Rennie Davis Dies: ‘Chicago 7’ Radical And TV Documentary Subject Was 80
Rennie Davis, one of the leading radicals of the 1960s who later recapped those days in numerous television documentaries on the era, has died. He was 80 years old and died Tuesday in Berthoud, Colorado of lymphoma, according to his wife. who announced the death on his Facebook page.
A leading opponent of the US involvement in the Vietnam war, Davis was one of the top people in Students for a Democratic Society and the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam.
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The S.D.S., as it was usually referred to, was a key mobilizing force for numerous anti-war rallies. Their apex came in 1968 in Chicago at the Democratic National Convention, where Davis was one of the organizers of a massive protest that joined with the Yippies in an attempt to upstage the nomination of VP Hubert Humphrey as the party’s candidate.
The rally by the groups at Chicago’s Grant Park on Aug. 27 turned into a brawl with riot-helmeted police, which was later termed a “police riot” by an investigating commission.
Davis and seven other defendants were charged with inciting a riot and conspiracy. Originally the Chicago Eight, they became the Chicago Seven when Black Panther leader Bobby Seale had his trial severed from the others.
The Chicago Seven trial was memorialized in the Aaron Sorkin film The Trial of the Chicago 7, which captured the political theater at the trial by Davis and the others. All seven defendants were acquitted of conspiracy, but Davis and four others were convicted of inciting to riot and sentence to five years in prison. That verdict was overturned on appeal.
Davis continued on his radical path, appearing in numerous protests around the world. But his life took a different and strange turn in 1973, when he became the American spokesman for Guru Maharaj Ji, a 15-year-old Indian guru.
Davis later continued on as a spokesman for various causes, mixing radical politics with New Age, a mix that drew skepticism from his former comrades in arms.
Still, whenever a perspective was needed on Vietnam, the radical ’60s, or the politics of the era, Davis was called upon for his views. He also worked in business consulting, technology, socially responsible investment and various healing regimens.
He is survived by his wife, Kirsten Liegmann, two daughters, Lia and Maya; a son, Sky; a sister, Bea; two brothers, John and Bob; and two grandchildren.
No memorial plans have been revealed as yet.
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