The Chicago authorities countered this positive event with great violence. Mayor Richard M. Daley called in five thousand National Guardsmen and ten thousand police. The Chicago police actively encouraged public citizens to become armed vigilantes and keep the protesters in line. Huge stocks of Mace and tear gas were prepared for use, and all water sources were protected by armed guards -- after the Yippies joked that they would pour liquid acid into Chicago's water supply.

To the American television viewers watching the convention on TV, Chicago appeared to be a bloodbath of lunacy on the streets. Ferocious police attacked the longhaired, topless, pot smoking protesters. The savage beatings of protestors, captured on film with garbage pails burning in the background, horrified American television viewers. The police attacked without reason and targeted reporters and photographers, as in this scene described by an eyewitness:

Reporter: Hey, I work for the Associated Press.
Police Officer: Oh, you do, (expletive), Take that!

The policeman proceeded to crack the reporter's skull with his nightstick.

On the streets of Chicago, the TV cameras missed many beautiful, serendipitous events. When a squadron of riot police marched on several thousand peaceful demonstrators in a park, poet Allen Ginsberg was at the microphone and proceeded to say the ancient Sanskrit word "Ohm". "Oohhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmm," first Ginsberg, and soon thousands of protesters voiced the sound of the universe. The riot police let their batons fall to their sides as the crowd serenely dispersed.

Another peculiar event was the presidential candidacy of Pigasus the Pig, who was running on the slogan "Vote Pig in '68". The Chicago police confiscated the pig, to the distress of the Yippies, who saw more redeeming qualities in Pigasus than in the Democratic candidates inside the convention center.

While many serendipitous and beautiful moments of creativity occurred, the lawlessness of the convention week was the standing legacy. The authorities were being blamed for inciting violence against peaceful demonstrators, whom they countercharged with planning a riot.

A grand jury was formed and charged eight men with the federal offense of "crossing state lines to incite a riot." Those men included Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, Lee Weiner, and Bobby Seale. The trial of these men was one of the most colorful and contentious of the century. Some memorable scenes from the trial were:

• Jerry Rubin, leader of the Yippies, goose-stepped in front of the Judge, saying "Heil, Hitler!"
• Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Norman Mailer was brought to the stand, and decried the "low level" questioning of the prosecution
• Allen Ginsberg recited the Hare Krishna mantra for the court
• Abbie Hoffman wore his own judicial robe to court, took it off, and stamped on it
• Hoffman often revealed his chest to the court, and blew kisses to the jury
• At one point, Hoffman told judge Julius Hoffman (unrelated); "You are a disgrace to the Jews; you would have served Hitler better."
• Judge Hoffman cited over two hundred charges of contempt of court to the defense and their attorneys.

The press loved it, pasting the headlines with descriptions of the anarchy occurring inside and outside the courthouse. Judge Hoffman did not hide his scorn for the defendants, who were openly mocking his conservative values. He even had the only black defendant, Bobby Seale, bound to a chair and gagged for speaking his mind too openly. Judge Hoffman did everything in his power to discredit the case of the defense and empower the prosecutors. When the jury came back with a guilty verdict, he triumphantly handed out sentences to all the remaining defendants (Seale had been given a separate trial), only to have his ruling overturned by a higher court.

By the time the trial was over, Richard Nixon, the Republican candidate for president, had already won the election. All the chaos in the streets of Chicago, and the media circus in the courts, was a moot point with Nixon in the White House. The movement to pull Americans out of Vietnam was reversed when Nixon revealed his "secret plan," which was an escalation of bombings and ground troops. The dawning of a new age had not come; it was still the same nation ruled by warmongers.

Incidentally, according to astrological charts, we exited the Age of Pisces and entered the Age of Aquarius in 1997.

Teddy