History and disparagement notwithstanding, Chicago calls DNC 2024 a success
CHICAGO (CBS) -- As the 2024 Democratic National Convention wrapped up Thursday night, the general consensus was the City of Chicago did great.
This was despite a lot of concerns before the week began about whether Chicago would be up to the task amid the city's challenges. After all, Chicago has taken a lot of heat lately.
In the lead-up to the 2024 event, there was a lot of talk about the infamous 1968 Democratic National Convention. But the DNC was also held in Chicago exactly half as long ago—in 1996, also at the United Center.
At the time of the 1996 convention, much of the focus was also on the 1968 convention, when police clashed in the street with demonstrators against the Vietnam War.
Lester Holt and Linda MacLennan were in the CBS Chicago suite anchoring the Channel 2 News back in those days. Jim Williams was not with CBS yet at that point—he was Mayor Richard M. Daley's press secretary. He remembers how every reporter from across the country asked Daley about 1968, when his late father, Mayor Richard J. Daley, was mayor—and how the elder Daley handled the protesters.
Indeed, it was one big look back 28 years in 1996.
This week's DNC—another 28 years later—brought into focus where is Chicago now. For years, the city has been a right-wing punching bag; a symbol of urban America's decay.
The headline for the New York Post column by Miranda Devine on Sunday, Aug. 18, read, "Crime-filled Chicago displays all that's wrong with Democrats in one failing city."
Add that bleak reputation to the promise of thousands of protesters coming to Chicago, fears of violent unrest, and even questions about whether delegates would be safe—all under the eye of national and international media—and it was not hard to understand why city leaders and citizens alike might be on pins and needles this week.
But we were again reminded that Chicago has few peers when it comes to staging big events. Lollapalooza, the NASCAR Street Race, all different parades, and conventions that are much bigger than the DNC are all staged in Chicago.
After the debacle of 1968—which police Supt. Larry Snelling said Friday that it's time to stop talking about—the 1996 convention was a big success. Those in city government were proud and more than a little relieved.
Now, everyone can breathe a little easier now that the 2024 DNC is over. As for all those eyes on Chicago this week, CBS News Chicago political analyst and former Mayor Lori Lightfoot can have the last word.
"What I heard today was, 'Wow, this city is great.' I said, 'Yes it is.' Tell everybody. The Fox News version of Chicago isn't real," Lightfoot said Sunday, on the eve of the convention. "This has got to be a four-day love letter to the city of Chicago."