Abstract
Arguably the most memorable incident in the Chicago Conspiracy Trial was Judge Hoffman’s decision to chain and gag Black Panther leader Bobby Seale. As defendant Tom Hayden recalled in assessing the significance of the chaining and gagging of Seale, “Looking back one could argue that without Jerry and Abbie and above all without Bobby Seale, who belongs in a separate category, there would have been no Chicago trial to remember.”
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- 1.
Author Interview with Tom Hayden March, 29th 2005.
- 2.
J. Anthony Lukas, “Seale put in Chains at ‘Chicago 8’ trial”, New York Times, October 30, 1969, p. 1.
- 3.
See Schultz, The Chicago Conspiracy Trial, p. 40.
- 4.
See Dellinger, From Yale to Jail, p. 342. In his autobiography Dellinger recalls Garry on his first meeting with the defendants as stating that he believed that at least one of the defendants must be an FBI spy, an accusation which led Dellinger to immediately distrust the West Coast lawyer, See p. 343.
- 5.
See Schultz, The Chicago Conspiracy Trial, p. 40.
- 6.
Ibid., p 43.
- 7.
Ibid., p. 42.
- 8.
United States vs. Bobby Seale 461 F2d 345.
- 9.
Ibid.
- 10.
See Schultz, The Chicago Conspiracy Trial, p. 50.
- 11.
Trial Transcript, pp. 5005–5006.
- 12.
Lukas, The Barnyard Epithet, p. 37.
- 13.
See Schultz, The Chicago Conspiracy Trial, p. 45.
- 14.
Author Interview with Stew Albert April 6th, 2005.
- 15.
Trial Transcript, p. 4615.
- 16.
See for example Ibid., pp. 4814–17.
- 17.
See Lukas, “Seale put in Chains”, p. 39.
- 18.
Trial Transcript, pp. 4930–4934.
- 19.
See Contempt: Transcript of the Contempt Citations, pp. 1–37.
- 20.
See United States vs. Bobby Seale 461 F2d 345.
- 21.
See Schultz, The Chicago Conspiracy Trial, p. 376.
- 22.
J. Anthony Lukas, “Judge Threatens to Chain and Gag Seale at Trial”, New York Times, October 29, 1969, p. 27.
- 23.
Trial Transcript, p. 5201.
- 24.
See J. Anthony Lukas, “Judge Says Seale can’t Plead Case”, New York Times, October 21, 1969, p. 9; J. Anthony Lukas, “Policeman Tells of Infiltrating Chicago Protest”, New York Times, October 28, 1969, p. 24; Lukas, “Judge Threatens to Chain and Gag Seale”, p. 27; J. Anthony Lukas, “Seale Disrupts the Courtroom Again”, New York Times, October 31, p. 38 and Lukas, “Seale put in Chains”, pp. 1 and 39.
- 25.
Lukas, “Judge Threatens to Chain and Gag Seale”, p. 27.
- 26.
Ibid.
- 27.
J. Anthony Lukas, “Seale put in chains”, p. 1.
- 28.
Ibid., p. 39.
- 29.
Ibid.
- 30.
See Ibid.
- 31.
See Ibid.
- 32.
See Murray et al., “‘Not in Our Name’”, pp. 61–62 and S. Cottle, “Transnational Protests and the Media: New Departures, Challenging Debates”, in S. Cottle and L. Lester, (Eds.) Transnational Protests and the Media New York, Peter Lang, 2011, p. 21.
- 33.
Cottle, “Transnational Protests and the Media”, p. 21.
- 34.
The book was reviewed for the New York Times by Christopher Lehmann- Haupt on October 30th, 1970 and extracts from the book were also published in the paper. See C. Lehmann- Haupt, “Books of the Times: Chicago, the Trial in History”, New York Times, October 30, 1970, p. 39.
- 35.
Lukas, The Barnyard Epithet, p. 37.
- 36.
C. Haberman, “J. Anthony Lukas, 64, Pulitzer-winning Author”, New York Times, June 7, 1997, p. 11.
- 37.
Ibid. See also Diamond, Behind the Times, pp. 189–190.
- 38.
Diamond, Behind the Times, pp. 189–190.
- 39.
Ibid., p. 189.
- 40.
See Ibid., pp. 189–190.
- 41.
Ibid., p. 190.
- 42.
See Author Interview with Stew Albert April 6th, 2005. Albert was also working as a journalist for the underground press at the trial and shared he said, on occasions, material he had picked up with Lukas. This material could, he believed, on occasions have been quite useful to Lukas given his close ties with the defendants.
- 43.
Author Interview with Albert April 6th, 2005.
- 44.
Author Interview with Albert April 6th, 2005.
- 45.
See Author Interview with John Schultz May 5th, 2005.
- 46.
See Author Interview with Rennie Davis April 28th, 2005.
- 47.
Author Interview with John Schultz May 5th, 2005.
- 48.
PBS “Hoover and the FBI” in A Huey P. Newton Story, 2002 from http://www.pbs.org/hueypnewton/people/people_hoover.html. Accessed February 7, 2005.
- 49.
Lukas, “Judge says Seale can’t Plead Case”, p. 9.
- 50.
See Lukas, “Seale put in Chains”, p. 39.
- 51.
Fred P. Graham, “High Court Backs Gagging to Curb Trial Disorders”, New York Times, April 1, 1970, pp. 1 and 19. As added evidence of the significance the paper attached to the Supreme Court ruling excerpts from Judge Black’s judgment on the case were also printed on page eighteen of the paper. New York Times, “Excerpts from Court’s Ruling on Trial Disruptions”, April 1, 1970, p. 18.
- 52.
Graham, “High Court Backs Gagging”, p. 1. The issue of the appropriate mechanism to deal with unruly defendants in a criminal trial had been kept alive in the pages of the New York Times, and in the minds of the paper’s readership, by the Panther 21 trial in New York. In the eighteen-month case that continued through 1970, the New York Panther leadership was being tried on a variety of charges, including bombings and attempted murder. During the trial the defendants had initiated significant disruption to the proceedings. See Author Interview with Gerry Lefcourt May 25th, 2005. Lefcourt was the chief defense counsel in the case. This disruption, along with the events that occurred in the Chicago trial, had met with considerable disquiet in the pages of the New York Times. See E. Evans Ashbury, “Panther trial aides await U.S. ruling on court disorder”, New York Times, March 21, 1970, p. 25; L. Oelsner, “Murtagh’s Rulings Pose Basic Issue of Jury Trial”, New York Times, March 22, 1970, p. 185; E. Evans Ashbury, “TV use Proposed in Panther Trial”, New York Times, April 4, 1970, p. 24.
- 53.
See Chicago Sun-Times, “Legal Precedent for Shackling?”, October 30, 1969, p. 4 and Thomas M. Gray, “Legal Precedents Offer few Clues in Seale Case”, Chicago Sun-Times, October 31, 1969, p. 18.
- 54.
Gray, “Legal Precedents”, p. 18 see also James W. Singer, “Judge Threatens to Chain, Gag Seale”, Chicago Sun-Times, October 29, 1969, p. 36 for questioning by the paper of the lack of legal precedent for Judge Hoffman’s actions.
- 55.
Gray, “Legal Precedents”, p. 18.
- 56.
Lukas, “Seale put in Chains”, p. 39.
- 57.
See Schultz, The Chicago Conspiracy Trial, pp. 60-61.
- 58.
Gray, “Legal Precedents”, p. 18.
- 59.
Ibid.
- 60.
See P. Lahav, “Theater in the Courtroom”, Law and Literature, pp. 381–474.
- 61.
Justice Black’s statement in Illinois vs. Allen p. 344 is quoted in Ibid., p. 439.
- 62.
See Ibid., p. 440.
- 63.
Lahav, “Theater in the Courtroom”, Law and Literature, p. 440.
- 64.
See New York Times, “Punishment Without Trial”, November 7, 1969, p. 46.
- 65.
See Lukas, “Judge says Seale can’t Plead Case”, p. 9 and J. Anthony Lukas, “Cleaver is said to Seek War Prisoner Trade for Jailed Panthers”, New York Times, October 22, 1969, p. 18.
- 66.
See Lukas, “Judge says Seale can’t Plead Case”, p. 9. The other brief reference to Seale seeking the right to defend himself is contained in an article on the Panthers seeking to trade American prisoners of war for jailed Panthers. In this reference although it is stated that Seale is seeking to act as his own attorney this is immediately contradicted by the statement that “Mr. Seale asserted that he had been deprived of the counsel of his choice… Charles Garry” Lukas, “Cleaver War Prisoner Trade”, p. 18.
- 67.
See Trial Transcript, p. 4607.
- 68.
Lukas, “Judge says Seale can’t Plead Case”, p. 9.
- 69.
See for example Trial Transcript, pp. 3534–3536.
- 70.
See for example J. Anthony Lukas, “‘Party’ Disrupts ‘Chicago 8’ Court”, New York Times, October 23, 1969, p. 24 and Lukas, “Policeman Tells”, p. 24.
- 71.
See Lukas, “Judge Threatens to Chain and Gag Seale”, p. 27.
- 72.
Lukas, “Policeman Tells”, p. 24.
- 73.
See Lukas, “Seale put in Chains”, p. 39, J. Anthony Lukas, “Gag and Shackles are Removed from Seale in Conspiracy Trial”, New York Times, November 4, 1969, p. 22 and J. Anthony Lukas, “Judge and Seale Resume their Verbal Warfare”, New York Times, November 5, 1969, p. 30.
- 74.
See Lukas, “Gag and Shackles Removed”, p. 22 and Lukas, “Judge and Seale”, p. 30.
- 75.
Lukas, “Gag and Shackles Removed”, p. 22.
- 76.
New York Times, “Punishment Without Trial”, p. 46.
- 77.
See U.S. vs. Seale 461 F. 2d at 358.
- 78.
See Author Interview with Gerry Lefcourt May 25th, 2005 and Author Interview with Michael Tigar May 22nd, 2006.
- 79.
James W. Singer, “Judge Threatens to Chain and Gag Seale”, Chicago Sun-Times, October 29, 1969, p. 36 and James W. Singer, “Report Seale to try again to Conduct his own Defense”, Chicago Sun-Times, October 19, 1969, p. 52.
- 80.
Singer, “Report Seale to try again”, p. 52.
- 81.
Ibid.
- 82.
Ibid.
- 83.
See, for example, Trial Transcript, p. 2206.
- 84.
See Author Interview with Rennie Davis April 28th, 2005.
- 85.
See Author Interview with Rennie Davis April 28th, 2005.
- 86.
Lukas, “Seale Disrupts Courtroom”, p. 38.
- 87.
Lukas, “Gag and Shackles Removed”, p. 22.
- 88.
The picture is printed alongside the article Lukas, “Seale Disrupts Courtroom Again”, p. 38 and the article on the protests was New York Times, “1500 Denounce War and Chicago 8 Trial”, November 2, 1969, p. 86.
- 89.
Lukas, “Judge and Seale Resume”, p. 30.
- 90.
See Lukas, “Judge says Seale can’t Plead Case”, p. 9.
- 91.
See Lahav, “Theater in the Courtroom”, Law and Literature, p. 463.
- 92.
See Lahav, “Theater in the Courtroom”, Boston University School of Law Working paper 02-16, p. 32.
- 93.
New York Times, “Punishment Without Trial”, p. 46. Although the editorial raised the issue of Seale’s right to be represented by the lawyer of his choice it did not refer to Seale’s primary claim—that he be allowed to defend himself in the case.
- 94.
See Ibid.
- 95.
See Kalven, Introduction to Contempt Transcript of the Contempt Citations, p xxii and Schultz, The Chicago Conspiracy Trial, p. 60.
- 96.
See Schultz, The Chicago Conspiracy Trial, p. 65.
- 97.
Kalven, Introduction to Contempt Transcript of the Contempt Citations, p xix. See Also Schultz, The Chicago Conspiracy Trial, p. 65.
- 98.
Lahav, “Theater in the Courtroom”, Boston University School of Law Working paper 02-16, p. 31.
- 99.
Author Interview with Tom Hayden March 29th, 2005.
- 100.
See Author Interview with Rennie Davis April 28th, 2005. As David Dellinger also recalls in his autobiography he, Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman were determined to get arrested themselves in protest against Seale’s treatment. It was only Seale’s insistence, which led Dellinger and the others to not follow through on their desired response to the incident. See Dellinger, From Yale to Jail, p. 354.
- 101.
Lukas, “Seale put in Chains”, p. 39.
- 102.
Schultz, The Chicago Conspiracy Trial, p. 63.
- 103.
See Author Interview with John Schultz May 5th, 2005. See Schultz, The Chicago Conspiracy Trial, p. 280 for Schultz’s quotes from the most sympathetic juror to the defense, Jean Fritz, about the emotional effect that Seale’s treatment had on her. Tom Hayden also recalled the emotional impact Seale’s treatment had on the sympathetic members of the jury though at the same time he felt frustrated at their refusal to channel that emotion into a willingness to hold out against the pressure from other jury members to convict the defendants. See Author Interview with Tom Hayden March 29th, 2005.
- 104.
B. Greene, “Stares Focus on Chained Figure”, Chicago Sun-Times, October 30, 1969, p. 26.
- 105.
See Schultz, The Chicago Conspiracy Trial, p. 266.
- 106.
See Kalven Introduction to Contempt Transcript of the Contempt Citations, p. xxi.
- 107.
James W. Singer, “Seale Bound and Gagged after Trial Outbursts”, Chicago Sun-Times, October 30, 1969, p. 1 and 4.
- 108.
See Lukas, “Seale put in Chains”, p. 39.
- 109.
See Author Interview with Rennie Davis April 28th, 2005.
- 110.
See Author email with John Laurence July 10th, 2015.
- 111.
See Author Interview with Tom Hayden March 29th, 2005 and Author Interview with Rennie Davis April 28th, 2005.
- 112.
See Lukas, “Seale put in Chains”, pp. 1 and 39.
- 113.
See Greene, “Stares Focused on Chained Figure”, p. 26.
- 114.
Chicago Sun-Times, “Seale Explains Actions”, November 4, 1969, p. 1.
- 115.
Greene, “Stares Focused on Chained Figure”, pp. 3 and 26.
- 116.
C. Svare, “Julian Bond: Chaining of Seale ‘Barbaric’”, Chicago Sun-Times, October 31, 1969, p. 37 and Chicago Sun-Times, “Reverend Jackson Calls Trial of 8 Travesty”, November 7, 1969, p. 26.
- 117.
See D. Garrow, Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, New York, Morrow, 1986.
- 118.
Chicago Sun-Times, “Negro Lawyers Unit Blasts Binding Gagging of Seale”, November 3, 1969, p. 40 and Chicago Sun-Times, “Trial Reforms Asked by 35 Lawyers”, November 7, 1969, p. 24.
- 119.
See Author Interview with William Chapman May 30th, 2005.
- 120.
See Author Interview with William Chapman May 30th, 2005.
- 121.
See Diamond, Behind the Times, pp. 188–189 for Rosenthal’s comments about the concerns he had about the paper’s move, in his view, to the left and his attempts to stifle this agenda.
- 122.
See, for example, Gitlin, The Whole World is Watching, p. 4.
- 123.
See Ibid., p. 28.
- 124.
L. Grossberg, E. Wartella and D. Charles Whitney, Media Making: Mass Media in a Popular Culture, London, Sage, 1998, p. 327.
- 125.
See Wardle, “The ‘Unabomber’ vs. The ‘Nailbomber’”, p. 249.
- 126.
See Gitlin, The Whole World is Watching, pp. 11 and 45. These understandings about what make sense are, as Gitlin notes, often not reflected on but take place on an unconscious level based on years of socialization into existing ways of seeing the world.
- 127.
See M. Flamm, Law and Order: Street Crime, Civil Unrest, and the Crisis of Liberalism, New York, Columbia University Press, 2005, p. 159.
- 128.
See Ibid., for the strong public support as evidenced by Harris Poll and Gallup Poll for the police actions taken against the demonstrators.
- 129.
See Author Interview with John Schultz May 5th, 2005.
- 130.
Gitlin, The Sixties, pp. 348–349.
- 131.
See D. Farber, The Age of Great Dreams and D. Chalmers, And the Crooked Places Shall be Made Straight: the Struggle for Social Change in the 1960s, 2nd Edition Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996.
- 132.
New York Times, “A ‘No’ to Separatism” November 4, 1969, p. 44. See also similar editorials condemning more militant black claims. New York Times, “Free Speech in Harlem”, October 27, 1969, p. 44. New York Times, “Free Universities – or Captive”, October 20, 1969, p. 46.
- 133.
For descriptions of the FBI’s campaign against the Panthers as part of COINTELPRO See Final Report of the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities United States Senate, 94th Congress April 26th, 1976 [AKA “Church Committee Report”], D. Cunningham, There’s Something Happening Here: The New Left, The Klan and FBI Counterintelligence, Berkeley, University of California Press, 2004, W. Churchill and J. Vander Wall, Agents of Repression: The FBI’s Secret War against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement, New York, South End Press, 1988 and J. K. Davis, Assault on the Left: the FBI and the Sixties Antiwar Movement, Westport Conn., Praeger, 1997.
- 134.
PBS “Hoover and the FBI” in A Huey P. Newton Story.
- 135.
J. Kifner, “Police in Chicago Slay 2 Panthers: Illinois Chairman of Party is Killed in Shoot-out”, New York Times, December 5, 1969, pp. 1 and 34.
- 136.
R. Wilkins and R. Clark, Search and Destroy: A Report by the Commission of Inquiry into the Black Panthers and the Police, New York, Metropolitan Applied Research Center, 1973.
- 137.
See Author Interview with Ramsey Clark June 5th, 2005. Further evidence of official culpability for Hampton’s death is also provided by the out of court settlement paid to his family by the government to settle their civil suit.
- 138.
See T. Woolfe, “Radical Chic: that Party at Lennys”, New York Magazine, June 8, 1970.
- 139.
Stew Albert Email to the Author April 8th, 2005.
- 140.
C. Gerald Fraser, “Carmichael Quits the Black Panthers”, New York Times, July 4, 1969, pp. 1 and 25.
- 141.
Small suggests that news reports, because of the greater public acceptance of the objectivity of news, have greater weight in forming public opinion than editorial statements. See M. Small, Covering Dissent: the Media and the Anti-Vietnam War Movement, New Brunswick, Rutgers University Press, 1994. As will be seen in the final chapter the paper’s editorial voice is nevertheless highly significant in expressing the paper’s views on important social issues.
- 142.
The contrast between the apparently relaxed and idyllic lifestyle led by some Panther leaders and the seriousness of their revolutionary aims is a subsidiary frame that emerged in a later article on the issue. See E. Pace, “Carmichael Tells of Meeting Cleaver in Algiers”, New York Times, July 25, 1969, p. 16.
- 143.
Fraser, “Carmichael Quits”, p. 1.
- 144.
Ibid., p. 25.
- 145.
Ibid.
- 146.
Ibid.
- 147.
See E. Pace, “Panthers Upset by Carmichael View”, New York Times, July 26, 1969, p. 9 and Pace, “Carmichael Tells of Meeting Cleaver”, p. 16.
- 148.
The paper’s suggestion that the Panthers would initiate reprisals against Carmichael occurs despite the fact that later in the same article Cleaver is stated as having sent an open letter for publication in the journal Ramparts responding to Carmichael’s criticisms of the party. Despite this nonviolent response the potential threat of violent reprisals by the Panthers provides the frame of the story. See Pace, “Panthers Upset”, p. 9.
- 149.
See Fraser, “Carmichael Quits”, pp. 1 and 25.
- 150.
Pace, “Carmichael Tells of Meeting Cleaver”, p. 16.
- 151.
See M. J. Buhle, P. Buhle, D. Georgakas, (Eds.) Encyclopedia of the American Left Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, 1998 entry on the National Guardian/Guardian pp. 529–532.
- 152.
Guardian, “Carmichael Resigns”, July 7, 1969, p. 8.
- 153.
Author Interview with Stew Albert April 6th, 2005.
- 154.
Tigar has had extensive experience dealing with the media in high profile cases. He acted, for example, for accused Oklahoma City bomber, Terry Nichols in his murder trial. Nichols was found guilty of manslaughter charges but escaped the death penalty. See Author Interview with Michael Tigar May 22nd, 2006.
- 155.
Author Interview with Michael Tigar May 22nd 2006.
- 156.
See Lukas, The Barnyard Epithet, p. 23.
- 157.
Ibid.
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Sharman, N. (2016). “The Orderly Administration of Justice”: The Chaining and Gagging of Defendant Bobby Seale. In: The Chicago Conspiracy Trial and the Press. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55938-8_3
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