Special Reports

CHICAGO (CBS) ― It's been more than 40 years since the unrest outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention placed the City of Chicago in an unflattering spotlight.

But it's a historical event that remains epochal in the history of the city and the country. Along with the riots across the nation upon the assassination Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Days of Rage riots in Chicago, the Manson family murders, and the violence at the Altamont music festival, the convention is invariably cited to demonstrate the sour note on which the 1960s ended.

For critics of the police, the scenes of riot officers swinging clubs at protesters come up every time there is a new scandal involving police brutality or misconduct. For critics of the late Mayor Richard J. Daley, the convention melee becomes evidence of the mayor's autocracy.

And in all the time since, Chicagoans have debated about who was in the right. Did police officers attack a peaceful crowd, savagely beating antiwar protesters, hippies, reporters, clergymen and even innocent bystanders? Or did they defend themselves and the city against a group of dangerous revolutionaries who charged them with bricks and bags of human waste?

The debate was reignited in June 2009, when the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police announced a reunion of the riot officers. The invitation to the event praised the officers for "fighting anarchy."

"The only thing that stood between Marxist street thugs and public order was a thin blue line of dedicated, tough Chicago police officers," the invitation said. "For decades, the collective Left has white-washed what really happened during the riots of 1968 and 1969. Chicago Police officers who participated in the riots continue to endure unending criticism - all of which is unwarranted, inaccurate and wrong."

The police monitoring group Chicago Copwatch issued a response using language just as strong: "When (police) gather to celebrate one of the largest mass beatings in Chicago history they are also meeting to celebrate the savagery of that generation of the CPD…. This reunion will be bringing together cops from this era with those who are currently oppressing our marches, occupying our communities, brutalizing, and murdering young people across the city."

Who was really in the right in that tumultuous week in 1968? It will always be a matter of opinion. But in 1988, two decades after the convention, this documentary by Bill Kurtis sought some answers from those who were there – protesters, police officers and reporters.

Click the links below for "The Whole World's Watching, 20 Years Later"

Part I:
In August 1968, the death toll in Vietnam was rising every week, and with it, the opposition. And when Democrats decided to hold their national political convention here, the atmosphere in the city was already tense, already battered by two race riots following the assassination of Dr. King.

There were threats to disrupt the convention by members of the Youth International Party – better known as the Yippies, and rumors circulated about what action they might take. It was met with stern security measures from City Hall.

 In this first segment, you'll see how the week of the convention unfolded, with the television cameras there for every development – and how the world changed in the 20 years afterward.

Part II:
Everyone on the streets was angry and agitated during the Democratic National Convention. But protesters hardly came in with the same attitudes and impressions as police officers.

 In this next segment, you'll see the full narrative of the week – from how the demonstration was first organized to how the conflict between protesters and police erupted. Protesters remember being beaten and attacked by police. Police officers remember being threatened by protesters wielding rocks and human waste.

The story comes from those who were there. Then-Deputy Police Supt. James Rochford, Lt. Carl Dobrich and Officers Raymond Conley and Greg Kyritz, and Detective John Dineen tell the story from the police perspective. Peter Hayward, Bill Ayers, Ed Phillips, Mike James, Morgan Powell and Sue Purrington have the protesters' point of view.

Part III:
Some reporters and photographers reported that they were also attacked by police during the convention, but others were reporting alongside the officers and saw them reacting in self-defense.

 Here is an examination of the unrest from reporters who were working at the time, on their experience in the front lines of the unrest, and how they covered it.

Part IV:
Within three months of the convention riots, a federal commission report by then-Chicago Crime Commission Dan Walker called it a "police riot." Two decades later, the characterization still infuriated officers, but rang true for many on the other side of the police lines. Meanwhile, the incident led to charges of rioting and conspiracy to riot against eight people, and the theatrical Chicago 7 trial.

 In this segment, you'll learn more about that, and about Walker, who later became Illinois governor. Ironically, when he was indicted on bank fraud and perjury charges, he turned to his onetime nemesis for his defense attorney – Chicago 7 prosecutor Thomas Foran.

Part V:
 What kind of impression did the convention violence and conflict leave 20 years later? In this segment, answers to that question from police officers, protesters, prosecutors and reporters.

Part VI:
 A final thought from Bill Kurtis.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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