The Yippies

Guest: Abe Peck, Professor Emeritus-in-Service of Journalism, Northwestern University This week marks the 50th anniversary of the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, when violent clashes between police and young anti-Vietnam war protesters led to hundreds of injuries and arrests. The whole thing played out on the TV screens of families across America. At center-stage in the conflict were the Yippies – or the Youth International Party. They were known for theatrical demonstrations and pranks. They’d come to Chicago to protest the war and provoke “the man.” And in the minds of many Americans, the Yippies represented all that was wrong with the counterculture movement.