1968, some you buy, some you shoot.

[Guest Stephen Turner]

In January of 1968 LBJs personal satisfaction poll had risen, from a low of 38% the previous Summer, to over 50% and, at this point he looked a dead cert to be re-elected in November.

In the New Hampshire Democratic primary on March 12th, against a background of the escalated bombing of North Vietnam, Senator Eugene McCarthy, the Anti-war candidate, polled 42% of the vote,a much better personal result than many had forecast.

On the 31st of march, whilst announcing a temporary descaling of the bombing of Vietnamese cities, LBJ stunned his audiance by saying, "I will not seek, nor accept my Parties nomination for President" For one of the few times in his life, Johnson walked away from a Political fight, and turned his back on power.

Robert Kennedy, who had originally said he would not stand against Johnson, had announced his intention to run on 16th March, four days after the New Hampshire primary, his candidacy was to be one of both domestic, and international reforms, and on May 7th he won a large vitory in the Indiana primary, and another one 7 days later in Nebraska, McCarthy returned the compliment by winning in Oregon..And so to California, Kennedy wins....

"I would hope now that the Californian primary is finished that we can concentrate on having a dialogue....On what direction we want to go in the United States: what we're going to do in the rural areas of this Country; what we're going to do for those who stil suffer in the US from hunger; what we'er going to do around the rest of the Globe; and whether we;re gonig to continue the policies that have been so unsuccessful in Vietnam, I think we should move in a diffrent direction." Less than three minutes later Robert Kennedy was shot to death.....

Richard Nixon to an aid "McCarthy's the candidate I have nothing to fear from."

[William Kelly]

In January of 1968 LBJs personal satisfaction poll had risen, from a low of 38% the previous Summer, to over 50% and, at this point he looked a dead cert to be re-elected in November.

In the New Hampshire Democratic primary on March 12th, against a background of the escalated bombing of North Vietnam, Senator Eugene McCarthy, the Anti-war candidate, polled 42% of the vote,a much better personal result than many had forecast.

On the 31st of march, whilst announcing a temporary descaling of the bombing of Vietnamese cities, LBJ stunned his audiance by saying, "I will not seek, nor accept my Parties nomination for President" For one of the few times in his life, Johnson walked away from a Political fight, and turned his back on power.

Robert Kennedy, who had originally said he would not stand against Johnson, had announced his intention to run on 16th March, four days after the New Hampshire primary, his candidacy was to be one of both domestic, and international reforms, and on May 7th he won a large vitory in the Indiana primary, and another one 7 days later in Nebraska, McCarthy returned the compliment by winning in Oregon..And so to California, Kennedy wins....

"I would hope now that the Californian primary is finished that we can concentrate on having a dialogue....On what direction we want to go in the United States: what we're going to do in the rural areas of this Country; what we're going to do for those who stil suffer in the US from hunger; what we'er going to do around the rest of the Globe; and whether we;re gonig to continue the policies that have been so unsuccessful in Vietnam, I think we should move in a diffrent direction." Less than three minutes later Robert Kennedy was shot to death.....

Richard Nixon to an aid "McCarthy's the candidate I have nothing to fear from."

Stephen,

McCarthy was recruited to be the anti-war candidate after RFK and others had turned down the role. When I was a 16 year old high school student, and didn't know any better, I enlisted in the McCarthy campaign, coordinating volunteers in South Jersey and Philadelphia. I assisted McCarthy's advance man in Atlantic City during an NAACP convention, and became part of McCarthy's national staff in Chicago the week before the convention.

Working on the Special Projects Committee, which was assigned duties like establishing communications with McCarthy delegates on the floor of the convention (no phones) and other similar tasks. I was later tear gased by the national guard, beat by cops with clubs and arrested by what was later characterized by a Presidentential Commission on Civil Disorders as a "police riot."

Since I was loyal to my candidate and competed against RFK, I was not a true RFK Believer, and despised George McGovern even more for trying to take over RFK's campaign and persona.

The experience radicalized me politically, off the charts - as a non-partisan libertarian.

The small regiment of a few thousand kids like me who came out for McCarthy - the poet-prince, in short order became hundreds of thousands who mobilized the anti-war demonstrations of the late 60s and early 70s and practically drove Nixon from office.

By the time he was escourted from the White House he was in a constant state of fear that stemmed directly from his missappreciation of the power of a few people, like the first group of kids who came out for McCarthy - whose minor successes inspired RFK to run, ran off LBJ and eventually snuffed out the power of Nixon.

So much for Nixon's fear factor.

Bill Kelly

bkjfk3@yahoo.com

[Chuck Robbins]

In January of 1968 LBJs personal satisfaction poll had risen, from a low of 38% the previous Summer, to over 50% and, at this point he looked a dead cert to be re-elected in November.

In the New Hampshire Democratic primary on March 12th, against a background of the escalated bombing of North Vietnam, Senator Eugene McCarthy, the Anti-war candidate, polled 42% of the vote,a much better personal result than many had forecast.

On the 31st of march, whilst announcing a temporary descaling of the bombing of Vietnamese cities, LBJ stunned his audiance by saying, "I will not seek, nor accept my Parties nomination for President" For one of the few times in his life, Johnson walked away from a Political fight, and turned his back on power.

Robert Kennedy, who had originally said he would not stand against Johnson, had announced his intention to run on 16th March, four days after the New Hampshire primary, his candidacy was to be one of both domestic, and international reforms, and on May 7th he won a large vitory in the Indiana primary, and another one 7 days later in Nebraska, McCarthy returned the compliment by winning in Oregon..And so to California, Kennedy wins....

"I would hope now that the Californian primary is finished that we can concentrate on having a dialogue....On what direction we want to go in the United States: what we're going to do in the rural areas of this Country; what we're going to do for those who stil suffer in the US from hunger; what we'er going to do around the rest of the Globe; and whether we;re gonig to continue the policies that have been so unsuccessful in Vietnam, I think we should move in a diffrent direction." Less than three minutes later Robert Kennedy was shot to death.....

Richard Nixon to an aid "McCarthy's the candidate I have nothing to fear from."

Stephen,

McCarthy was recruited to be the anti-war candidate after RFK and others had turned down the role. When I was a 16 year old high school student, and didn't know any better, I enlisted in the McCarthy campaign, coordinating volunteers in South Jersey and Philadelphia. I assisted McCarthy's advance man in Atlantic City during an NAACP convention, and became part of McCarthy's national staff in Chicago the week before the convention.

Working on the Special Projects Committee, which was assigned duties like establishing communications with McCarthy delegates on the floor of the convention (no phones) and other similar tasks. I was later tear gased by the national guard, beat by cops with clubs and arrested by what was later characterized by a Presidentential Commission on Civil Disorders as a "police riot."

Since I was loyal to my candidate and competed against RFK, I was not a true RFK Believer, and despised George McGovern even more for trying to take over RFK's campaign and persona.

The experience radicalized me politically, off the charts - as a non-partisan libertarian.

The small regiment of a few thousand kids like me who came out for McCarthy - the poet-prince, in short order became hundreds of thousands who mobilized the anti-war demonstrations of the late 60s and early 70s and practically drove Nixon from office.

By the time he was escourted from the White House he was in a constant state of fear that stemmed directly from his missappreciation of the power of a few people, like the first group of kids who came out for McCarthy - whose minor successes inspired RFK to run, ran off LBJ and eventually snuffed out the power of Nixon.

So much for Nixon's fear factor.

Bill Kelly

bkjfk3@yahoo.com

If only we could do something today which would obtain similar results with the current criminal in office.

[Guest Stephen Turner]

In January of 1968 LBJs personal satisfaction poll had risen, from a low of 38% the previous Summer, to over 50% and, at this point he looked a dead cert to be re-elected in November.

In the New Hampshire Democratic primary on March 12th, against a background of the escalated bombing of North Vietnam, Senator Eugene McCarthy, the Anti-war candidate, polled 42% of the vote,a much better personal result than many had forecast.

On the 31st of march, whilst announcing a temporary descaling of the bombing of Vietnamese cities, LBJ stunned his audiance by saying, "I will not seek, nor accept my Parties nomination for President" For one of the few times in his life, Johnson walked away from a Political fight, and turned his back on power.

Robert Kennedy, who had originally said he would not stand against Johnson, had announced his intention to run on 16th March, four days after the New Hampshire primary, his candidacy was to be one of both domestic, and international reforms, and on May 7th he won a large vitory in the Indiana primary, and another one 7 days later in Nebraska, McCarthy returned the compliment by winning in Oregon..And so to California, Kennedy wins....

"I would hope now that the Californian primary is finished that we can concentrate on having a dialogue....On what direction we want to go in the United States: what we're going to do in the rural areas of this Country; what we're going to do for those who stil suffer in the US from hunger; what we'er going to do around the rest of the Globe; and whether we;re gonig to continue the policies that have been so unsuccessful in Vietnam, I think we should move in a diffrent direction." Less than three minutes later Robert Kennedy was shot to death.....

Richard Nixon to an aid "McCarthy's the candidate I have nothing to fear from."

Stephen,

McCarthy was recruited to be the anti-war candidate after RFK and others had turned down the role. When I was a 16 year old high school student, and didn't know any better, I enlisted in the McCarthy campaign, coordinating volunteers in South Jersey and Philadelphia. I assisted McCarthy's advance man in Atlantic City during an NAACP convention, and became part of McCarthy's national staff in Chicago the week before the convention.

Working on the Special Projects Committee, which was assigned duties like establishing communications with McCarthy delegates on the floor of the convention (no phones) and other similar tasks. I was later tear gased by the national guard, beat by cops with clubs and arrested by what was later characterized by a Presidentential Commission on Civil Disorders as a "police riot."

Since I was loyal to my candidate and competed against RFK, I was not a true RFK Believer, and despised George McGovern even more for trying to take over RFK's campaign and persona.

The experience radicalized me politically, off the charts - as a non-partisan libertarian.

The small regiment of a few thousand kids like me who came out for McCarthy - the poet-prince, in short order became hundreds of thousands who mobilized the anti-war demonstrations of the late 60s and early 70s and practically drove Nixon from office.

By the time he was escourted from the White House he was in a constant state of fear that stemmed directly from his missappreciation of the power of a few people, like the first group of kids who came out for McCarthy - whose minor successes inspired RFK to run, ran off LBJ and eventually snuffed out the power of Nixon.

So much for Nixon's fear factor.

Bill Kelly

bkjfk3@yahoo.com

Bill, thank you for your personal recolections, Did you know you were participating in "history in the making"? got to ask you this question though, did you get clean for Gene......

[William Kelly]

In January of

Bill, thank you for your personal recolections, Did you know you were participating in "history in the making"? got to ask you this question though, did you get clean for Gene......

I did get "clean for Gene" though it wasn't hard for me at the time - jacket and tie were standard uniform of my HS, as the hippie-radical thing came later.

I wasn't out on the streets of Chicago much, more of on the inside of Conrad Hilton and Convention Hall, but all the action was happening below our hotel window. The incidents I became involved in were covered in either Mailer, The Walker Report (another Commission) and An American Melodrama - the Presidential Campaign of 1968.

In short order, I was bailed out by Angelo Erricatti, a friend of my father and Democratic Party Bigwig, later mayor of Camden and New Jersey state legislator, indicted in ABSCAM and did time.

Until he died, I stayed in contact with Gene McCarthy through his long time secretary, a neighbor of mine. I once tape recorded a telephone conversation I had with him and have a transcript of it around here somewhere.

And no to history. Teenagers don't know what history is, and I certainly didn't. I did have a nack for anticipating action and positioning myself at certain mega events - Woodstock, Freemantle, 1988, and Berlin 1990, fun times, but I came out of Chicago pretty beat up. It had to be taken as an educational experience but I didn't get any credit for it.

BK