Chapter 5, Pg. 101
“Here my friends, on the prairies of Illinois and the Middle West, we can see a long way in all directions…here there are no barriers, no defenses to ideas and to aspirations. We want none. We want no shackles on the mind or the spirit, no rigid patterns of thought and no iron conformity. We want only the faith and the convictions of triumph and free and fair contest.” - Adlai Stevenson, Democratic convention in Chicago, 1952
This quote stuck out to me due to its irony. The quote from Adlai Stevenson 16 years before the 1968 convention is proclaiming the freedom of thought, acceptance of new ideas and change that the Democratic Party is trying to bring forth at that time. The irony lies in the fact that this speech was given in Chicago and that the 1968 convention was not a demonstration in free flowing thought and that there was a standard of the party that seemed to be iron and rigid. The change and flow of newer and brighter ideas that Stevenson is speaking of in 1952 are no where to be found in 1968. Sixteen years is a long time and many, many things changed in that time period, however what should have been a platform for ideas to be heard and dreams to be dreamt, turned into absolute chaos and confusion. In 1952 there may have not been barriers or defenses to ideas or aspirations, but in 1968 Chicago was a blockade to progress
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