LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The father of late Doors singer Jim Morrison has broken his silence to share memories of his estranged son, who once sang about killing him and joked that his family was dead.

George Morrison, a retired U.S. Navy admiral, is one of the contributors to "The Doors by the Doors," an authorized memoir released this week. The book's author, rock journalist Ben Fong-Torres, also interviewed the band's three surviving members and Jim's younger brother and sister, among others.

"We look back on him with great delight ... The fact that he's dead is unfortunate but looking back on his life it's a very pleasant thought," George Morrison says in the book.

Jim Morrison, a difficult teen who rebelled against his father's military lifestyle, went on to become one of the most magnetic performers in rock 'n' roll. But he disowned his family, and once made a throwaway comment that they were dead. He also referenced his parents in the Oedipal rant "The End," singing that he wanted to kill his father and sleep with his mother.

Andy Morrison recalls that his mother, Clara, who died last year, took him to a Doors concert in Washington, D.C., and asked to see Jim, but he refused to meet with her, and she drove home in tears.

The Morrisons surmise that Jim's hostility was really designed to shield them from too much attention.

"I had the feeling that he felt we'd just as soon not be associated with his career," George Morrison says. "He knew I didn't think rock music was the best goal for him. Maybe he was trying to protect us."

Adds his sister, Anne, "He liked mystique, too. He didn't want to be from somewhere."

Jim Morrison died of a heart attack in Paris in 1971, and his grave at the Pere Lachaise cemetery is one of the city's top tourist attractions. His family pays the authorities to take care of the site.

George Morrison said it was "quite an honor ... for the family" to have his son buried near cultural giants like Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf and Frederic Chopin.

.............................................

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Democratic_National_Convention

The 1968 National Convention of the U.S. Democratic Party was held at International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois, from August 26 to August 29, 1968, for the purposes of choosing the Democratic nominee for the 1968 U.S. presidential election.^[1]

1968 already had been a tumultuous year for the United States, with the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy, and widespread protests of the Vietnam War. The convention achieved notoriety due to clashes between protesters and police, and due to the generally chaotic atmosphere of the event. The turmoil was widely publicized by the mass media on-hand for the convention, resulting in a nationwide debate about the convention and leading to a flood of articles and books about the event.

The decision of a Presidential nominee was particularly difficult for the Democrats that year, due to the split in the party over the Vietnam War, and the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. On one side, Senator Eugene McCarthy put forward a decidedly anti-war campaign, calling for the immediate withdrawal from the region. On the other side, Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey called for a policy more in line with President Lyndon Johnson's policy, which focused on making any reduction of force contingent on concessions extracted in the Paris Peace Talks.

The Democrats eventually settled on Humphrey, but would lose the election to Richard M. Nixon. The confusion of the convention, and the unhappiness of many liberals with the outcome, led the Democrats to begin reforms of their nominating process, increasing the role of primaries and decreasing the power of party delegates in the selection process.

Eight of the protesters, including Abbie Hoffman, Tom Hayden, Dave Dellinger, Rennie Davis, John Froines, Jerry Rubin, Bobby Seale, and Lee Weiner were charged with conspiracy in connection with the violence at the convention. They were known collectively as the "Chicago Eight" and later became the "Chicago Seven" after a mistrial was declared in the case of Bobby Seale.

On February 18, 1970, all seven defendants were acquitted on the charge of conspiring to incite a riot, but five were convicted of individually inciting riot. The charges were eventually dismissed by an appeals court. The Walker Report to the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence pinned the blame for the violence in the streets on the police, calling it a "police riot".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Democratic_National_Convention

----------------------------------------------

TET  1968  In Vietnam

"The Tet Offensive is frequently seen as an example of the value of media influence and popular opinion in the pursuit of military objectives."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tet_Offensive

The Tet Offensive can be considered a military defeat for the Communist forces, as neither the Viet Cong nor the North Vietnamese army achieved their tactical goals. Furthermore, the operational cost of the offensive was dangerously high, with the Viet Cong essentially crippled by the huge losses inflicted by South Vietnamese and other Allied forces. Nevertheless, the Offensive is widely considered a turning point of the war in Vietnam, with the NLF and PAVN winning an enormous psychological and propaganda victory. Although US public opinion polls continued to show a majority supporting involvement in the war, this support continued to deteriorate and the nation became increasingly polarized over the war.^[1] President Lyndon Johnson saw his popularity fall sharply after the Offensive, and he withdrew as a candidate for re-election in March of 1968.   The Tet Offensive is frequently seen as an example of the value of media influence and popular opinion in the pursuit of military objectives.    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tet_Offensive

...............................................