There But for Fortune: The Life of Phil Ochs by Michael Schumacher

Author:Michael Schumacher [Schumacher, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781517903541
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
Published: 2018-04-03T00:00:00+00:00

On August 28, Hubert Humphrey was officially nominated as the Democratic Party’s candidate for the fall presidential election. The delegate vote, however, was only a weak epilogue to one of the most horrific days in the history of American electoral politics.

The day was supposed to be the biggest day of Festival of Life activities, beginning with a series of afternoon speeches in Grant Park and culminating in a march to the convention center, where there was to be a mass protest of Humphrey’s nomination. The police department, aware of the Yippie plans, circulated flyers saying that the march would not be permitted. To ensure that it would not happen, police and guardsmen circled Grant Park, sealing off demonstrators from the rest of the city.

The main activities took place at the park’s bandshell, where David Dellinger, Allen Ginsberg, Dick Gregory, and a host of others delivered speeches. When it was his turn at the microphone, Phil played “I Ain’t Marching Anymore,” which may not have set off another round of impromptu draft card burnings, but which nevertheless received one of the biggest ovations of the afternoon. The lyrics to the song had now taken on a new meaning to Phil. Betrayed by the system he had hoped to save, Phil was in a revolutionary state of mind.

“Chicago was the formal death of democracy in America,” he said in an interview conducted not long after the convention. “I no longer feel any ties of loyalty to the present American society . . . I’ve gone from being a left social democrat to an early revolutionary mentality. I haven’t the total courage or commitment yet to be a full-fledged revolutionary, but that is my direction.”

The early portion of the day’s festivities passed without incident, but the mood of the demonstrators began to disintegrate when, around three o’clock in the afternoon, a young Yippie scaled a flagpole near the bandstand and tried to bring down the American flag. The police rushed in, dragged the youth off the flagpole, and while arresting him, beat him with their nightsticks. Some of the demonstrators began to throw rocks, bottles, bricks, and sticks at the police, and the day that would come to be known as “Bloody Wednesday” had officially begun. In the ensuing violence, a number of demonstrators were beaten and arrested. Rennie Davis, one of the afternoon’s speakers, tried to encourage people to stay calm, and for his efforts he was bludgeoned with a nightstick; the blood-soaked rag used to clean his head wound was eventually run up the park’s flagpole.

When order was finally restored, David Dellinger addressed the crowd. He implored people to sit down and stay calm, and not to give the police any reason for breaking up the meeting. He then presented three alternative courses of action: people could join his group, which would be marching to the Democratic Convention and staging a nonviolent demonstration; people could leave the park and do whatever they felt they had to do elsewhere; or they could stay in the park and not demonstrate at all.

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