The Trial of the Chicago 7

I have today ordered to Vietnam the Airmobile Division

and certain other forces which will raise our fighting strength

from 75,000 to 125,000 men almost immediately.

This will make it necessary to increase our active fighting forces

by raising the monthly draft call from 17,000 to 35,000.

December 30th.

All those whose birthday falls on December 30th.

President Johnson announced new monthly draft totals

increasing to 35,000 per month.

- 43,000 per month… - 51,000…

382,386 men between the ages of 18 and 24 have been called to duty.

Now it should be incandescently clear

that no one who has any concern for the integrity and life of America today

can ignore the present war.

If America's soul becomes totally poisoned,

part of the autopsy must read, "Vietnam."

What we need in the United States is not hatred,

but is love and wisdom.

So I ask you tonight to return home,

to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King.

- -

August 24th.

All those whose birthday falls…

Another 30,000 troops have been deployed to the region.

This, after the US saw its greatest increase in monthly casualties.

What we saw were population centers.

Schoolhouses, pagodas, women and children.

And that's American napalm.

Women and children were burned alive. Tom?

The Democratic Party

is gonna end up nominating Hubert Humphrey next month in Chicago.

Now, when it comes to the war and social justice,

there is simply not enough of a difference

between Humphrey and Nixon to make a difference.

And so, we're going to Chicago.

Young people, by busloads, will go to Chicago

to show our solidarity and our disgust.

But most importantly…

-To get laid by someone you just met. -

536,000 of us sent to a country

none of these bumper-sticker patriots in Washington could find on a map

with a motherfuckin' map!

We're goin' to Chicago.

Anyone who stays in the park, sings Woody Guthrie, they'll be fine.

But the cops are gonna be a half-inch from losin' their fuckin' minds,

'cause Daley's gonna wind 'em up to make sure of it.

We're goin' to Chicago peacefully. We're goin' peacefully.

But if we're met there with violence,

you better believe that we're gonna meet that violence with…

Nonviolence. Always nonviolence, and that's without exception.

- What if the police hit you? - Why would the police hit me?

-What if they do? -I'll duck.

David, he watches the news.

I've organized 100 protests.

This one will be no different in that it almost certainly won't work.

The police are--

I'm not worried about them. I'm worried about Hoffman and Rubin.

It's the Democratic National Convention, honey.

Every camera in America is gonna be pointed at it,

and Daley is not gonna let his city turn into a theater of war.

Hoffman and Rubin are geniuses in their own special way.

-Oh, dear God. -He's got a Boy Scout meeting at 7:00.

Dad, if the police--

If the police try to arrest me,

I'll do what I always do and what I taught you to do, which is what?

Very calmly and very politely…

Fuck the motherfuckers up! They leave us alone and everything's cool.

They tangle, disrupt, intimidate,

play fast and loose with the First Amendment,

start breaking heads, then we will not be on our way.

You can't give this speech in Chicago.

-Fred wants me there. Plane ticket. -Let Fred give the speech.

Between Hayden and Hoffman, there could be 5,000 people.

Be nice to talk to 5,000 people.

Not while you're in trouble in Connecticut.

I'm the head of the Black Panthers, Sondra.

When won't I be in trouble? Travel bag.

You'll be in a lot more of it if you stand up and say, "Fry the pigs."

If they attack. Takin' it out of context.

So will every white person in America. Cops won't give a shit about context.

You don't have protection in Chicago.

There's no place to be but in it.

-But "fry the pigs"? -If they attack--

-Dr. King-- -Is dead.

He has a dream? Now he has a fuckin' bullet in his head.

Martin's dead, Malcolm's dead, Medgar's dead,

Bobby's dead, Jesus is dead.

They tried it peacefully, we gonna try something else.

Sondra, I'll be there for four hours. That's it.

Snack.

You'll at least take one of these?

If I knew how to use that, I wouldn't need to be making speeches.

It's named after the Russian commissar Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov.

You start with a glass bottle.

You fill it up halfway with gasoline and motor oil…

You pack some Styrofoam, and now your cherry bomb.

Some chewing gum around the top…

…and a fuse.

Now!

The 35th National Democratic Convention is set to begin next week

with repeated assurances from Chicago Mayor, Richard J. Daley.

-Will it be a good convention, Mr. Mayor? -The best ever held.

-Is that Jerry? - Yeah.

Tell him to tell Abbie we're going to Chicago to end the war

and not to fuck around.

Tom says to tell Abbie that we're going to Chicago to end the war

and not to fuck around.

Hayden says we're goin' to Chicago to end the war and not to fuck around.

Tell Hayden I went to Brandeis and I can do both.

We're going to show that we, as a generation, are serious people.

People say, "Abbie, are you concerned about an overreaction from the cops?"

I issued a police order to shoot to kill any arsonists.

We're not concerned about it.

Four units of the Illinois National Guard, totaling 5,000 troops,

have been sent to Chicago.

We're countin' on it!

We wanna underscore again that we're coming to Chicago peacefully,

but whether we're given permits or not, we're coming.

An additional 10,000 Chicago police officers, including riot squads…

We're not going to storm the convention with tanks or mace,

but we are going to storm the hearts and minds of the American people.

These people are revolutionaries

bent on the destruction of the government of the United States of America.

The Democratic Convention is about to begin in a police state.

There just doesn't seem to be any other way to say it.

You've arrived at a moment in history.

-Pardon? -They're changing the picture.

-Tom. - Howard.

-Flew in all right? -Sure.

-Richard Schultz? -Yes, sir.

Howard Ackerman, Special Advisor to the Attorney General.

-Pleased to meet you. -Anyone tell you what this is about?

No, sir. Just to meet Mr. Foran at O'Hare this morning, we'd fly to Washington.

-We'd be meeting Mr. Mitchell. -Good.

Finally changing that goddamn picture. Come on in.

As a matter of courtesy and tradition,

when we elect a new president, the outgoing cabinet members resign

to spare the new president the unpleasantness of firing 'em.

Richard, do you know when President Nixon

received Ramsey Clark's formal letter of resignation?

-No, sir. -About an hour before my confirmation.

That was to embarrass me.

I don't know, I think it was more embarrassing for Ramsey Clark.

I'm John Mitchell.

Thomas Foran, Mr. Attorney General, and this is Richard Schultz.

Richard, Chicago is more fucked up than any ten things I've ever seen in my life.

- Sir? -The convention, the riots.

-Yes, sir. - Sit.

-Johnnie Walker okay with everybody? -Yes, thank you.

-Richard? -Nothing for me, thank you.

We don't know how Humphrey's people could have been that stupid.

Allow their guy to be nominated under armed guard.

-Sir? -Son, are you nervous?

-No, sir. -Why the fuck not?

I'm kidding. Don't believe everything you've heard about me.

Ramsey Clark gave me the finger on the way out the door.

I'm asking if you think Chicago was why Humphrey lost the election.

No, sir. The Republicans ran a better candidate.

-That's for damn sure. -Daley didn't help his party,

but Humphrey's people and Daley didn't break the law,

so that's somebody else's table.

As a matter of fact, we don't believe any federal laws were broken last summer.

Mr. Foran had our office run a thorough investigation.

There was trespassing, destruction of public property, lewd behavior.

Nothing that would rise to the level--

You think you and your boss are in the attorney general's office

because I want you to seek an indictment for violating a federal trespassing law?

Our office wasn't aware that the Justice Department

wanted to seek any indictments at all.

-We do. -Ramsey Clark was dead set against--

Ramsey Clark doesn't run the Justice Department anymore,

did you hear about that?

-And Mr. Johnson's back home in Texas. -Of course, sir.

One hour before my confirmation hearing gaveled,

that's when he resigned. What a prick!

That's unprofessional.

Unprofessional? It was unpatriotic. I'll tell you what else.

It was impolite. There's such a thing as manners.

I want to bring back manners. How about that? The America I grew up in.

Will you help me, Mr. Schultz?

'Cause I asked Mr. Foran who was the best prosecutor in his office.

-He said you. -Thank you.

Section 2101 of Title 18.

That's the federal law that was broken.

That's the Rap Brown Law.

In conspiracy to cross state lines in order to incite violence.

Comes with a maximum of ten years. We want all ten.

-For whom, sir? -The all-star team.

"Abbie Hoffman, Tom Hayden, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Rennie Davis,

Lee Weiner, John Froines… and Bobby Seale?"

I call 'em the school boys, and when I do, everyone here knows who I'm talking about.

Petulant and dangerous.

And we watched for a decade while these rebels without a job,

who never got their hands dirty fighting the enemy,

tell us how to prosecute a war.

The decade's over, the grown-ups are back,

and I deem these shitty little fairies to be a threat to national security.

So they're gonna spend their thirties in a federal facility.

-Real-time. - You're lead prosecutor, Richard.

You understand why I couldn't tell you until we got here?