The NPR Network will be reporting live from Chicago all week, bringing you the latest news from the Democratic National Convention.
The Democratic Party Convention will take place in Chicago from Monday, August 19th to Thursday, August 22nd.
➡️ NPR’s complete coverage of the 2024 election
How to watch
NPR will broadcast live video from the United Center each night of the convention beginning at 9 p.m. ET.
On Wednesday and Thursday evenings, NPR’s politics team will host coverage with analysis throughout the evening.
The history of the DNC in Chicago
Chicago has hosted numerous party conventions – most recently the DNC in 1996 and perhaps most notably the DNC in 1968.
As Ron Elving, senior editor and correspondent for NPR, puts it: “Chicago 1968 has been repeatedly hailed as the epitome of a catastrophe, on a par with the sinking of the Titanic or the stock market crash of 1929.”
At that time, President Lyndon Johnson had announced that he would not run for re-election and Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated. Vice President Hubert Humphrey now had to fight for the nomination with the war-critical Senator Eugene McCarthy.
In 1968, huge crowds of demonstrators gathered at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago to protest U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and to fight for racial equality and an end to poverty.
Clashes broke out between protesters and police, and the whole nation watched the violence on television.
But beyond the venue, there are a number of echoes of 1968 that will be played out in 2024. (And not only in the political world: both years also brought new Planet of the Apes Movies, Summer Olympics and US moon missions, as NPR’s Rachel Treisman notes.)
In April, historian Keith Orejel summed it up in a post on X, formerly Twitter:
“Okay, there’s unrest and widespread anti-war movements in Colombia. That may be a coincidence. But there’s a man named Robert Kennedy running for president and the Democratic National Convention is in Chicago. Isn’t that a bit something?”
A few months later, another parallel to 1968 occurred: President Biden announced that he would not seek the nomination.
But while the shadow of 1968 looms over this week’s convention, particularly in terms of protesters and security, the convention itself is more of a formality today than it was in 1968: we know who the candidate will be.
➡️ It’s official: Kamala Harris will be the Democratic presidential candidate for 2024
➡️ Harris nominates Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her vice presidential candidate
Live updates from the convention
Follow NPR’s live blog starting Monday for the latest updates, analysis, facts and information.
➡️ NPR’s complete coverage of the 2024 election
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