Reprinted by permission of the Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN).
Books
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Star Tribune
Sunday/Janua~24/1988/8F
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$~@~e'DFl's ···1968 'civiIW@I' r~~Q~~htedirf$rnaI:tY.boi)~
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Political Upheaval:
MinnesC)ta and the
Vietnam War Protest
{teylewed by Robert L. Spaeth
'iii calmer times,Alpha Smaby's
-c
brief career In the,MII:mesota House
ot f\epresentatives-:-,:" two terms'
would have earned her a footnote
S
;,,"
y
in, ~e hlstorrDo~~,s.a.tmost.
. P h a mab - / , .
S:ut
he~ ti~e~a~ faFfrom ?alm. A
DemOcratic Farm~r-taboritei .' ,
&rria.by was ~lectedJrom a Mlnne-
rJ>i{!:a~~ritr~~~Ral~:J~~\~~~~~
.
up~ SheIQ~ttle\rieg!~latlv~sea~ four.
years latet;betw~enthosetwo',
:~!!t~ MltW,esota~' ~Icmg with the
'le4t~of the nation;went through
''P~Ji~1 uph.e.,. aYe~'. th .atdrove a, pres1d8m trom office; brought thou- '
ji~9,SO. f pe.ai::e-19yh1g Cit.Ize.l1S Into
'tl1EOtreets and transformed two.
~~oopa~:~paperbaCk)" $12
,·.!;:,C::·i.,,/.I:f
In her retirement years $maby has.
come the basis of "PoliticaIUp~\ \
t>~c:rs.
4':" ~.
c' !.
','
.
fl~6btans meant opposing Hubert
ltO\"/.
"
•. ".'
"",,'
bottisf,8',licutely aware otthe'con"~
~;valuable:rra.lc~,i~J~,~.<I~'i.'.f~yq~~1~:ao.~t1a~~·~~:~~~~tC~~~,
Caucus night turned out to be the
high point for Smaby and the Concerned Democrats. Robert F. Kennedy's entry into the presidential
race divided them; then his assassi- Today, Smaby's narratiVe sugnation cast a pall over the politics
gests, most of the Concerned Demof that year. The riotous Democratocrats are satisfied with their acic National Convention that nomitions in 1968. Some differences do
nated Humphrey deepened the bitappear. Heffernan says, "I, for one,
terness. By November 1968 the
can never trust the government
election of Richard Nixon came as
again," but Kaibel says,~'We tore
a vexing antjQlimax,...
"1h'ecountry apartar'id'we asstIr~l:r
."
t~iby was an early protester '
).9' alnst Ameriqan military involveh1~t in Vietnam. Her vehicle was
aj1;drganization she helped found in
'~§fl Minnesota Concerned Democtat~', which in 1968 gained great
1$age in the DFt against steep
·,:·:,':,ci·:,I;\.
ti~~n~i~::
~~~~~~~g~lr~:~ ~~~t· .tion6cCUrred
~ua:M~~~~t~:A~~~ri~:m.~I~~:~~~
Interviews Smaby tapedtlave be:,';
in,0ther states~r'"
J't)iumphrey, the' DFt hero who
ttai:rbeen elected vice president on
tYA~onJohnson's ticket in 1964.
1ilOlIphrey not only supported the
tlt>hflson military policy but became
:a~ritable cheerleader for the war.
~:: ~ , . '
could the Minnesota Con~etned Democrats expect to suc~ed against the entrenched Hum~hiey forces? They did it with,
grass-roots politics. Although com-
H·tF - '.. .
' . ' · : . : · ·•..
sota Concerne Democrats. She~ ',' the most thoughtful recollections "
concocted a questionnaire about\
com'~ from Eugene andAbigail Mcthe antiwar movemel1tJnMinnesota' Cartl1yl:Although',8s ~maby'writesJ
and mailed it to 150 participants,'oL "Nelth~rMcCarthy norhis Wife; Ab~
~osing th~ Vietnam war for Mln-
~~g,in~nt Minri~~lsota politi~ians
!iemagreeable colleagues Into ad:veisaries/ "
.e.··
,
~~~~~;~e~e:J~Jor~~~h.b~~~~g~r;.~e.~.V:b.f ~,II~~I~I~~S.~-.u~~e:d'·~·~~e,,;:
posed mostly of amateurs ...... "
Smabywas one o,f very few elected
officlals.inthe'm'ovement;- a state
senator:n·~m~~Rudy. Perpich was
another~ the .antiwar DFters "
worked tiijrdenough and organized
weUenolJgh to score impressive,
victories in the DFt caucuses in
March 1968.
. . '
Of course, by late 1967 the Concerned Democrats not only had a'
Minnesota adversary, they had a
Minnesota antiwar candidate for
president: Sen. Eugene McCarthy::
So at stake in the DFt caucuses,
was more than a cause; antiwar
Democrats thought they might elect
a president. Three days after the .
Dft caucuses, McCarthy bruised'
Johnson In the New Hampshire primary and Johnson made plans to
quit.
~
a
"i;:,{".i'';<'';..:~',''l''''''''.''>'':;
the 16~~oq~e pr~side~cy~",.·'
heavalt
The people' prominentlrlthis bOO~, '. contirnJing eontroyersy In the DFt::
were powerful peoplei~J968"bqt;.'.·., ':1 dowam to defend (Gene) on a' ".
for the most part they arE! Iittle;hi~'" poinfwnere he.will not defend him:known today, with e>eceptidns sugh: self', "; tn'at If he.hadsupported,,':r:
as McCarthy arid Humphrey. Buttn
t1ubel1,'the [)emoerat~would haye
Smaby's history the influence arJd ' woniri 1968. Hubert COUld not have
commitment come anveci~ce'ag~in: '~ori,an~ ~ would have,Ill8cfe no
Cyrus Barnum, J9.hn Ccm,oC?"y,'):ftl
dlff'erer~e If,Gene, ha~ come out the
James Goff, Forrest Hams, Mary: . .
day after the nomination}' Eugene
Heffernan, Howard Kaibel, Robf3,rt
McCarthy explains his qifference .
Metcalf, Kay Nee,Vance OPPf3r.:..~
wlthH~ri1phrey o~er the,war: "Human, Mulford Sibley, Maurice ". -.;
bert and' really did have some ""
Visscher, Denis Wadley, Esther.'
good'nlghts together; The '68 thing
Wattenberg, John Wright.;;":' only!
was too bad; it was like civil war,
those for whom 1968 was the peak
and ~he moral component was so
political year will remember that,)
high that,' even if one did not make
they "made a difference.'" "
.~
accusations, there was the implica' . ."
tion that one side was supporting
"Political Upheaval" is long on rem- animrl'1\l.ral issue and the other side
iniscence, short on analysis. For'
was expl~iting the issue."
the most part, the book is raw data,
"
.
the collected memories of Minneso- The Minnesota civil war of 1968
ta citizens moved to protest by a
has faded from many memories.
cataclysmic event in American forSmaby and Dillon Press deserve /
eign policy. Pro-war opinion, howthanks for bringing it back In a·
ever, is allowed no voice.'
readable and informative book.
Robert L. Spaeth is dean of the
College of Arts and Sciences at St.
John's University, CollegeVille,
Minn., and a former member of the
Democratlc-Farmer-Labor state
central committee.
State Rep. Alpha Smaby, right, went door-to-door In the
summer of 1968 in her unsuccessful campaign for re~ ..