by Norman Barry

For anyone thinking the USA is in trouble right now this film offers a balance. The Presidential election of 1968 was even more polarised. Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy (a Presidential hopeful) had both been assassinated. The Vietnam War was in full swing with President Johnson (who was not standing for re-election) committing more troops to Vietnam. Mayor Daley wanted the Democratic National Convention in Chicago as a culmination of his importance in American politics.

The problem was that 1968 was the year of protests throughout the world. Paris was burning and Prague was subdued only by the intervention of Soviet troops. Daley was aware of this and put the 10,000 strong Chicago police on full alert, backed up by 11,000 National Guardsmen. When the Vietnam war protesters poured into the city they were met by police keen to use their clubs on ‘the commies’.

The film follows the trial of seven protesters who were tried for bringing sedition across state lines. It has a stellar cast. Mark Rylance is William Kunstler who defended the seven. Frank Langella is Judge Julius Hoffman. Michael Keaton has a cameo role as the previous Attorney General. The main roles are played by Eddie Redmayne as Tom Hayden representing the Students for a Democratic Society and Sacha Baron Cohen as Abbie Hoffman for the Yippies. The director is Aaron Sorkin, the writer of The Social Network.

The trial lasted over 150 days which were boiled down to two hours for the movie. So corners are cut. Hubert Humphrey won the nomination and lost to Richard Nixon by 31.2 to 31.5 million. Five of  the defendants got prison sentences of up to four years which were overturned on appeal. Mayor Daley and the Chicago Police got the blame for the riot.

In 2020 Trump got 70 million votes and would like to go to court to say that he won

There is apprehension that violence will erupt if Biden (75 million votes) becomes President. Americans have come a long way in the last 50 years. The election was between two white men over 70. Voting has doubled. Wars are being fought mostly by proxy now. There was no rioting in the streets.

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