The
Chicago Eight
Trial: A Chronology
1960
Abbie Hoffman said he was
"pychologically
born" in this year.
October,
1967
Hoffman arrested while
attempting
to
measure the Pentagon.
December,
1967
Hoffman and Rubin meet to
discuss
possibility
of having demonstrations at the 1968 Democratic
National Convention in
Chicago.
January
24,
1968
The National Mobilization
Committee
(MOBE) meets in New York to discuss possible
demonstrations in
Chicago.
Dellinger, Davis, and Hayden are in attendence.
March
17,
1968
A press conference is
held to
announce
that the Yippies will sponsor a "Festival of Life"
in Chicago during
the
upcoming Democratic Convention.
March
23,
1968
A meeting sponsored by
MOBE is
held
near Chicago to debate whether to hold
demonstrations at the
Convention.
In attendence are Dellinger, Davis, Hayden, Hoffman,
and Rubin.
March
26,
1968
Yippies submit
application for
demonstrations
to Chicago Parks Department.
April
11,
1968
Amid concerns about
rising
protests
of the Viet Nam War, Congress enacts the Anti-Riot
Act of 1968.
August
5,
1968
Deputy Mayor Stahl
indicates his
unwillingness
to grant permit application for sleeping in Chicago
parks.
August
9,
1968
A National Mobilization
Committee
meeting
is held in Chicago to discuss planned
demonstrations. Davis
allegedly
suggests disrupting traffic and creating havoc in
the Loop.
August
14,
1968
ACLU suit seeking an
injunction
requiring
issuance of permit is withdrawn after hearing amid
concerns that court
might instead enjoin demonstrators.
August
22,
1968
Davis tells city
officials it
would
be "suicide" not to allow demonstrators to sleep in
city parks.
August
23,
1968
Classes are held in
Lincoln Park
on
karate, snake dancing, and other means of
self-defense. Police
post
"11 p.m. curfew" signs in park trees.
August
24,
1968
A meeting is held to
discuss
whether
to obey city's 11 p.m. curfew.
August
25,
1968
Police club persons
attending a
music
festival in Lincoln Park who refuse to leave at
curfew. Davis and
Hayden
meet to lead march to the Conrad Hilton, the main
Convention hotel. At
9 p.m., police confront and attack some
demonstrators. Rubin
allegedly
urges demonstrators to attack police. At 10:30
p.m., two police
officers
observe Hayden letting the air out of tires of their
police car.
August
26,
1968
Hoffman calls Deputy
Mayor Stahl
to
protest decision to forcibly drive people out of
park. Hayden is
arrested
in the afternoon for the squad car incident. Hoffman
and Rubin
allegedly
urge demonstrators to hold Lincoln Park. Davis urges
demonstrators
"Don't
let the pigs take the hill (high ground near a
statue in the park)."
About
3,000 demonstrators gathered in park for chanting,
singing songs, and
talking
are attacked by police with clubs and tear gas after
11 p.m. curfew.
August
27,
1968
Allan Ginsberg leads a
sunrise
service
that includes chanting, prayers, and
meditation. About 4,000
gather
at a rally in the Chicago Coliseum to hear
Dellinger, Hoffman,
folksinger
Phil Ochs, novelist William Burroughs and
others. A planned march
to the Amphitheatre, site of the Democratic National
Convention, is
discussed.
Bobby Seale addressed a crowd of about 2,000 in
Lincoln Park. Seale's
address
is observed by undercover police officer Robert
Pierson. At 11:20 p.m.
in Lincoln Park, police charge and beat
demonstrators. Some
enraged
demonstrators smash windows and streetlights.
Violent encounters
between
police and demonstrators occur in the streets near
Grant Park.
August
28,
1968
Hoffman is arrested while
having
breakfast
for having the word "Fuck" on his forehead.
Dellinger, Seale,
Davis,
and Hayden address 10,000 to 15,000 demonstrators at
the bandshell in
Grant
Park, opposite the Hilton. Democrats nominate
Hubert Humphrey as
their candidate for President. Dellinger announces
that he will lead a
march to the Amphitheatre. The march is
stopped by police.
Demonstators
are attacked by police with teargas and clubs at
Balbo and Michigan and
other locations in the area.
August
29,
1968
Senator Eugene McCarthy,
Dick
Gregory
are among others who address a crowd in Grant
Park. Hoffman
allegedly
proposes the kidnapping of Superintendent Rochford.
November
5,
1968
Nixon narrowly defeats
Humphrey in
the
presidential election. Many blame Humphrey's defeat
on the rioting and
division at the Democratic Convention.
March
20,
1969
A federal grand jury
indicts the
Chicago
Eight.
April
9,
1969
The Chicago Eight are
arraigned.
August,
1969
Bobby Seale is arrested
in
connection
with Connecticut charges of murder.
September
24,
1969
The trial of the Chicago
Eight
begins
in Chicago before Judge Julius Hoffman.
October
29
to November
3, 1969
Because of his courtroom
outbursts,
Bobby Seale is ordered bound and gagged.
November
5,
1969
The trial of Seale is
severed from
the
trial of what now becomes the Chicago Seven.
February
14,
1970
The case goes to the
jury.
February
18,
1970
The jury returns its
verdict,
finding
five of the seven defendants guilty of violating the
Anti-Riot Act of
1968.
Froines and Weiner are acquitted.
February
20,
1970
Judge Hoffman sentences
the
convicted
defendants.
May
11,
1972
The Seventh Circuit Court
of
Appeals
reverses the contempt convictions of the Chicago
Seven and their two
defense
attorneys, Leonard Weinglass and William Kunstler.
November
21,
1972
The Seventh Circuit Court
of
Appeals
reverses the convictions of Hoffman, Rubin,
Dellinger, Davis, and
Hayden.
1974
Hoffman has plastic
surgery and
goes
underground in upstate New York for seven years to
avoid trial on
cocaine
charges. He serves a sentence in a work-release
program in 1981-82.
1983
Judge Julius Hoffman dies
at age
87.
April
12,
1989
Abbie Hoffman commits
suicide at
age
52.
November
28,
1994
Jerry Rubin dies after
being hit
by
a car while jaywalking.
1995
William Kunstler dies of
a heart
attack.
August,
1996
Tom Hayden, state
senator, is a
California
delegate to the Democratic National Convention in
Chicago. Rennie
Davis, activist and personal growth lecturer, is
also in town.
August
27,
1998
David Dellinger, aged 83,
is
arrested
while demonstrating at a nuclear reactor.
Chicago
8 Trial Homepage