Chicago Seven Conspiracy Trial

Question 1

Chicago Seven Year(s)

Answer 1

1969-1970

Question 2

Baby Boom and the Suburbs

Answer 2

After WWII, people came home and had a lot of kids that became the baby boom, population exploded. Suburbs began to be built, starting with Levittown, as a cheap way to move families out of the city.

Question 3

LBJ, the Great Society, and Vietnam

Answer 3

LBJ was very sympathetic to civil rights, wanted to be the next FDR. The US got mired in the Vietnam war, and his popularity got a lot worse.

Question 4

Port Huron Statement

Answer 4

Written by Tom Hayden while in jail after a protest, it called for great racial, political, and social change. It became the main document of the SDS.

Question 5

Tom Hayden

Answer 5

Inspired by college student protests, he founded Students for a Democratic Society with 35 others, and was a freedom rider who challenged segregation. He was an organizer of the Chicago protest and was tried.

Question 6

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)

Answer 6

The SDS helped lead and support student movements on campuses, especially anti-war movements.

Question 7

The New Left

Answer 7

Challenged the establishment over issues of alienation, women’s rights, anti-war, anti-materialism, civil rights, etc. Different than the old left that focused on unionization, the new left was mostly youth.

Question 8

The Counterculture

Answer 8

many youth and college age people rejected social norms in terms of clothing, language, appearance, sexual behavior, and drug use.

Question 9

Summer of Love

Answer 9

1967, it started in Ashbury, San Francisco. Young people of the counterculture descended on San Francisco and realized they were part of a movement, buoyed by the city’s music, and decided to change America.

Question 10

Communes

Answer 10

People who were unrelated would create communes and communities where they lived together, raised children together, and had looser family formats.

Question 11

1968

Answer 11

Many political events: The north Vietnamese Tet Offensive, LBJ does not run for reelection, MLK and RFK are assassinated, Columbia University protests, and more. Tensions in the US are very high and it seems to be splitting apart.

Question 12

Tet Offensive

Answer 12

On the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, North Vietnam stages a major offensive attacking 100 towns and villages simultaneously.

Question 13

MLK and RFK Assissinations

Answer 13

Both supporters of civil rights and progress, they were assassinated within a year of each other, leading to huge protests and riots from African Americans and the youth.

Question 14

Yippies

Answer 14

Youth International Party, its members were primarily youth who were cultural radicals. They protested the institution, and performed large antics. Leaders Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin organized the Chicago protest and wanted a festival of life.

Question 15

The Mobe

Answer 15

The National Mobilization to end the War was primarily youth, but wanted to gain political power to end the war in Vietnam. Worked with Yippies to plan the protest.

Question 16

Black Panthers

Answer 16

The Black Panther Party for Self Defense was primarily African Americans who wanted civil rights and an end to police violence. Bobby Seale went to Chicago to give a speech but did not do any planning.

Question 17

Mayor Richard Daley

Answer 17

Chicago’s democrat mayor who valued law, order, and the police. He told the police involved in the riot to shoot if provoked. He denied protestors permits and prepared the police force with ammunition and troops. Was also heard shouting antisemitic comments at the convention.

Question 18

Abbie Hoffman

Answer 18

Leader of the Yippie party, he was arrested for having F* written on his forehead, and was heard by undercover police to have said he was going to f* up the police and the convention.

Question 19

Jerry Rubin

Answer 19

A member of the Yippies, he was heard to have yelled “kill the pigs, kill the cops” by an undercover cop, and was tried for conspiracy.

Question 20

Bobby Seale

Answer 20

Founder of the Black Panther Party, he was asked to speak in Chicago and was tried despite not being an organizer. He was denied a lawyer and chance to represent himself, then tied up and gagged in front of the court. He was eventually removed from the case.

Question 21

Ramsey Clark

Answer 21

LBJs Attorney General, he chose not to prosecute after the protests because he felt it was a police riot. He was called to the stand but his testimony was ruled inadmissible because it broke executive privilege, which was false.

Question 22

William Kunstler

Answer 22

An ACLU lawyer famous for defending radicals, he represented the defendants and was very antagonized and antagonistic towards Judge Hoffman.

Question 23

Judge Julius Hoffman

Answer 23

73 years old, he attended law school before WWI. He was known as a moderate judge, but there was a clear generation gap. He frequently refused the defense when they tried to do things, and ordered Seale bound and gagged for exercising his right to a lawyer.

Question 24

Voir Dire (Chicago)

Answer 24

Defense asked about ties to law enforcement, they wanted to ask questions that would reveal possible sympathy to youth ideals but the judge refused. Two men and 8 women were selected, most middle aged and middle class. One of the youngest was dismissed after her family received a note ostensibly from the black panther party claiming she was being watched.

Question 25

Brandenburg vs Ohio

Answer 25

Klan leader Charles Brandenburg was prosecuted for saying things that might promote violence. Supreme court ruled that as long as it was not encouraging immediate violence, it was protected under free speech.

Question 26

Civil Rights Act of 1968

Answer 26

The last act Johnson created before he left office, it prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, or nationality. Opponents added the Rap Brown law as a provision.

Question 27

The Rap Brown Law

Answer 27

Addition to the 1968 Civil rights Act, it prohibited anyone from crossing state lines to start or participate in a riot. Named after Rap Brown whose speech led to a riot in MD, this brand new law was what the Chicago Seven were tried under.

Question 28

Hoffman’s Contempt Orders

Answer 28

While jury is deliberating, Hoffman cites them with 159 counts of contempt against him and thus the court that he took note of. All defendants and Kunstler have been charged, some for up to 5 years. most of these are later disbanded.

Question 29

Woodstock

Answer 29

400,000 young people attended a concert of youth music in NY. Meant to be a 3 day display of peace, love, and youth culture.

Question 30

Richard Nixon and the Silent Majority

Answer 30

Richard Nixon ran on a campaign of speaking for the average American, the silent majority, then turned around and broke many of those promises and began bombing not just Vietnam but Cambodia.