Focusing on the Chicago bar scene of the postwar era, historian John D’Emilio has uncovered some surprising and unintended consequences of Richard Nixon’s animosity towards the Richard J. Daley administration.

Without a doubt, queer activists over the course of the 1960s and 70s fought back against police harassment of LGBT public spaces. But Nixon’s concerted efforts to destroy the power of Chicago’s Democratic machine paradoxically undermined the police’s systematic harassment of bars patronized by LGBT people.

Recorded Thursday, April 15, 2010 at Chicago History Museum.