What happened to Chicago’s presidential pig?

Curious City

WBEZ Chicago

Investigation, Chicago, Radio, Arts, Society & Culture, Public, Education, Curious, City

4.6 • 661 Ratings

🗓️ 27 August 2025

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

During the demonstrations at the Democratic National Convention in 1968, activists trotted out a pig named Pigasus for president. Her campaign was cut short after she and protesters were arrested by the Chicago Police. Rumors swirled that Pigasus was barbecued, but what really happened to her?

Transcript

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0:00.0	Listen to more news from WBEZ anytime on the WBEZ app.
0:07.0	Start each day informed.
0:09.0	Tap and listen live or on demand.
0:11.0	Available on iOS and Android.
0:14.0	It's Curious City, where we take your questions about Chicago and the region, and investigate.
0:22.6	Report.
0:23.3	Explore.
0:24.2	From WBEZ.
0:27.3	What's up, Chicago?
0:28.8	I'm Erin Allen.
0:30.4	The 1968 Democratic National Convention was a historic moment for Chicago and the country.
0:36.5	During this tumultuous time, one little porky politician
0:40.9	stood out from the rest. Her name was Pegasus. Yes, the pig that ran for president.
0:47.3	A group of yippies or yappies, the members of the Youth International Party trotted out their candidate for
0:55.5	president, a black and brown pig named Pegasus. Andrew Meriwether picks up this week's story.
1:05.0	That's right, a pig nominated for president. Okay, nominated is probably too official, but in August of 1968,
1:13.2	Piggas was the candidate for the Youth International Party, or Yippies, at the Democratic National
1:18.5	Convention. Sadly, the political career of Piggas was cut quite short, as she was promptly
1:25.0	arrested by police, along with several protesters when she appeared
1:28.5	in Daly Plaza. Though brief, her legend has lived on and caught the eye of curious city
1:35.5	listener Andre Smith. He wanted to know, what happened to Picassus after her arrest?
1:42.5	Now, Andre is a lawyer, and he did a bit of sleuthing himself on this, even sending out a
	...

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