Chicago Prepares To Welcome Democrats

CHICAGO (July 31) -- For the first time since 1968, the Democratic National Convention returns to Chicago next month. What happened that year in Chicago defined for a generation the image of the city and its police department.

Eager to replace those bitter memories, the sons of the late Richard J. Daley helped bring back the convention to this Democratic stronghold.

Democrats like to think of Chicago as their kind of town -- ethnically diverse, friendly to union labor, a downtown rich with financial institutions, the Sears Tower, a healthy plate of restaurants and the Magnificent Mile.

It's all on the postcards that delegates and reporters are supposed to take home from this year's convention.

In 1968, though, they took home ugly memories of violent clashes between police and anti-war protestors outside Conrad Hilton Hotel convention headquarters on Michigan Avenue. To this day, debate rages over who was at fault.

The former U.S. Attorney who prosecuted the protest leaders known as the "Chicago Seven" says both sides got out of hand.

"I don't think that the police were prepared for it," said Thomas Foran, a former U.S. Attorney. "I think there's no question in my mind they overreacted."

A federal investigation concluded it was a "police riot". The Chicago police were branded as out-of-control bullies and throughout the ranks, the Chicago cops know what's at stake this time.

"The impressions they make this year will be carried out and will go a long way to either quelling those images from 1968 or reinforcing them," said Paul Jenkins, a Chicago police spokesman. "I'm pretty certain, absolutely certain in fact, that we'll be able to get rid of those old images."

Police are receiving special training in crowd management and how to deal with the media. And a confidential convention police handbook obtained by CNN reveals officers are also being reminded when they can use force and what specific protest groups will likely show up at the convention.

"I can't imagine that anybody will be able to generate a major protest," said Foran.

Jenkins said police are ready. "To give the impression we're doing something right now...it's the 11th hour. We have been preparing for this probably for the past 28 years."

Twenty-eight years ago, it was Mayor Richard J. Daley's police department that cracked down on the protestors. Richard M., his oldest son, is now the mayor. And he and his brother Bill, a Democratic party power broker, helped lure the Democrats back to Chicago.

The Daley brothers don't like to talk about the 1968 convention, but recently, Bill Daley did, even returning to Grant Park, an epicenter of the violent clashes between police and protestors.

"The whole world is so different," Bill Daley said. "It was probably one of the worst years of the country, so you can't look at Chicago in four days of 1968 without looking at it in the context of what was going on in the world."

Today city workers are busy putting the finishing touches on street repairs and general cleanup throughout Chicago, preparing for the Aug. 26-29 gathering.

This story originally appeared on CNN's "Inside Politics."

Chicago Prepares To Welcome Democrats

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