The national political conventions of the last two weeks have been full of controversy and upheaval. There has been more hate spewing and fist shaking than at anytime in recent memory. Social media has become a platform for everyone to express their feelings and denounce and vilify those of others. I have heard this year described as the most volatile in the nation’s history. Certainly, with the ability of anyone with a smartphone to instantly get news of any event or tragedy as it is unfolding is is one reason everyone feels that everything is going to heck in a handbasket. As I have said before, we are prisoners of our technology. This year could indeed be pivotal in the history of the world.
But how does 2016 stack up to 1968, the most dangerous year of the most tumultuous decade of the 20th century? I was in the summer of my 18th year. There were political conventions to selection presidential candidates for the major parties that year too. The Olympic games were that year. Remember sprinters Tommy Smith and John Carlos giving the black power salute with their heads hung down while the “Star Spangled Banner” was played during the medal presentation ceremony?
Politically the year began with the Tet Offensive in Vietnam. The American military had claimed that the Viet Cong was on its last ropes and victory was in sight. The Tet Offensive showed that the Viet Cong were strong, capable, and ready to give U.S. forces all the misery they could ever handle. In the New Hampshire primary, peace candidate George McGovern badly beat President Lyndon Johnson. This led to Johnson withdrawing from the Presidential race. Bobby Kennedy, who had originally planned to run in 1972, jumped in to challenge McGovern.
Signing the 1967 Voting Rights Act led to Johnson losing the support of southern Democrats, who rallied behind George Wallace to form the American Party, a formidable third party. In the end it helped Richard Nixon win the White House in a closely contested election with Hubert Humphrey. Coining the term “Silent Majority,” Nixon capitalized on the fears and confusion many ordinary people were feeling about the violence and upheaval that was on television screens every night.
Violence and death seemed to lurk around every corner. On April 4, Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. That night in Indianapolis, Bobby Kennedy gave an impromptu speech which kept the peace and has become a legend. He emerged as a viable candidate and went into the summer with high hopes for his presidential bid. On June 6, after winning the California Primary, Bobby Kennedy was assassinated. The world had turned into a nightmare fantasy, a bad dream from which there was no waking up.
The Democratic Convention of 1968 was a horror story. Rioting and brutality outside of the convention hall — screaming, yelling obscenities, and fist shaking on the inside. There was a total loss of control throughout the proceedings. Mortally wounded, the Democrats were in turmoil for the next eight years. For many it seemed that the Devil was truly walking the earth. You can sum up the effects of the year in a few paragraphs but it was, good or bad, a landmark year in world history.
So is 2016 another such pivotal time in American history? I’m thinking yes. Death and destruction have become such a regular occurrence that we are becoming numb to it. Never in history have two presidential candidates been so vilified that neither seems to be worthy of election. Of course, the instant media is responsible for part of this. But not all of it. The media merely reflects the thoughts and words of the people. The year is not over yet. We are only half way through 2016. That is a frightening thought.
Oh, another word on 1968. That summer I met the incredible girl who would become my life partner and “Boss.” So 1968 was one on the greatest years of my life — perhaps the best.