1968

by Mark Kurlansky

184 “The Know-Nothing Bohemians.” Partisan Review (spring 1958).

  184 “Beautify America, Get a Haircut.” Life, May 31, 1968.

  185 “Nobody wants a hippie for President,” The New York Times, March 16, 1968.

  186 “everything except how to be a man.” Ibid., October 22, 1968.

  186 double between 1968 and 1985. Ibid., April 7, 1968.

  187 “provides the image for the kids.” Ibid., January 11, 1968.

  187 interrogate someone while under the influence of LSD. Isserman and Kazan, America Divided, 156. Also see Martin A. Lee and Bruce Shlain, Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD: The C.I.A., the Sixties and Beyond (New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1992).

  187 Nasser and Cuba’s Fidel Castro, Lee and Shlain, Acid Dreams, 35.

  188 “found God and discovered the secret of the Universe.” Timothy Leary, Flashbacks: An Autobiography (Los Angeles: Tarcher, 1983), 159.

  188 chromosome damage. Ibid., 154.

  188 an acid-doused sugar cube. Charles Kaiser, 1968 in America: Music, Politics, Chaos, Counterculture, and the Shaping of a Generation (New York: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1988), 206.

  188 “Beethoven coming to the supermarket.” Raskin, For the Hell of It, 110.

  189 “an erotic politician.” David Allyn, Make Love, Not War—The Sexual Revolution: An Unfettered History (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 2000), 131.

  189 “That’s what you came for, isn’t it.” Ibid. Quoted from James Riordan and Jerry Prochinicky, Break on Through: The Life and Death of Jim Morrison (New York: William Morrow & Co., 1991), 186.

  189 “it’s supposed to make you fuck.” Isserman and Kazin, America Divided, 161. Quoted from Godfrey Hodgson, America in Our Time (New York: Random House, 1976), 341.

  190 “the Golden Age of fucking,” Raskin, For the Hell of It, 83.

  190 Anne Bancroft and Dustin Hoffman in bed together. The New York Times, January 9, 1968.

  191 “shook their heads in amusement.” Ibid., February 18, 1968.

  191 “public interest in sex on the college campus is insatiable.” Life, May 30, 1968.

  192 “150 years of American civilization.” Ed Sanders, Shards of God: A Novel of the Yippies (New York: Grove Press, 1970), introduction.

  198 “the correct grammatical ‘whom.’ ” Gitlin, The Sixties, 307.

  201 with rice and beans. Tom Hayden, correspondence with author, June 2003.

  201 “the torment of their campus generation.” Tom Hayden, Rebel: A Personal History of the 1960s (Los Angeles: Red Hen Press, 2003), 253.

  201 “turning point of history?” Hayden, Reunion, 275.

  202 underground high school newspapers. Diane Divoky, Saturday Review, February 15, 1969.

  203 with its own steering committee, The New York Times, April 27, 1968.

  203 “no such justification.” Ibid., April 26, 1968.

  204 to be abandoned by the end of April. Life, April 19, 1968.

  207 lay about the grass unattended. The Nation, June 10, 1968.

  207 “that have long festered on campus.” Time, May 3, 1968.

  208 “My son, the revolutionary.” Ibid., May 31, 1968.

  208 president had been forced out by the students. Ibid., August 30, 1968.

  208 “ ‘Create two, three, many Columbias’ ” Ramparts, June 15, 1968.

  CHAPTER 12: Monsieur, We Think You Are Rotten

  209 “I shall die sometime.” Life, January 19, 1968.

  210 “France is bored.” Le Monde, March 15, 1968.

  210 “British their financial and economic crisis.” Paris Match, March 23, 1968.

  211 American companies, with $14 billion. Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, The American Challenge (New York: Atheneum, 1968), 3.

  211 “for it defines our future.” Ibid., 32.

  212 “Che Guevara poster on his wall.” Life, May 17, 1968.

  214 “to shut myself up with grief.” Anthony Hartley, Gaullism: The Rise and Fall of a Political Movement (New York: Outbridge & Dienstfrey, 1971), 155.

  214 erecting makeshift barricades. Hervé Hamon and Patrick Rotman, Génération, vol. 1: Les Années de rêve (Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1987), 43–44.

  215 “it was not over.” Alain Geismar, interviewed June 2002.

  216 “the consumer society that eats itself.” J. R. Tournoux, Le Mois de Mai du général (Paris: Librairie Plon, 1969), 23.

  216 did not begin broadcasting until 1957. Gérard Filoche, 68–98 Histoire sans fin (Paris: Flammarion, 1998), 10.

  216 “He understands the medium better than anyone else.” Life, May 17, 1968.

  217 was again observed. Tournoux, Le Mois de Mai du général, 14.

  217 rendered incapable of thinking. Dark Star, ed., Beneath the Paving Stones: Situationists and the Beach, May 1968 (Edinburgh: Ak Press, 2001), 9–10.

  217 half as many degrees Tournoux, Le Mois de Mai du général, 48–51, 87.

  218 “who had grown too old.” Alain Geismar, interviewed June 2002.

  219 “worthy of Hitler’s youth minister.” Harmon and Rotman, Génération, vol. 1, 401.

  219 in the old German style of obedience. André Harris and Alain Sédouy, Juif & Français (Paris: Éditions Grasset & Fasquelle, 1979), 189–91.

  221 “would have been it.” Daniel Cohn-Bendit, interviewed March 2002.

  222 “ ‘we think you are rotten.’ ” Andrew Feenberg and Jim Freedman, When Poetry Ruled the Streets: The French May Events of 1968 (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2001), 8.

  222 the CRS, to Paris. Tournoux, Le Mois de Mai du général, 25.

  223 “who are waiting for the government to protect them.” Ibid., 30.

  223 Georges Marchais wrote. L’Humanité, May 3, 1968.

  224 “right moment and the right place.” Daniel Cohn-Bendit, interviewed March 2003.

  224 “pictures of each other on television.” Ibid.

  225 “I would say ‘I don’t know.’” Ibid.

  226 “no planning.” François Cerutti, interviewed June 2002.

  226 He was a bureaucrat, not a policeman. Maurice Grimaud, En Mai fais ce qu’il te plaît (Paris: Éditions Stock, 1977), 21.

  226 “astonished the police officials.” Ibid., 18.

  226 “. . . covered with blood.” Le Monde, May 12–13, 1968.

  226 “The way it did with the Black Panthers.” Daniel Cohn-Bendit, interviewed March 2003.

  227 flyers had been intended as a joke, Tournoux, Le Mois de Mai du général, 33–34.

  227 “Everyone was talking.” Eleanor Bakhtadze, interviewed June 2002.

  227 “freedom of today began in ’68.” Radith Gersmar, interviewed June 2002.

  229 The Jewish Museum’s show, The New York Times, December 15, 1968.

  229 “I was the media’s darling.” Daniel Cohn-Bendit, interviewed March 2003.

  230 “more importance than it deserves.” Tournoux, Le Mois de Mai du général, 94–95.

  232 “That’s just the way it is.” Ibid., 246.

  233 “we are going to do today.” Harmon and Rotman, Génération, vol. 1, 458.

  234 the entire city of Berkeley. The New York Times, July 1, 1968.

  235 “do it again in ’68.” Alain Krivine, interviewed June 2002.

  235 “I no longer had any hold over my own government.” Hartley, Gaullism, 288.

  235 “a position to give everyone advice.” Le Monde, June 27, 1968.

  236 readers to fool them! Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Le Gauchisme: Remède à la maladie sénile du communisme (Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1968), 11.

  236 “reconstruct myself.” Daniel Cohn-Bendit, interviewed March 2002.

  237 are always going to the university. Harmon and Rotman, Génération, vol. 1, 420.

  CHAPTER 13: The Place to Be

  238 would not have been allowed to win. Harry Schwartz, Prague’s 200 Days: The Struggle for Democracy in Czechoslovakia (London: Pall Mall Press, 1969), 88.

  239 “for my family’s needs and my taste.” Dubce
k, Hope Dies Last, 151.

  239 “solving important problems.” Schwartz, Prague’s 200 Days, 90.

  239 thought were unacceptable responses. Time, March 22, 1968.

  239 “too late, to put the breaks on?” Paris Match, March 23, 1968.

  240 “custom of male kissing.” Dubcek, Hope Dies Last, 101.

  240 “harm they are causing me?” MlynárNightfrost in Prague, 103.

  241 they staged one that lasted for hours. Schwartz, Prague’s 200 Days, 120–22.

  241 several innocent people was about to be revealed. Ibid., 123.

  242 “and that is democracy on recall.” The New York Times, May 6, 1968.

  243 I have no apartment, Schwartz, Prague’s 200 Days, 144.

  244 they had been forewarned. The New York Times, May 11, 1987.

  245 “both official hits of the time.” Berman, A Tale of Two Utopias, 230.

  246 Brubeck “with a touch of bossa nova.” The New York Times, May 28, 1968.

  246 Clive Barnes’s review. Ibid., May 6, 1968.

  246 psychedelic rock band posters. Berman, A Tale of Two Utopias, 233.

  247 5 percent said they wanted capitalism. Jaroslaw A. Piekalkiewicz, Public Opinion Polling in Czechoslovakia, 1968–69: Results and Analysis of Surveys Conducted During the Dubcek Era (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1972), 4.

  247 7 percent said they were dissatisfied. Ibid., 34.

  248 to argue against invasion. Jiri Valenta, Soviet Intervention in Czecho-slovakia 1968: Anatomy of a Decision (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991), 66–70.

  249 lists of people to be arrested. Schwartz, Prague’s 200 Days, 178.

  250 although sometimes a bribe would help. The New York Times, May 5, 1968.

  250 “the right place to be this summer.” Ibid., August 12, 1968.

  CHAPTER 14: Places Not to Be

  255 “political rights of Negroes.” Bernard Diedrerich and Al Burt, Papa Doc and the Tonton Macoutes (Port-au-Prince: Éditions Henri Deschamps, 1986; original McGraw-Hill, 1969), 383.

  255 killed or captured by Haitian army troops. Ibid., 380.

  255 sentenced to death. The New York Times, August 8, 1968.

  255 more dangerous than Vietnam. The New York Times Magazine, May 5, 1968.

  255 Nixon would make the same point, Life, November 22, 1968.

  256 within five years. The New York Times, July 24, 1968.

  256 should give it all back. Paris Match, March 30, 1968.

  256 Originally, such raids by Palestinians, Oren, Six Days of War, 24.

  257 lost all connection to the outside world. Life, July 12, 1968.

  257 It was reported that the Nigerian force, The New York Times, May 27, 1968.

  259 white ants for protein. Time, August 2, 1968.

  259 a new one dug for the next day. The New York Times, August 1, 1968.

  260 “other airlines will join in.” Ibid., August 14, 1968.

  260 on the European market. Time, August 9, 1968.

  260 “Negroes are massacred . . .” Life, July 12, 1968.

  260 “some starving white people to feed.” The New York Times, September 30, 1968.

  CHAPTER 15: The Craft of Dull Politics

  261 John Updike said, Norman Mailer, Miami and the Siege of Chicago, 15.

  261 “Yippie! was really in trouble.” Abbie Hoffman (“Free”), Revolution for the Hell of It (New York: Dial Press, 1968), 104.

  261 not given to admiring, Hayden, Rebel, 244.

  262 as a frightening bad omen. Thomas, Robert Kennedy: His Life and Times, 346.

  262 expected it to be himself. Ibid., 276.

  262 told historian Arthur Schlesinger, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1978), 895.

  262 Romain Gary, Le Figaro, June 6, 1968.

  265 “leaderless and impotent.” The New York Times, March 22, 1968.

  266 “on that particular statement.” Ibid., May 22, 1968.

  266 By June a petition drive, Ibid., June 2, 1968.

  266 “giving aid and comfort to the enemy.” Reader’s Digest, April 1968.

  267 “dullest convention anyone could remember.” Mailer, Miami and the Siege of Chicago, 15.

  268 news of Martin Luther King’s assassination. The New York Times, October 6, 1968.

  268 “cruel and unusual punishment.” Jack Gould, The New York Times, August 9, 1968.

  CHAPTER 16: Phantom Fuzz Down by the Stockyards

  270 $35 million had been spent. Mike Royko, Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago (New York: Plume, 1988; original 1971), 161.

  270 written about in major newspapers. The New York Times, March 24, 1968.

  273 local Chicago youth. John Schultz, No One Was Killed: Documentation and Meditation: Convention Week, Chicago—August 1968 (Chicago: Big Table Publishing Company, 1998; original 1969), 2.

  274 “recent Berkeley and Paris incidents.” Raskin, For the Hell of It, 149.

  274 Judge William Lynch, Daley’s former law partner, Royko, Boss, 179.

  274 “an actor for TV.” Schultz, No One Was Killed, 49.

  275 Food! Ham! Parks belong to pigs. Ibid., 53.

  276 Sun-Times and Daily News . . . only scared the police. Royko, Boss, 179.

  277 “the idealism of the young,” Schultz, No One Was Killed, 68.

  278 “I can hardly wait,” he said. Carl Solberg, Hubert Humphrey: A Biography (New York: W. W. Norton, 1984), 356–57.

  278 terrified of taking on a Kennedy as was Nixon. Ibid., 357–58.

  278 backed off until their posted 11:00 curfew. Raskin, For the Hell of It, 159.

  279 a McCarthy campaign sticker on it. Schultz, No One Was Killed, 116.

  280 “See you at eleven o’clock, kid.” Ibid., 103.

  281 “are basically sound,” Solberg, Hubert Humphrey, 356.

  282 stuffing them into paddy wagons. Schultz, No One Was killed, 171–76.

  282 Mailer reported. Mailer, Miami and the Siege of Chicago, 171.

  283 to drive out hypocrisy. Schumacher, Dharma Lion, 516.

  284 “That’s part of the Chicago style. . . .” Chicago Sun-Times, December 12, 1976.

  284 Daley angrily insisted, The New York Times, August 30, 1968.

  284 “I was busy receiving guests,” Solberg, Hubert Humphrey, 364.

  284 “We are going to look into all this.” Ibid., 365.

  285 “the advance guard of anarchy.” The New York Times, August 30, 1968.

  285 “probably used too much restraint.” Ibid.

  285 Is it any wonder police had to take action? Solberg, Hubert Humphrey, 370.

  285 “Barnard girls” and “Columbia men.” Life, November 22, 1968.

  286 “Nixon will be elected President.” Raskin, For the Hell of It, 170.

  286 Vietnam had its worst week, The New York Times, August 30, 1968.

  CHAPTER 17: The Sorrow of Prague East

  287 Alexander Dubcek, August 1990, Valenta, Soviet Intervention in Czechoslovakia 1968, Dubcek’s introduction, x.

  288 solidify in law the achievements of the Prague Spring. Dubcek, Hope Dies Last, 173–78.

  288 Soviet military support. The New York Times, August 22, 1968.

  288 “It is my personal tragedy.” Schwartz, Prague’s 200 Days, 217.

  288 “So they did it after all—and to me!” Mlynár, Nightfrost in Prague, 146.

  289 spread to his own country. Ibid., 155–56.

  290 “such things to our leadership.” Valenta, Soviet Intervention in Czechoslovakia 1968, 173–75.

  290 4,600 tanks and 165,000 soldiers of the Warsaw Pact, Kieran Williams, The Prague Spring and Its Aftermath: Czechoslovak Politics—1968–1970 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 112.

  291 including small armored vehicles, fuel, The New York Times, September 1, 1968.

  291 it had all been a misunderstanding. Dubcek, Hope Dies Last, 182.

  292 manager had been a Soviet agent. Ibid., 183.

  293
in gun barrels. Colin Chapman, August 21st: The Rape of Czechoslovakia (London: Cassell, 1968), 8.

  294 five thousand American tourists. Schwartz, Prague’s 200 Days, 214.

  294 broadcast . . . around the world. The New York Times, August 22, 1968.

  295 Jack Gould wrote, Ibid., August 22 and 23, 1968.

  296 shouted, “Get out!” Schwartz, Prague’s 200 Days, 220.

  296 the leaflets scattered over the Czech lands turned out to be, Ibid., 220–21.

  297 plotting to overthrow Poland. Williams, The Prague Spring and Its Aftermath, 139.

  297 “progressives of the entire world.” The New York Times, September 28, 1968.

  297 reports of gunfire exchanged, Ibid., September 1, 1968.

  298 “by an elite of her children.” Ibid., August 25, 1968.

  299 progress that was being made in U.S.-Soviet negotiations, Ibid., August 22, 1968.

  299 other high-level Czech leaders. Schwartz, Prague’s 200 Days, 230.

  299 “as they did in 1945.” Mlynár, Nightfrost in Prague, 197.

  300 “Ah, Mr. President, but how beautiful it would be,” Ibid., 197.

  300 slipping in a bathroom. Ibid., 277.

  301 Miroslav Beránek was shot, Williams, The Prague Spring and Its Aftermath, 158.

  301 “with whom you are dealing?” Mlynár, Nightfrost in Prague, 232.

  302 refusing to negotiate without him. Schwartz, Prague’s 200 Days, 231.

  303 “sacrifices of World War II.” Mlynár, Nightfrost in Prague, 237–41.

  305 refugee status in other countries. Time, October 4, 1968.

  CHAPTER 18: The Ghastly Strain of a Smile

  307 “We also all felt, well, grown up;” Robin Morgan, Going Too Far: The Personal Chronicle of a Feminist (New York: Random House, 1977), 62–63.

  308 because violence seemed unlikely. Todd Gitlin, The Whole World Is Watching: Mass Media in the Making and Unmaking of the New Left (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980), 182.

  308 Morgan had her regrets. Morgan, Going Too Far, 63.

  308 Shana Alexander wrote in Life: Life, September 20, 1968.

  309 “from Mayor Daley’s kiss.” Morgan, Going Too Far, 64–65.

  309 a “Nixon for President” button. The New York Times, September 8, 1968.

  309 “let’s stop trying to prove it over and over again.” Sara Evans, Personal Politics: The Roots of Women’s Liberation in the Civil Rights Movement & the New Left (New York: Vintage Books, 1980), 4.