Nominate a Pig for President

The Yippies worked from August 18-August 30th 1968 to use theatrical demonstration in the streets of the city. In their dramatic “Daring Expose - Top Secret Yippie Plans for Lincoln Park,” the group published their intentions for the weeklong convention. The Yippies believed that the nomination of Hubert Humphrey would continue the Vietnam War and thus determine the future of the war and the country. They concocted a "Celebration of Life" in order to party in the parks and streets of the city. People played rock music, celebrated the 'summer of love' outdoors, smoked marijuana, and demonstrated against the political order. 

However, these were not the most ridiculous and dramatic moment of the Celebration of Life. When the YIPPIEs satirically nominated Pigasus the Pig for the Democratic presidential candidacy on August 23, the news media went wild. Then, within minutes, Pigasus was arrested by the Chicago police!

The ‘Pigasus’ candidacy was Yippie satirical politics: after being arrested with the pig on various counts, Yippie leadership even debated the merits of eating the pig as a final act of civil disobedience against the political establishment. The significance of the pig’s name is twofold. Referencing the flying horse in Greek mythology, it firstly indicated that a Yippie-approved candidate would be nominated ‘when pigs fly.’ Secondly, the Yippies began referring to the adversarial Chicago police and administration as ‘pigs,’ further demoting the symbolic worth of ‘Pigasus’ in the eyes of the radical counterculture. By using public space to present their Democratic nominee, the Yippies lampooned the system because they believed change would never take place.