Marching On…

Watching the television coverage of the George Floyd protests takes me back to the 60’s when my wife and I participated in many civil rights and anti-war marches in Washington D.C.

Senator Eugene McCarthy, Larry Kamanitz and Md. State Senator Alan M. Resnick

Watching the television coverage of the George Floyd protests takes me back to the 60’s when my wife and I participated in many civil rights and anti-war marches in Washington D.C.

My first march was a protest against the Vietnam War, and in support of nuclear disarmament in Washington, D.C., where Dr. Spock was the main speaker. Dr. Spock was a pediatrician whose books, at that time, were the encyclopedia for all phases of child rearing. He was also the chairman for the Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (SANE). My wife did not accompany me on that march, and she was worried about my safety. To appease her, I wore a hat and sunglasses so the FBI couldn’t identify me. They were known to infiltrate civil rights and pro-peace organizations in order to intimidate their members. I have photos of that march, where men were wearing shirts and ties in the heat! The crowd size was about 500,000.

After that, my wife and I attended a peaceful civil rights demonstration in Lafayette Park in D.C. Living in Baltimore about 45 miles from D.C., it was convenient to go with groups on bus trips. We then participated in several protests against the Vietnam War, and brought our children in strollers. Our friends asked us if we were afraid. Of course, we were nervous, but I would tease them by responding that we marched with the nuns. Back then, we were able to protest on the sidewalk in front of the White House. Up until recently when Trump fenced it in, Lafayette Square has always been the Hyde Park of the United States, a place for citizens to peacefully congregate and express their opinions.

All of the marches and protests we attended were peaceful during the day. We enjoyed the speakers and the performances of Pete Seeger, Peter, Paul and Mary, Joan Baez, Judy Collins and others. We would usually leave by sundown to avoid the unrest that would sometimes occur after dark, sometimes walking miles to get to the Greyhound Bus station to take us back to Baltimore. If any unrest occurred, it was usually instigated by a small group of agitators. Like today, the press gave a disproportionate amount of coverage to the violence. It was what I like to call “false equivalence”. The hundred or so agitators received equal coverage to the million peaceful protestors.

"I will never forget my experience at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. As the treasurer for the Maryland Citizens for Eugene (Gene) McCarthy, I was able to attend the convention. My assignment was to engage and take delegates to meet Paul Newman."

The actor was a McCarthy delegate from Connecticut, whose job was to convince other delegates to vote for McCarthy and/or the minority Peace Plank (an addition to the Democratic Party platform calling for an end to the Vietnam War). Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful in both. On a side note, I actually have some footage of Newman in black and white super 8 film!

When I first arrived in Chicago and checked into the hotel, the violence had already begun. Chicago Mayor Daley had the notion that the anti-war activists, known as the “clean Gene McCarthy kids” were just there for the publicity. He believed if the press left, so would the McCarthy kids. So, on the first day of the convention, the Chicago police used their billy clubs to beat up members of the press. For some reason, that was not played up until Dan Rather was forcibly ejected from the convention hall on several days later on Wednesday.

"On Wednesday afternoon, I was trapped as I walked through the demonstrations in Grant Park on my way back to the hotel and was teargassed. It was not pleasant! The police were overreacting to some of the agitators, and it was getting scary."

My wife was worried, as she did not from me until late that night. Dick Gregory (a popular African American comedian) had the approval of the National Guard to lead an anti-war march with a group of delegates and their supporters. On the lighter side, when stopped by the police, he responded that “this is not a march, these are my friends and I invited them to my house for coffee!”

That Wednesday evening my friend June, the Chair of the Maryland McCarthy campaign, wanted to talk to Hubert Humphrey. Humphrey’s brother was a doctor in Baltimore, and she knew both. So, at her wish she and I were chaperoned through the alleys, to Humphrey’s hotel as the demonstrations were getting violent. We took the elevator to his suite. As only she could do, she asked to speak with “Hubert”. She was willing have the McCarthy campaign support Humphrey if he would say something to stop the violence. We were not allowed to meet with him as they claimed he was “sleeping”. He was afraid to speak out in fear that he would lose Lyndon Johnson’s support.

We went home on Thursday, shell shocked and vowing never to go back to Chicago or work for the Humphrey campaign. However, we did end up voting for him. In retrospect, if the McCarthy team had taken a more active role in the campaign for Humphrey, the election may have turned out differently.

On the positive side, the Democratic Party appointed Senator George McGovern as the leader of a committee to review the rules of delegate selection. As a result, state delegations became more inclusive and diverse. On the plane ride home, we decided to form the New Democratic Coalition (NDC) of Maryland to support more progressive candidates.