1968 Democratic National Convention: The Mess in Chicago | Retro Report

This six-minute video explores the violence and disorder that played out before a national television audience at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. At the height of the Vietnam War, and in a context of escalating racial and cultural tensions, the failure of the Democratic Party to unify around the pro-war candidacy of Hubert Humphrey resulted in physical violence on the floor of the convention hall, as well as on the streets surrounding it. The video is useful for lessons covering the 1968 election, or for lessons demonstrating the cultural and political tensions dividing America in the late 1960s.