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Now as then, it makes sense to look with caution on the calm before the convention.

Then was early August 1968. Now is just a few days before the opening of the 2024 Democratic National Convention.

Then, in the buildup to the 1968 DNC at the International Amphitheatre, the air was rife with warnings. Anti-Vietnam War activists started training sessions for protesters. Organizers of just one protest said they expected 100,000 people from across the country. A court approved the city’s denial of parade permits, hardening the determination of the activists.

Mayor Richard J. Daley in April that year had criticized his police chief for failing to issue a “shoot-to-kill” order against arsonists on Chicago’s West Side after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Read more at chicagotribue.com.

David Greising is the president and chief executive of the Better Government Association, joining the BGA in 2018. For nearly a century, the BGA has fought for honest and effective government through investigative journalism and policy advocacy.