European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 26, 1968, Darmstadt, Hesse Stars and stripes chicag with crossed fingers daily Agazine to i or by David smothers up staff writer Chicago the proud convention Cape a Tal of the nation and Hoft to Morerod tical conventions than any other is a nervous plact a it fraits the opening of the Derao critic convention today. The threats of furl a massive demonstrations and Dot hangs Over the hear mayor Richard j. Daley say it Over and Over again the democratic National convention a Fol be toe great est convention Ever held in the greatest City in the of course the mayor if an ardent civic Patriot and a confessed natural born Optimist. He has to be to find Gunny Side in a City where the buses the Al trains and the taxis May be stopped dead by discontent crackles into gun fire in the suburbs and the Conven Tion site rests in the unhappy heart of the South Side ghetto. Hippies hippies Black nationalists and War protesters Promise to enter Tain the delegates with a volatile assortment of demonstrations marches and love ins perhaps even a storm ing of the convention itself. A striking Union has grudgingly agreed to install enough convention Hall wiring to make television cover age possible there but has stoutly said no to pleas that it do the same i Loop hotels where much of the convention business and news coverage democratic National convention Chicago International amphitheatre aug. 26 Tirry Titor Tirry Ujj Jill jj1ll jj1ll jj1 Jet i Zulu mtg feb to Trita gaga a caucus rooms to 6 r4dio-Rva to to a 35 will take place. Another strike by film editors could Clamp a local to Black out on Chicago. Conditions became so Sticky in Chi Cago earlier this summer that serious notions were entertained at top demo cratic Levels of pulling the convention out of Chicago altogether. Daley a political Power broker who makes a habit of getting what he wants out of Washington wiggled out of that one some say with the Aid of a Good Friend in the White his Irish Luck plus Chicago s know How could just possibly bring about a convention where the Only really big troubles the democrats encounter will be the ones they stir up themselves. Conventions Are Chicago s Busi Ness and Chicago is Good at its business better possibly than any other Citrin the nation. Chicago proved As much earlier this summer. When the biggest convention of shrines Ever came to Chicago the City showed them a whale of a time eve though a bus Drivers strike had shut Down half the City s Public transportation. The hazards facing the democratic convention Are far greater than those the shrines Irieta. But there is a stubborn so what attitude coupled with de termination to finesse the democrats Inland out of town and leave them laugh ing among the Chicago convention pros. All through August they have Bee Busy sniffing at alleged amateurism in Miami Beach s handling of the Republican convention and making quiet plans to if need be ring the old International amphitheatre with National guardsmen while the delegates have at it Chicago officialdom keeps Smil ing there Are plans to set up a tenacity in the Yard of county jail. It May be needed the sheriff s department so Many demonstrators Are arrested that they can t be crammed behind Pri son Walls or packed into special accommodations in the dressing rooms of sol Dier Field. Buses car pools and vip cars Are ready to get the delegates to and from the amphitheatre in what is hoped willbe reasonable safety. A career secret service agent has been assigned by Washington to coordinate convention minimum of 800 guardsmen most of them riot trained have been ordered to stand by at an armory each night of the convention. Police will be on 12-hour duty and the corridors of the amphitheatre and hotels will be prowled by imported squads of Fri agents. Under the circumstances these precautions and others Are eminently reasonable. Some of the uproar plotted for Chicago has already been spelled out by those who intend to put it into being. More and deeper unrest is Sim Mering just below the surface in this City baking under the August Sun. Few worry about the hundreds Oyoung partisans of son. Eugene j. Mccarthy expected in the City. They Are part of the political process More or 1 hut the boasted 50.000 political guerrillas being recruited by the National mobilization committee a very Loose coalition of Antiwar and Black Power enthusiasts May be made of sterner Buttle plan is to create disturb apy August 26, 1968 the stars and stripes mayor Daley it will be the greatest convention Ever held in Chicago. Ances outside the convention Hall. A their Chicago coordinator Rennie Davis warns a storming of the convention Hal itself is obviously not out of the ques there Are the hippies a Breed of politically minded hippies who claim they la be holding a festival of life in Lincoln Park while the democrats hold a nomination festival at the amphitheatre. There Are claims Shatas Many As 50,000 Flower children May show up for the big Chicago Are not inclined to write off the Yippie contingent As a frivolous Side show. There have been rumours of a conspiracy to sell or give away narcotic sat the convention. Four arrests have Al ready been made on such charges. The most widely quoted estimate of malcontents coming to Chicago to heckle the convention in one Way or another is100,000. Add to these troubles a City already racked by one major race riot this year where policemen have been shot during outbreaks in adjacent communities this month and where bus and taxi drive shave announced plans to strike Jusi be fore the democrats hit town. Life inshore could be a lot More peaceful than it is this Sumner in Chicago. Amid All the uncertainties Facin Chicago one thing is certain the City is not about to become Siag struck by National political convention. Chicago has seen More of them than any other City starting in i860 when a fledgling party called the republicans got together Ina overgrown wooden shod named the wigwam and nominated Abraham Lin Hundred and eight years later Chicago s convention Box score counts of up
