has already passed one. Congresswoman Cori Bush, a supporter of a middle east cease-fire and a two-state solution, lost her seat when she was challenged by the AIPAC funded candidate. Demonstrators and dissidents have begun to taunt presidential candidate Harris about the administration’s Israel/Palestinian policies.
We hope there will not be a major disruption by protesters at the DNC in Chicago. To remember the past does not require repeating it.