people of Wisconsin or the people of America.
>> Latest national polling puts VP Kamala Harris, even with
former president Donald Trump in Wisconsin at 47% each. President
Joe Biden this week took to the airwaves to say it was time to
pass the torch. Presumptive nominee Harris served hand in
hand with his administration. All of this harkens back to the
last time a US president decided not to run for reelection. The
year was 1968. The wartime president who dropped out was
Lyndon B Johnson, the ensuing Democratic National Convention
in Chicago that year devolved into chaos on and off the floor.
Anti-Vietnam War protesters outside Convention Hall were
swarmed by a massive police presence, violence that turned
to riots inside. Delegates for antiwar candidate Eugene
McCarthy, including those from Wisconsin, wanted to stop the
madness. >> Wisconsin. Mr. chairman, most
delegates to this convention do not know that thousands of young
people are being beaten in the streets of Chicago.
>> In the end, LBJ's vice president, Hubert Humphrey, won
the nomination, 21 and one half votes for Senator McCarthy.
>> This is going to do it. And 103 and three quarters.
>> UW Milwaukee political scientist Mordecai Lee remembers
it like yesterday in Mordecai. Thanks a lot for being here.
>> You're welcome. So I remember watching it in Milwaukee and it
was just happening 90 miles down the road.
year, 2024 is topsy turvy, of course, add to
that the assassination attempt against Trump and Biden dropping
out. But was 1968 a whole different level?
>> 1968 was a different level in terms of those emotions that you
correctly captured about the war in Vietnam. But I don't think
they're different from the political dynamic. That's going
on. A vice President Humphrey could not break with LBJ, could
not become an antiwar candidate, but he wanted to separate
himself from having to carry on his shoulders all the baggage
that LBJ's war had. And I think the same thing is happening with
Harris, she needs to carry on her shoulders the weight of
Biden's unpopularity and of his policies, yet at the same time,
to be a different candidate, to have a fresh take and that's
that's hard to tiptoe through the tulips from what you've
seen. very early
days. How do you think she's doing in that regard?
>> I think in terms of the atmosphere of the campaign,
she's doing very well. When she visited Milwaukee just two days
later, there was that excitement in the air, that enthusiasm, the
very large crowd compared to earlier crowds on the Democratic
side. So I think she got a boost. She got wind in her sail,
but she isn't breaking with Biden. And it's really hard to
tell if President Biden was unpopular because of his
policies or if he was unpopular, not because of his policies,
that for some reason just didn't have the traction that, maybe
his age, maybe his lack of energy. But she's carrying
something, and I think it might weigh her down as the months go
by. the
unpopularity of LBJ, however, was different, heightened
because this was about the Vietnam War?
>> There's no doubt that it was different because the emotions
from Democrats against LBJ and therefore against Humphrey was
coming from that direction. Now, the emotion against Biden is not
coming from Democrats. It's coming from Republicans. So I
think the dynamic is different. But nonetheless, I think she's
going to feel a pressure to somehow not quite disavow Biden,
but she's got to separate herself from him and especially
have a different vision for the next four years.
>> So given what we talked about, how the convention
devolved in 1968, the convention itself, it doesn't seem likely,
does it, that that would happen at the Democratic convention
coming up in just a couple of weeks?
e totally different from 1968. I think
this is going to be a very placid convention. It's going to
be in a sense, the same image as the RNC was last week. It'll be,
supporting one candidate. All the speeches will be supportive
of that candidate, and they'll be looking for unity and sort of
momentum as they come out of the convention.
the top that you remember 1968, like
yesterday. How indelible, delible do you think 2024 will
be for you? >> I think very indelible. I
think the last two weeks we've seen two political tsunamis.
First came the assassination attempt, and thank goodness, his
survival. And then the wind that it put in his sails at the RNC.
And so there was this sense of that he would be a unity
candidate. And then he gave his acceptance speech. And it wasn't
only a speech about unity, it was also a speech with his
criticisms of Biden and the Democrats and so he lost a
little bit of momentum. But I think the timing of when Biden
decided to drop out really had to do with the RNC. I think
Biden was resisting, resisting. But then when he saw the
political impact of surviving the assassination attempt and
the unity of the RNC, that's when he decided he just had to
drop out. And that was the second tsunami less than a week
ago, unbelievably, where he dropped out and she picked up
where he left off. And I'm guessing that these two tectonic
events have sort of negated each other, that now we're back at,
at go and the campaigns will unfold. From this point on.