Drawing parallels between the 1968 and the 2024 DNC: How history is repeating itself
Images Courtesy of Northwestern University and Heather HendershotÂ
As the 2024 DNC gets underway in Chicago, we take a look back at another unprecedented Democratic Convention that took place in the Windy City in August of 1968. It was a year marked by protests across the country over the war in Vietnam, as well as protests in dozens of cities after the assassination of Martin Luther King Junior and Robert Kennedy.
There are protests expected this week at the 2024 DNC as well with many people upset with America’s support of Israel and the number of civilans killed in Gaza since the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7, 2023. This has led many to draw parallels to the 1968 DNC.
An author who researched and wrote about the 1968 DNC joins the 21st to give her thoughts on the similarities between that convention and the current one and what role the media played at the 1968 convention.
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Heather Hendershot
Cardiss Collins Professor of Communication Studies and Journalism at Northwestern University
Author: “When the News Broke: Chicago 1968 and the Polarizing of America”