The Chicago Seven are found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
The 1968 Democratic National Convention was held August 2629 at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Earlier that year incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson had announced he would not seek reelection, thus making the purpose of the convention to select a new presidential nominee for the Democratic Party. The keynote speaker was Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii. Vice President Hubert Humphrey and Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine were nominated for president and vice president, respectively. The most contentious issues of the convention were the continuing American military involvement in the Vietnam War and voting reform, particularly expanding the right to vote for draft-age soldiers (age 18) who were unable to vote as the voting age was 21. The convention also marked a turning point where previously idle groups such as youth and minorities became more involved in politics and voting.
The convention of 1968 was held during a year of riots, political turbulence, and mass civil unrest. The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in April of that year inflamed racial tensions to an unprecedented level. King assassination riots in more than 100 cities followed and marked the end of the civil rights movement. The convention also followed the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy on June 5. Kennedy's assassination derailed the convention, paving the way for Humphrey. Both Kennedy and Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota had been running for the Democratic nomination at the time. The HumphreyMuskie ticket would be defeated in the presidential election by the Republican ticket of Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew.
The Chicago Seven (originally Chicago Eight, also Conspiracy Eight/Conspiracy Seven) were seven defendants—Rennie Davis, David Dellinger, John Froines, Tom Hayden, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, and Lee Weiner—charged by the United States federal government with conspiracy, crossing state lines with intent to incite a riot, and other charges related to anti-Vietnam War and countercultural protests in Chicago, Illinois during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. The Chicago Eight became the Chicago Seven after the case against co-defendant Bobby Seale was declared a mistrial.
All of the defendants were charged with and acquitted of conspiracy; Davis, Dellinger, Hayden, Hoffman, and Rubin were charged with and convicted of crossing state lines with intent to incite a riot; Froines and Weiner were charged with teaching demonstrators how to construct incendiary devices and acquitted of those charges. All of the convictions were later reversed on appeal.
While the jury deliberated, Judge Julius Hoffman convicted the defendants and their attorneys for contempt of court and sentenced them to jail sentences ranging from less than three months to more than four years. These convictions were later reversed on appeal, and some were retried before a different judge.
Since the beginning of the trial in 1969, the defendants and their attorneys have been depicted in a variety of art forms, including film, music, and theater.