Existing comment:
Disorder in the Court of Public Opinion
Unfolding in the wake of the chaotic 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, the trial popularly known as the Chicago Seven case, U.S. v. Dellinger, et al, appealed at 472 F.2d 340 (1972), mirrored both the sensationalism of the convention and the larger cultural issues taking place within American society. U.S. Federal District Court judge Julius Hoffman presided over the case and was often at odds with the original eight political activists on trial and their defense team. These two letters encapsulate opposing viewpoints on the issues and principals at the heart of the case, between which an ocean of public opinion and debate ebbed and flowed.
Mr. and Mrs. J. Allen to Justice Hugo Black. Manuscript letter, March 4, 1970. Hugo Black Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (041.00.00) |