CHICAGO SEVEN
The Chicago Seven were political radicals accused of conspiring to incite
the riots that occurred during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago,
August 21-26, 1968. There were originally eight defendants: David Dellinger, a
pacifist and chairman of the National Mobilization against the War; Tom Hayden
and Rennie Davis, leaders of the Students for a Democratic Society sds; Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, leaders
of the Youth International Party yip;
John Froines and Lee Weiner, local Chicago organizers; and Bobby Seale,
cofounder of the Black Panther party.
Except for the Panthers, who were uninvolved from the start, all the groups
represented had planned massive demonstrations during convention week. But with
the withdrawal of their principal target, President Lyndon B. Johnson, as a
candidate for reelection and Chicago mayor Richard Daley's increasingly
threatening public statements about maintaining order, the appeal to "come
to Chicago" became more muted. In the end, some ten thousand or so
demonstrators gathered - enough to trigger a week of violent confrontations
with the police, including one later termed by a federal commission a "police
riot."
The five-month trial of the Chicago Eight began in September. While
Weathermen (an sds splinter group)
proclaimed "Days of Rage" in the streets outside, the prosecution
stressed the defendants' provocative rhetoric and subversive intentions.
William Kunstler - lawyer for all the defendants except Seale - attributed the
violence to official overreaction rather than conspiracy and brought singers,
artists, and activists into court to explain what the demonstrators found
troubling about American society. Prosecutor Thomas Foran and Judge Julius
Hoffman clashed continually with the defendants. In particular, Seale's manner
of conducting his own defense led to his spending three days in court bound and
gagged; his case was then declared a mistrial, and he was sentenced to four
years for contempt of court. The Chicago Eight thus became the Chicago Seven.
In February 1970, five of the seven were found guilty, but an appeals court
overturned the convictions in the fall of 1972, citing Judge Hoffman's
procedural errors and his overt hostility to the defendants.
See Also