[chambers brothers Time Has Come Today plays] Time Has Come Today all Strike Strike Strike young hearts can go their way the students push forward and the Police Push back. Cant put it off another day thats what the cops did. I dont care what others say dr. Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated in memphis, tennessee. Time has come Today Senator Robert Francis Kennedy was 42 years old. The enemy is no longer closer to victory. Oh, the rules have changed today we demonstrate against the war in vietnam. Have no place to stay the number of men killed last week in vietnam was the highest this summer. They are running an allwhite Political Party in 1968. My tears have come and gone we all need george c. Wallace for our President Of The United States. Hey i have no Home Vote Republican in november. The Peace Groups are demanding permission to march on Convention Hall. These cops here are tough. Theyd kill you with a smile. Time as long as i am mayor of this town, there will be Law And Order in chicago. [applause] time this is The Moment Of Truth for the Democratic Party. Time tuesday night, i spent my evening at senator Kennedys Campaign Headquarters to celebrate his victory in california. Tuesday night, i was in ecstasy with joy. Wednesday morning, sorrow. And this morning, utter despair. Because now im lost. Im desperate. And i dont know where were going from here. By the early summer of 1968, there was this ache in the american spirit, of what the hell is happening to us . Is the country coming apart at the seams . No words can really fully convey the feeling that i have towards the Kennedy Family in this time of their particular tragedy, or the feeling that one must have for the nation in the face of this tragedy, this new tragedy. I really think mccarthy felt a sense of guilt, in some weird psychological way, for this outcome, because he has been a very nasty campaigner. This is one trauma too many. And Mccarthy Sort of gave up after bobby died. Instead of pressing on, he drifted away. Theres one guy that offers an opportunity to at least try to find a way to end the war, and thats gene mccarthy, and thats why im here. Mccarthy didnt want to leap in with a bitter campaign so soon after Senator Kennedy had died. But it felt deserted. Like, just when we need him most. Gone. Senator George Mcgovern of South Dakota is said to be announcing tomorrow he is a candidate for the democratic nomination. George mcgovern ultimately feels that he has to come in and declare for the presidency to give the bobby kennedy people a place to go. Representatives of Senator Mccarthy and of my office have been meeting together to work out language on which our supporters could join forces, in terms of a plank on an end to the war in vietnam. You expected to be here with Robert Kennedy. Yes, i think about it all the time. Someone who i know was sorry that they had not participated in the campaign of Robert Kennedy. And they were gonna do it later on, in the summer. And that person said to me that, one thing ive learned in life since the assassination of Robert Kennedy, is never wait for summer. Thats kind of the way i feel about American Politics today. I think if you really feel about something, that you dont put it off, you have to do something about it now. Bobby Kennedys Death changed the nature of the campaign. With him gone, whoever was going to be the nominee of the Democratic Party had to come to grips with What Kennedy represented. Id like to present to you the Vice President of the united states, hubert h. Humphrey, for a few words. [mixed applause and boos] thank you Hubert Humphrey could have come out against the war. But he didnt want to do that, because he didnt want to jeopardize his own nomination. cause Lyndon Johnson had all the levers of power in the Democratic Party. I am the Vice President of the united states. The Vice President of the united states does not make the policy. He is a puppet, so you cant tell what he will think or do in office because hes not used to thinking for himself. The final say in the Delegate Selection was in the hands of the Party Bosses and Lyndon Johnson. Someone questioned johnson about humphreys loyalty. He said, dont worry about hubert. Ive got his pecker in my pocket. Earlier this year, top u. S. Leaders vowed that the marine outpost at Khe Sahn would be defended at all cost. But today, the u. S. Command in vietnam announced that the marines are pulling out of Khe Sahn. Thats the last bunker on this base. Now that the american troops have blown it up, theres nothing to protect them from enemy artillery. So now its time for the final departure from Khe Sahn. Why did we fight so hard to keep it if we were going to give it up like this . Was the question some asked themselves. Others were relieved, because they privately believed Khe Sahn was of marginal strategic importance anyway. Khe sahn revealed the futility of the war. What was the goal . There was no clear goal, if the End Result is abandonment. Khe sahn symbolizes the frustration of this kind of war. A few must remember their comrades, who are among the 2,500 Khe Sahn casualties. I think Khe Sahn stands as a symbol of the whole war effort. We got in for a supposedly, a strategic reason. It became a point of pride for President Johnson and others from the administration. The small number of marines at that outpost were subjected to just brutal bombardment for five months, and when it turned out that the Enemy Wouldnt fight the way that we wanted them to fight, we ended up packing up and leaving. Nowas perhaps befits this strangest of wars one of the most celebrated battlefields of vietnam has been reduced, once again, to a simple meadow. [marching band music] by the time we get to the republican convention in 1968, Richard Nixon had done very well in the primaries leading up to that. But he did not go in to the Convention Hall in miami beach, having been assured of the nomination. He was sure. [car honks] Nelson Rockefeller decides at the last minute to try to make a serious push to gain the nomination, even though he had vacillated for months. I felt the problems facing this nation, at home and abroad were so serious that i had no right not to make available what experience i had for the use of the party and the country. Rockefeller is probably the most liberal republican of the era. They were moderate republicans who were just a few steps from liberals. Mr. Rockefeller would get 41 of the black democrats and republicans and independents, that is to cross over and vote for him. Mr. Nixons whole record on civil rights has not been good. I want you to know that this marks The End of one journey and, we think, the beginning of another one. [crowd cheering] one of the key things that nixon did was to build a network of support among political leaders that would be respected by southerners. Strom thurmond, for example, of South Carolina. All that we could ask for is somebody who would be just and fair, and treat the south like the other sections of the country. Strom thurmond had been a democrat, but he had left the Democratic Party because of the civil rights act. The race is between mr. Nixon and mr. Rockefeller, and i would prefer mr. Nixon. I think he would be better for the whole country. Convention will come to order. [gavel bangs] 1968 is the last president ial year in which it was possible to run for president without entering any primaries. Ronald reagan showed up in miami beach, gave a press conference, and said, im running for president. Yes, as of this moment, uh in response to that resolution by the california delegation, i am a candidate. Reagan is, in many ways, Everything Nixon is not. Hes smooth, hes handsome, people like him. And people are are confused, theyre like, we believe that hes a true conservative, and weve never really trusted nixon. Okay, so, now what are we gonna do . The Name Of The Game right now is stop nixon. Now if a lot of those southern delegates move away from nixon to ronald reagan, then they feel that nixon can be stopped on that first ballot. The real fear was that Rockefeller And Reagan could hold off enough votes, so that that they could prevent us having a victory on the first ballot. And then it would break wide open. Now, i didnt fear rockefeller, i never did, but reagan. Was something else. Are there any circumstances under which you would accept the Vice Presidency . There is no Circumstance Whatsoever that could alter my decision about that. The pressuring of delegates to come out for nixon or not to do so proceeds with a kind of gladhanded desperation. The key to hanging on, as nixon saw it, was to hang on to southern delegates. Why could it go either way . Well, youve got to reckon, theres a lot of strength in our delegation. Many of them really wanted to go with reagan. And thats where Strom Thurmond turns out to be so important. Senator thurmond, im told that there was some slipping toward reagan last night in the south, and specifically in your own South Carolina delegation, and that you personally stopped it. Is that correct . Theres no slippage in the South Carolina delegation. We all are standing for nixon. Nixon persuading Strom Thurmond hes the best candidate who can win. That we went with our hearts in 64 with goldwater. He took us down to a horrible defeat. So lets go with a moderate now, and then once we get in, i can slow down the federal governments efforts at desegregating schools in the south. But the number one reason was that it looked like nixon could win. A candidate needs 667 delegates to win the nomination, but, with nixons estimated total at above 600 now, that air of victory is obvious. Governor, may we ask you what you might have done differently, thinking back now . Nothing; there isnt anything i could have done differently. It was a weary Governor Rockefeller who hotelhopped from one Delegation Caucus to another. Wife, happy, appeared anything but happy as her husband began to show the strain, and, perhaps, the futility of it. With the demise of Nelson Rockefeller and the sort of exclusion of the moderate and liberal side of the republican party, you began to see the reshaping of the republican party. We are having here, in miami beach, the convention of the nice, white people. All together, there are 26 nonwhite delegates and 57 nonwhite alternates out of 2,666. There are none of these magnificent, Wounded Black faces to remind us of whats going on in this country. There are only sunburns, and smiles, and balloons. [crowd shouting] this is a lilywhite delegation there, and, uh they dont know exactly what we want, so we thought that we would get it together and then take it to them. [crowd shouting] violence broke out tonight, in a predominantly Negro Section of miami. Two buildings, reportedly, were set afire. Some looting was reported. More than 200 police were sent to the area, and some Tear Gas was used at one point to disperse a Rock Andbottle throwing crowd. Nobody can really say why its happened, its just the pentup anger, the frustration, and the idea of being trapped in society. Its just a way of saying, i will accept the abuse no longer. [somber music] all [chanting] gop gop gop 55yearold Richard Milhous Nixon has confirmed now that he will get a second run at the presidency of the united states. Nixon knew that he was making one of the great comebacks in american political history. And he was able to tap into his own sense of renewal. As we look at america, we see cities enveloped in smoke and flame. We hear sirens in the night. We see americans dying on distant battlefields abroad. We see americans hating Each Other, fighting Each Other, killing Each Other at home. And as we see and hear these things, millions of americans cry out in anguish, did we come all this way for this . Nixons speech was designed to say, you know, i hear you. Unless we stop shouting at one another, we cant hear one another. I mean, very powerful, powerful words. It is the quiet voice in the tumult of the shouting. It is the voice of the great majority of americans, the forgotten americans, the nonshouters, the nondemonstrators. Nixon wrote that speech, contrary to a lot of his speeches, where he would be getting help from his speechwriters. That speech was all Richard Nixon. Americas in trouble today, not because her people have failed, but because her leaders have failed. And what america needs are leaders to match the greatness of her people. [cheering] Richard Nixon presenting a face of placid calm in a year of chaos. And things are looking pretty good for Richard Nixon. [laughing] what . Is it your purpose here to disrupt this convention . Life is disruptive in america, lets face it. If you believe in life, youre disruptive. You know . I dont want to go and fight in that damn war. You know, thats a disruptive attitude. Theyre gonna have to pull me by my hair. Right . [chuckles] the Activist Part of my generation is divided into two parts those who decide that they can change the world by supporting a viable antiwar candidate, and those who think that the entire system has to be torn down. Political pigs, your days are numbered. We are the second american revolution. We are winning. Yippie [chuckles] yippies were, um crazy people who did street theater. Were not gonna take part in an old mens election. Young people know whos gonna win. The winners gonna be pigasus the pig, cause every partys running a pig. So why did you decide to become a candidate . [pig grunts, squeals] the plan was to have a mass, moratoriumtype antiwar demonstration in chicago. And at the same time, a mass counterculture festival. We must stay in the streets, and stay in active resistance, or else there will be no peace. I was with rennie, davis, and dave dellinger, and we were trying to coordinate the mobilization, which was this coalition of fractious groups who agreed on something like total withdrawal from vietnam now. And Allen Ginsberg wanted everybody to chant ohm, to bring the war to an end and the police to their senses. It was a motley medley of all kinds of people. [tense music] when we first went to see Mayor Daley and we thought his Deputy Mayor to try and get a permit, he took me aside and said, come on, what do you guys really want to do . And i said, well, did you see Wild In The Streets . [chanting indistinctly] which was a movie where young people put lsd into the Water Supply and took over the government. And so this is what the police expected. Our administration will never permit a lawless, violent group of terrorists to destroy the purpose of this national convention and take over the streets of chicago. Before he became mayor, chicago had kind of become a run down, drab city. The city is plagued with strikes, from Cab Drivers to telephone installers. But Mayor Daley says the citys never been in better shape. Mayor daley wanted to show off how hed turned it into a modern showplace. Chicago loves size, scale. One hotel here brags that it has more flush toilets under one roof than any other building in the world. Daleys administration was absolutely committed that, in his city, this was not gonna be a place where protestors were gonna have a platform. This was gonna be a place where they were going to be put in their place. No one will be able to take over the Convention Hall or the streets of chicago. Mayor daley had exercised such control over the city, you couldnt even get near the Convention Center where the convention was being held. So, basically, all you could do is protest among the major hotels in the loop area, where a lot of the delegates were staying. The Peace Groups are demanding permission to march on Convention Hall, the night the democrats nominate their candidate for president. The city says no. That would endanger security. There is a possibility of mass arrests, unless the city allows the demonstrators to camp out in public parks. There is nowhere else for them to stay. I think its in their best interest to let us Sleep In The Park instead of roam the streets at night. Boy scouts could sleep overnight in The Parks, but not hippies. Theres no other place to sleep, so we knew, if youre going to drive people out of The Parks, theyre going to be in the streets. Its gonna be pandemonium. Is that what you want . How do you feel about the antiwar demonstrators . I dont like em. I dont like em one bit. Theres no reason for em. They accomplish nothing. The police, largely workingclass people, whod come up the hard way, see these privileged, white students, and have to wonder, what do they have to be angry about . And many of those Police Officers themselves identified with the soldiers who were coming back from the war in vietnam. We are coming not because our fight is with policemen, or with National Guard troops. Our fight is with the policies of this administration. On this eve, of the beginning of the