Bring the 82nd Airborne to Chicago '68

The US military would be much more restrained than the Chicago Cops--notice how they didn't shoot any hippies during any of the marches on Washington (I think you have to go back to ghetto riots in 1943 for the US army to be involved in fatal or serious violence against civilians). Hoover's FBI wouldn't be writing about soldiers participating in what they would famously call a 'police riot' in their report of what happened at Grant Park and environs.

I'm surprised you think LBJ trying to retain the Democratic nomination means some kind of literal coup d'état. You're not going all Beck on us, are you?
 
I'm not "going Beck". (what the hell?) The idea actually comes from Abbie Hoffman of all people. Johnson did explore the possibility, and Mayor Daley said he would work his magic only if LBJ publicly announced it. Southern delegations spread rumours and even HHH himself was reportedly worried. Polling numbers that showed him behind Nixon and Wallace in some Southern states was apparently the clincher.
 
I'm not "going Beck". (what the hell?)

I just saw Glenn Beck doing a routine comparing Obama to Hugo Chavez.

The idea actually comes from Abbie Hoffman of all people. Johnson did explore the possibility, and Mayor Daley said he would work his magic only if LBJ publicly announced it. Southern delegations spread rumours and even HHH himself was reportedly worried. Polling numbers that showed him behind Nixon and Wallace in some Southern states was apparently the clincher.

Abbie Hoffman and the yippies might have wished for US military forces to crack heads in an anti-war protest, but that doesn't make it at all possible (see my comment about the Washington marches). And I didn't know Daley wanted to invite the White House to overrule Posse Comitatus and bring the army into an urban situation that was nowhere near as violent as the Watts riots, f'rinstance.

Anyway, just what are you saying in the above para? Humphrey was concerned LBJ would jump into the convention, or he was worried that the military would come to Chicago? LBJ considered sending the Screaming Eagles to the windy city?

Forget about Beck, it strikes me that conflating the Dems' crooked national political process with Daley's vicious police and a would-be sinister military crackdown is more a product of the Chomsky Left.
 
What I was trying to suggest was that LBJ's nomination might provoke the violent antiwar demonstrators (a small minority) even more. I'm talking about those demonstrators who waved VC and NV flags, not the ones marching peacefully. A deadlocked convention is impossible at this point, because 75% of the delegates are boss-controlled and Daley & Co. know McCarthy is unelectable.
 
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Bringing in the Airborne to solve problems has been done before, ref. Little Rock.

Admittedly, the 101st protecting black students against the KKK is a bit different then the 82nd providing security against the traitors...but your average All-American is a lot more self-disciplined then the CPD, so barring a VERY severe incident, I think you're likely to see a less violent outcome this time around.
 
What I was trying to suggest was that LBJ's nomination might provoke the violent antiwar demonstrators (a small minority) even more. I'm talking about those demonstrators who waved VC and NV flags, not the ones marching peacefully.

I don't think the violent members of the Mobe were going to get worse, not without the assistance of lonewolf nuts (and none of those turned up IOTL).
And even then the worst acts of violence were committed by the police.

The politics of sending professional soldiers in would be hideous, the US military were not even sent into any urban riots during this era (with the possible exception of Detroit?)

The Johnson administration would just mobilise almost every US Marshal, border protection agent, etc, to compliment the added secret service detail that would accompany LBJ's trip to Illinois.
 
Remember reading a story involving a similar premise a while back. Basically the hippies turn violent earlier in chicago and both the prez and RFK are killed either by rioting police or by hippies. The military seizes control and completely fucks the hippies up.

It ends with the US turning Uber fascist and more or less owning everything in the world. Its mentioned that we "won" Vietnam and what Vietnamese left glow green.
 
Bringing in the Airborne to solve problems has been done before, ref. Little Rock.

Admittedly, the 101st protecting black students against the KKK is a bit different then the 82nd providing security against the traitors...but your average All-American is a lot more self-disciplined then the CPD, so barring a VERY severe incident, I think you're likely to see a less violent outcome this time around.

:eek:What did you say? Did you just call all antiwar demonstrators traitors? Not even waving an NVA flag remotely qualifies as such. It's just foolish and naive.

I recall there were some US military units that were to be sent to stop riots, and they flat out refused to deploy. This was in the documentary Sir! No Sir! But I don't recall what units. Likely they were Nat'l Guard, though I also recall some of the vets interviewed mentioning many of them were Black soldiers who had come back from Vietnam and that's why they "refused to shoot any more dark skinned people" as one of them put it.
 
I agree with AmInd (which is extremely rare) about AW protestors. "Clean for Gene" voters weren't traitors by any stretch of the imagination. Keeping in mind the two "antiwar" candidates were against involvement of US ground forces, not against SVN retaining its independence. Though General Thieu saw it otherwise, if you read the Saigon editorials and cartoons...
 
Remember reading a story involving a similar premise a while back. Basically the hippies turn violent earlier in chicago and both the prez and RFK are killed either by rioting police or by hippies. The military seizes control and completely fucks the hippies up.

It ends with the US turning Uber fascist and more or less owning everything in the world. Its mentioned that we "won" Vietnam and what Vietnamese left glow green.
"Dispatches from the Revolution" I believe was the title.

A bomb went off at the convention, killed a pile of delegates and others (Namely, all the major politicals there) the rioting went absolutely nuts. Bobby was accidentally shot by the police in the lobby of a hotel during some confused incident. I think they thought someone was assaulting him and when to shoot that guy, but screwed it up. Can't recall.

And yes, the military seized control in the aftermath, the civilian line of succession not being exactly clear, and then kinda never let go. We thrashed Vietnam, the Middle East, Central America, and apparently, they don't protest our missile bases in Europe much anymore.
 
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