CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - As the city prepares for this summer's Democratic National Convention, it's also remembering Chicago’s historic 1968 Democratic National Convention.
Wednesday night at the Chicago Cultural Center, the Chicago Film Archives and the Film Group are presenting “The Whole World is Watching: Stories from the Front Line.”
Along with the short films from the 1968 convention, there will be a panel of Chicagoans who were there. It will consist of journalists, filmmakers and activists. Bill Ayers, who was with Students for a Democratic Society at time, will participate.
“I think that convention was a moment when the anti-war forces were relatively young, the anti-Vietnam War forces, and, yet, we were determined to take the moment when the whole world was watching and bring the war to the eyes of the world,” Ayers said.
He said there are parallels to President Lyndon Johnson and Vietnam in 1968 and President Biden and the Israel-Hamas War today.
“Joe Biden has had a very, very successful presidency by his terms, and I think he’s at risk of also misunderstanding, misreading this moment in the world,” said Ayers.
Don Rose, a veteran journalist and political advisor who served on the 1968 National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, will also be among those speaking on Wednesday.
Listen to WBBM Newsradio now on Audacy!
Sign up and follow WBBM Newsradio
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | TikTok