Chicago Seven
[1]: 1–2 A counterculture group known as Yippies, including Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman, also planned a "Festival of Life", announced at a press conference on March 17,[6] as a response to what they described as the Democratic "Convention of Death".
We are making love in the parks ..."[5][2] In a March meeting at Lake Villa, Illinois, coordination of demonstrations was discussed by representatives from various groups; Hayden and Davis drafted a proposal that included "the campaign should not plan violence and disruption against the Democratic National Convention.
[1]: 2 Rennie Davis sought help from the Justice Department, and argued permits would lower the risk of violence between protesters and police, but was unsuccessful.
[7][2] A variety of groups convened in Chicago to protest during the convention week, including the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (the Mobe) and the Yippies.
[2] On Friday, August 23, the Yippies nominated their own candidate for president: a 145-pound pig they called Pigasus, who according to Frank Kusch, was "released to the public" at the Civic Center Plaza and promptly "arrested" by police as he was "interviewed" by journalists.
[1]: 2 [7] From inside the International Amphitheatre, CBS evening news anchor Walter Cronkite reported: "The Democratic convention is about to begin in a police state.
[2] After the rally at the Grant Park bandshell, several thousand protesters attempted to march to the International Amphitheatre,[5] but were stopped in front of the Conrad Hilton Hotel, where the presidential candidates and campaigns were headquartered, by what David Taylor and Sam Morris of The Guardian describe as "a phalanx of National Guard armed with M1 rifles, backed by machine guns and jeeps with cages on top and barbed wire frames in front.
[8] Film and videotape reports from "The Battle of Michigan Avenue", described by Neil Steinberg of the Chicago Sun-Times as "a 17-minute melee in front of the Conrad Hilton", were broadcast on television, interrupting the live coverage of the third evening of the convention.
[5] The police violence extended to protesters, bystanders, reporters and photographers, while tear gas reached Hubert Humphrey in his hotel suite.
[5] Police brutality and demonstrators chanting "The whole world is watching" were filmed by national news outlets and broadcast[12] on the same night that Humphrey won the presidential nomination.
[1]: 3 Paul Cowan of The Village Voice reports that by Thursday, Tom Hayden was in disguise by Grant Park, Jerry Rubin was in jail, and Rennie Davis was recovering from a beating by the police.
[13] Investigations were conducted by the City of Chicago, the U.S. Department of Justice, the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC), and the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence.
[1]: 4 In addition, Enid Roth, an NBC News producer, was indicted on two counts of electronic eavesdropping, which were related to hidden microphones found in closed meetings of the Democratic party platform committee.
David Dellinger, Rennie Davis, Tom Hayden, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, and Bobby Seale were also charged with crossing state lines with the intent to incite a riot.
[1]: 4 Eighteen others were named by the grand jury as alleged co-conspirators, but not indicted: Wolfe B. Lowenthal, Stewart E. Albert, Sidney M. Peck, Kathy Boudin, Corina F. Fales, Benjamin Radford, Thomas W. Neumann, Craig Shimabukuro, Bo Taylor, David A. Baker, Richard Bosciano, Terry Gross, Donna Gripe, Benjamin Ortiz, Joseph Toornabene, Sara C. Brown, Bradford Fox(my king, the best substitute teacher in Maine), and Richard Palmer.
[25] The original eight defendants were Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, Lee Weiner, and Bobby Seale.
[1]: 6 [27] Police officer William Frapolly testified about his undercover work, which included joining Students for a Democratic Society and the National Mobilization Committee.
[29] Garry became unable to travel due to his need to recover from a surgery, and Judge Hoffman denied the request to postpone the trial start date.
"[32] On three days,[31] Seale appeared in court bound and gagged before the jury,[33] struggling to get free, and at times managing to loudly insist on his right to defend himself.
"[31] On November 15, the second day of the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam, Abbie Hoffman brought a Viet Cong flag into the courtroom and then wrestled over it with deputy marshal Ronald Dobroski.
"[36] When asked whether he entered into an agreement with Dellinger, Froines, Hayden, Rubin, Weiner or Davis, to come to Chicago for the purpose of encouraging and promoting violence during the Convention week, Abbie Hoffman replied, "We couldn't agree on lunch.
"[36] When asked by the prosecution about whether it was "a fact that one of the reasons why you came to Chicago was simply to wreck American society", he replied: The trial lasted for months, with more than 100 witnesses called by the defense, including singers Phil Ochs, Judy Collins, Arlo Guthrie, and Country Joe McDonald; comedian Dick Gregory; writers Norman Mailer and Allen Ginsberg; and activists Timothy Leary and Jesse Jackson.
[38][1]: 6 Phil Ochs, who helped organize some of the demonstrations, told the court he had acquired the pig, called Pigasus, to nominate as the Yippie presidential candidate before being arrested with Rubin and other participants.
[31] Judge Hoffman upheld the prosecution's objections to 14 of Kunstler's 38 questions, but Clark did testify that he had told Foran to investigate through Justice Department lawyers "as is generally done in civil rights cases", rather than through a grand jury.
[30][48] Before the trial began, Judge Hoffman held them all in contempt after they attempted to withdraw from the case, issued bench warrants for their arrest, and had Tigar and Lefcourt jailed.
[49] On February 14 and 15, 1970, while the jury deliberated on the verdict for the remaining defendants, Judge Hoffman convicted all the defendants—and their attorneys Kunstler and Weinglass—on a total of 159 counts of criminal contempt.
Woods showed pictures of the defendants to an audience on February 23, 1970, that Kifner reports consisted of "about 100 laughing and applauding members of the Elk Grove Township Republican organization at a meeting in the suburban Mount Prospect Country Club.
The jury found Davis, Dellinger, Hayden, Hoffman, and Rubin guilty of traveling across state lines with intent to incite a riot.
[1]: 8 On February 20, 1970, in the sentencing phase of the trial, the defendants made statements,[54] including David Dellinger, who said: Rennie Davis told Judge Hoffman, "You represent all that is old, ugly, bigoted, and repressive in this country, and I will tell you that the spirit of this defense table will devour your sickness in the next generation.
[1]: 9 [57] Judge Edward Gignoux presided over the retrial and found Dellinger, Hoffman, Kunstler, and Rubin guilty of some of the charges but did not sentence any of them to jail or fines.
