Transcript:

I shot this photo in August 1972 in Miami Beach Convention Center in Florida during the Republican National Convention. This now 33 year old photograph was taken at a party the Young Republicans hosted one evening. Inside the convention center it was a sharp contrast to the thousands of people on the outside protesting the war in Vietnam. I was in Miami to cover the anti-war protest during the convention.

I was shooting for a semi-underground newspaper, the St. Louis Outlaw. It was my first professional assignment. (I attempted) to show the resistance against the Nixon administration’s war in Vietnam and the gap between a radical youth movement and the establishment. Vietnam Veterans Against the War VVAW played a major role in the demonstrations. The fighting claimed nearly 60,000 US lives, with more than 200,000 US casualties, along with more than 3 million people from Indochina who were killed in the war. It is estimated that almost 100,000 United States Vietnam veterans committed suicide after the war officially ended. Toxic chemicals like Agent Orange used during the war wreaked havoc on fragile ecosystems and those exposed to the toxin. Agent Orange continues to have tragic health effects on people today in Vietnam as well as US soldiers who served there. 

And now the backstory of this absurd photo that I took on the inside of the Republican National Convention in Miami Beach: The Young Republicans had a chance to rub elbows with the war hawks of that era and giants like John Wayne, who cheered them on. I hitchhiked from the outskirts of St. Louis, Missouri to Miami Beach, Florida. I was with my friend, Pat. And one of the first things we did was check in at the protest tents where we met other journalists, like folks from the Liberation News Service (LNS) and they got us inside the convention center. They gave us fake Rolling Stone magazine press credentials and that opened many doors to us, like experiencing the Young Republicans.

The Young Republicans were drinking a lot at this soirée and seemed oblivious to the rest of the world. A young woman approached us and said, “Where are you guys staying?” and we told her at the protest camp. She then said, “Do you know Abbie  Hoffman?” For those of you who don’t know who he was, Abbie Hoffman, he was the founder of the Youth International Party (Yippies). He also went to trial as one of the Chicago Seven for his instigation of anti-war protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago that ended in a police riot.

Then she said, “I’ve got some great pot and I want to get Abbie high, can you introduce me?” “Of course,” we said, “we can introduce you.” So we went to the protest tent and found Abbie and then, of course, Abbie  passed the joint around the tent and I think everybody had a good time. 

My photos of the 1972 anti-war protest were published in the St. Louis Outlaw and through the years, other publications. In 2016, my photos were in the exhibit, If Voting Changed Things, in the ¡Buen Vivir! Gallery in Buffalo, New York.