The Democratic National Convention is set to kick off in Chicago on Monday, Aug. 19, hosting thousands of delegates from the country’s 50 states, District of Columbia and its territories.
With President Joe Biden dropping out of the race less than a month before the convention, Vice President Kamala Harris now tops the Democratic ticket. Having become the first woman, Black person or South Asian person to hold vice presidency, Harris now has the chance to make history as the first woman, the first Black woman and the first South Asian American to hold the nation’s highest office.
For an already unusual election, with an incumbent vice president running against a past president and a failed assassination attempt taking place just days ahead of the Republican National Convention, this year’s DNC has also gained national attention for its similarities with 1968’s DNC.
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Also hosted in Chicago, the DNC that took place in the summer of 1968 fell during a large period of civil unrest for the United States at the height of the Vietnam War and was most notable for its string of protests turned violent.
With public contention over the nation’s involvement and funding of both the Israel-Hamas war and Russia-Ukraine war — as well as debate over recent issues such as student loan forgiveness, women’s health and reproductive rights and education — many predict similar protests in Chicago during the event.
But protests or not, Elon professor of political science and policy studies Carrie Eaves said this imagery is something to keep in mind heading into the convention.
“It's interesting that the Democrats have chosen to go back to Chicago. They had a very tumultuous convention in Chicago in 1968 that led to the slate of reforms in our current nomination process, so it's interesting that Chicago was this sort of highway of drama in 1968 with violence in the streets and a lot of frustration on the convention floor,” Eaves said. “Here we are returning to Chicago in 2024 — and I hope there's no violence and the Democrats seem united — but it is again, this moment of the people for the party are changing, and they're not choosing a candidate in a traditional way. So those dual images of 1968 and 2024 Chicago is just something to keep in mind.”
According to Jillian Auditori, also an Elon professor of political science and policy studies, the main differences between 1968 and 2024 revolve around the scope of turmoil the country was facing 56 years ago.
“When I think about this year's DNC, I'm not sure that the comparison to 1968 is that relevant or accurate,” Auditori said. “1968 was a very different world, and we had the assassination of Martin Luther King in April of that year, followed by the assassination of Robert Kennedy in June of that year. The Vietnam War wasn't going well at all for the United States and for those who were deployed there. … I just feel like the scale of the unrest was very different in 1968 as compared to today.”
Yet, the party’s last-minute nominee changes should not be overlooked, according to Eaves.
“Since 1972, we've arrived at the convention for both parties with a nominee who's been through a primary process and become the nominee,” Eaves said. “Vice President Kamala Harris became the nominee in a sort of an untraditional way, without going through primaries or caucuses in the 50 states. It's an unusual way for a nominee to arrive at the convention — not having gone through all those elections over and over throughout the spring, and not having introduced themselves to the public through that first phase of a campaign. So that makes it incredibly unusual in our sort of modern era of presidential nomination campaigns.”
While connections can be made between this convention and its 56-year-old counterpart, Eaves also said the situation would have been much more similar if the party had not rallied behind Harris.
“If the party had not quickly lined up behind Kamala Harris, then I think there would be many more parallels to 1968,” Eaves said. “In 1968, you did not have primaries in all 50 states and the territories. Primaries were sort of optional if you wanted to run in them, and the decision was made on the floor of the convention. And so if the party hadn't aligned behind Kamala Harris, then this would look more like that. But it seems, from everything I'm seeing out there, that there is a lot of unity, and I guess a united front in this desire to beat Trump. So the party is not as divided as it could have been.”
After securing the Democratic ticket through a virtual party vote in early August — yet another unusual occurrence for a party to choose its nominee — Harris went on to pick Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota as her running mate for vice president on the same day. With both Democratic nominees new to the campaign trail, Eaves said she is interested in how they market themselves during the convention’s four days.
“I'm sure they've had to change the plan and schedule in the last three weeks with a new nominee. It'll be interesting to see how they juggle this idea of celebrating, I would assume, President Biden's tenure in office and this decision to step aside, and then they very quickly have to turn their attention,” Eaves said. “People who haven't been paying careful attention to politics, often will know the name of the vice president or know very little about the vice president. So they have a significant job to do, to introduce her to the country and to introduce her morals.”
Auditori agreed and advised members of the Elon community to tune in or go back and watch both the DNC and the RNC to better stay informed for the upcoming election.
“It's an important convention to watch to see who’s going to be speaking, to better understand what Harris and Waltz stand for and then compare it to what we learned at the Republican convention from their speakers and from their nominees, and make a more informed decision,” Auditori said. “I would encourage students to go back and watch portions of that convention and make up their own minds about what their takeaways are.”
Eaves also emphasized the importance of the Elon community getting involved. For many Elon students, this will be their first chance to participate and vote in a presidential election.
“For the Elon community, for many students, it’s the first opportunity they'll have to vote. So it's the time to sort of begin to tune it. And now we know who the two candidates will be, and so it's time to pay attention to what policies they advocate for and think about who you would prefer to be the president,” Eaves said. “That’s certainly a significant choice and a decision that should be made carefully.”
In an effort to appeal to a younger voter demographic, the DNC has also invited influencers to experience and capture the convention for the first time in history.
Beyond each party’s convention, Eaves also pointed to the debate between Trump and Harris that was recently announced for September.
“I would tell Elon students to watch the debates and then turn off the television and make up your mind for yourself. The conventions are a little different, but you want to be careful about just taking on what you hear. Make up your own minds, do your research, think about what you agree with and disagree with,” Eaves said. “There's a lot of information out there. Be careful. Do your homework a little bit and make sure that that information is accurate. Just because you see it in one place, doesn't mean it's accurate.”
According to Auditori, there will be a variety of events hosted on campus this fall for students and community members to get involved.
“I know that we have several election-related events scheduled for this fall, and I'm hoping that that gets students excited about the importance of their vote and actually deciding to vote in November,” Auditori said. “Elon is not a very politically charged campus, and I don't expect that to change this fall, but I would love to see more political activism on our campus.”