Chaotic Year Of 1968 Essay

The year of 1968 is known as one of the most chaotic years in American history because of the series of events such as protests, assassinations, political shifts and etc. helped shape the United States into what it is today, which is a center-right country on the political spectrum. The 1960’s in general was one of the most tumultuous times within the United States since the 1860’s. 1968 was the highest expression of the divisiveness throughout the 1960s. One reason for the political shift in 1968 is because of the failure of the liberal policies of the Johnson Administration, in particular the Great Society. President Johnson being a southerner from Texas was viewed by many people on the left as someone who shift to the right on the civil …show more content…
By the time of the Democratic National Convention in the summer of that year, 1968 was already a chaotic year with the assassinations of two prominent figures of the Civil Rights movement, Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. occurring earlier that year. The protests which were mainly in the vicinity of the Democratic Convention became violent with the police attacking the protesters under the orders of Democratic Chicago mayor, Richard Daley (Isserman and Kazin 244). In the documentary video, “Chicago, 1968”, one of Hubert Humphrey’s former staff members Ted Van Dyk stated that the events at the convention “added to the public perception that Democrats couldn’t run a convention, much less a country” and that it resembled a “1932 Nazi regime gathering” (Ruggles lecture, Chicago 1968 video). The events that took place inside and outside of the convention walls that night instilled into the American public that if liberals and/or Democrats are in charge chaos will ensue. In the minds of many potential voters going to right of the political spectrum meant that there would be a sense of normalcy once