By Adrian Naves
This November 5th is an all too important event for the U.S. and some Americans have already casted their votes before election day. Election night will have some Americans experience nervousness and elevate their anxiety as the votes get counted up all throughout the evening and night. But not all election moments are rooted serious matters or expected outcomes, Chicago alone has plenty of such unique and unexpected events leading up to the election and its outcomes. From hilarious mishaps to downright bizarre coup attempts, Illinois has it all!
“Dewey Defeats Truman”
With a printers’ strike occurring, the Chicago Tribune’s 1948 Chicago elections edition goes to the press earlier than usual, even before the polls begin to report the results. Since 1928, the Tribune relied on veteran Washington correspondent and political analyst, Arthur Sears Henning, who had predicted the four of the five presidential winners. The Tribune projects the winner of the presidential election with the headline, “Dewey Defeats Truman.” The poll and the Tribune were wrong and the following morning, the famous grinning Harry Truman is photographed with Truman holding the front page of the newspaper to a crowd of supporters.
Harry Truman holding newspaper with headline,“Dewey Defeats Truman.”
The Pineapple Primary
In 1927, notorious gangster Al Capone tries to reassure William Hale “Big Bill” Thompson’s re-election as mayor, Capone sends more than 1,000 of his loyal goons into the city on the primary day. Capone’s men fight, assault, and shoot Thompson’s political rivals and also throw hand grenades into polling places where Thompson wasn’t expected to perform well. So many hand grenades were tossed in those days that the event is now known as the “Pineapple Primary.” The term “Pineapple Primary” originates from the slang term “pineapple” which hand grenade were referred to those days. Capone’s thugs repeated their illegal activities on election day and Thompson won his re-election.
William Hale “Big Bill” Thompson
1968 Democratic National Convention protests
The United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War sparked a series of protests with the anti-war crowd, those protests took place prior to and during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. The protests drew an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 anti-war protesters in total and lasted about seven days, from August 23 to August 29, 1968.
Earlier in the year, incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson announced he would not seek another bid for election, making the convention to select a new presidential nominee for the Democratic Party a very crucial event for the upcoming election. In the buildup to the DNC, then Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley constantly denounced the anti-war protesters for mobilizing to protest, and caused Daley to announce, “Law and order will be maintained.”
During the evening of August 28, 1968, some of the police riots occurred on Michigan Avenue in front of the Democratic party’s convention headquarters and by the Conrad Hilton hotel, television networks were broadcasting live as the anti-war protesters began their iconic chant, “The whole world is watching.”
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While Chicago is no stranger to extraordinary election events, voting overall is important no matter the circumstances. If you haven’t casted your ballot yet, make it your civic duty to vote, because the biggest blunder of them all…is not making your voice heard in the democratic election process. Don’t forget to collect your “I Voted” sticker!
