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It remains to be seen what impact this summer鈥檚 Democratic and Republican national conventions will have on the 2016 presidential election. But when Republicans gather in Cleveland and Democrats gather in Philadelphia, there鈥檚 no question that each of these cities will get a huge amount of media exposure and probably an economic boost.

That was the idea back in 1965 when a group of Seattle community leaders launched a little-remembered effort to get the Democrats and the Republicans to hold their 1968 national conventions at Seattle Center.

Secretary for the Seattle group was Louie Larsen, the man behind the record $10 million of advance ticket sales for the , and producer of a series of special events that took place during the fair鈥檚 six-month run. When the fair ended in October 1962, Larsen and a lot of other fair staffers felt a pretty big letdown.

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鈥淸I felt] terrible. I’m not sure I ever got over it, to be real honest,鈥� Larsen said.

鈥淭here was a group of us, a number of us, we’d meet almost every afternoon at and we we’re trying to relive the fair,鈥� Larsen said, with a hearty laugh. 鈥淵ou don’t want it to ever end.鈥�

Partly from a desire to recapture some of the excitement of the fair, and to bring more business to town, people like Larsen, along with civic leaders, were looking for new events to pump life into the local economy, and to bring new activities to Seattle Center.

The World鈥檚 Fair, Larsen says, 鈥減ut us on the map in a lot of respects, but we were still kind of out here in the Never-Never-land.鈥�

鈥淲e were really grasping for almost anything we could to develop traffic and revenue and tourism,鈥� Larsen said. By 1965, Larsen was in charge of marketing and events for Seattle Center, and the Coliseum (as KeyArena was then known) was playing host to hockey games. But there was potential for more and plenty of open calendar dates for big events.

With support from unions and the backing of Seattle Mayor Dorm Braman, Larsen鈥檚 group, known as the 鈥淐ommittee of 鈥�68,鈥� began meeting in the summer of 1965. In extolling the virtues of old fairgrounds as a convention center, Mayor Braman told the Seattle Times that, 鈥渙ne of the attractions could be free monorail transport between downtown and Seattle Center for convention delegates.鈥�

The Committee of 鈥�68 hit two major snags almost immediately. Even with free monorail rides from downtown, downtown Seattle lacked the requisite number of hotel rooms. Republican National Chairman Ray Bliss said the convention required a minimum of 10,000 rooms; the Democrats said they needed between 14,000 and 18,000 rooms. By some estimates, Seattle had just 6,000 hotel rooms in 1965.

鈥淎t that point, Seattle really would had to have scratched to get enough hotel rooms,鈥� Larsen said. 鈥淔or quite a number of years, that was one of the deterrents to Seattle [hosting more big events], there weren’t enough first-class rooms in the city. That’s all changed now, of course.鈥�

The committee also learned that the cities that had hosted the 1964 conventions had contributed more than $600,000 each in cash and in-kind goods and services as part of their 鈥渂id鈥� to host.

In September 1965, the Seattle Times grimly reported that, in light of this information, 鈥渢he main committee will face determining whether to press the campaign or shelve it.鈥�

But the Committee of 鈥�68 wasn鈥檛 about to give up just yet, and they went about trying to solve the hotel problem. In November, the committee told Mayor Braman that there were actually 12,000 鈥渟uitable鈥� rooms in Seattle, with an additional 3,000 rooms available nearby. Completion of I-5 construction, the mayor was told, would make these remote rooms 鈥渘early as convenient as downtown motels and hotels.鈥�

With this positive report, the next step was to come up with more than $500,000 (nearly $4 million in 2016 dollars) required to submit a credible bid. 鈥淭he possibility of raising the necessary money looks good,鈥� Braman told The Seattle Times.

Mayor Braman also announced that a 鈥溾�榖lue ribbon鈥� bipartisan group鈥� would help lead the effort.聽 Members included Senator Henry M. Jackson; Senator Warren Magnuson; Governor Daniel J. Evans and former governors Al Rosellini and Art Langlie.

Evans, who was governor until 1977, said this week that he was never a champion of the Committee of 鈥�68.

鈥淚 was not very much into that, and frankly I was not a great fan of doing it because I thought that there was absolutely no chance that either one of the political conventions would want to come,鈥� Evans said. He says the parties preferred being more centrally located and closer to population centers, and that Seattle lacked enough hotel rooms that were close enough to Seattle Center.

But Louie Larsen says the effort to bring a national political convention to Seattle in 1968 took a turn after he went on a fact-finding mission to the Bay Area. The Democratic National Convention had been held at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California in 1964.

鈥淚 made one trip to San Francisco and talked to and he said [San Francisco] would never, ever bid for another political convention,鈥� Larsen said. 鈥淗e said, 鈥榃e lost thousands of dollars.鈥� It didn’t produce the revenue that they thought, and it created a lot of logistic problems.鈥�

Back in Seattle, the Committee of 鈥�68 listened intently as Larsen recounted what Mayor Christopher had told him. 鈥淚 gave them the full report and it was all over,鈥� Larsen said. 鈥淲e never went any further.鈥�

But the effort did live on, or at least it created a kind of echo. Final mention in The Seattle Times of the work to bring the political conventions here was on January 23, 1967, when the paper printed a wire story that said 鈥淸f]acilities and bids of Seattle and other cities seeking the 1968 Republican national convention will be studied by a seven-member committee to be named by Ray Bliss, Republican national chairman.鈥�

Over the next nine months, a process nearly as complex as choosing a presidential nominee played out, as the Republicans and Democrats reviewed bids, and cities pressed their respective cases. Contrary to what had been printed by the Seattle Times, the New York Times in February 1967 said that just six cities were in the running to host the Republicans: Houston, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Miami Beach and San Francisco. The list didn鈥檛 include Seattle.

Though the Democrats wouldn鈥檛 choose the location for their convention until late 1967, both parties were pressured by ABC, CBS, and NBC beginning in early 1967 to choose a single city for both conventions.

It鈥檚 hard to imagine now, but the networks were eager to present the 1968 convention, for the very first time, in color. In those days, a paltry 20% of the 55 million American households with TVs owned color sets, but numbers were increasing. A remote color broadcast would require significant investment in lighting and air conditioning and related equipment, and the TV networks said that it would be cheaper to outfit just one convention hall for both 1968 conventions to facilitate the process.

In April 1967, Miami Beach was named the front-runner to host both conventions. The local convention and visitors bureau predicted $10.5 million ($74 million in 2016 dollars) in business from the two events. Then, in June 1967, Chicago was proclaimed the likely location for both parties to gather. In July, the Republicans officially picked Miami Beach. In October, the Democrats officially picked Chicago. So much for bipartisan unity.

Why did the Democrats pick Chicago? Perhaps because they had bid $100,000 more than their Florida competitor. Some also say that President Lyndon Johnson had intervened on the Windy City鈥檚 behalf at the behest of Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley, with the goal of boosting Johnson鈥檚 chances to carry Illinois in the 1968 presidential election.

When Chicago got the nod, Republican Florida Governor Claude B. Kirk Jr. lashed out at LBJ. 鈥淲e have it on good information that the Site Selection Committee chose Miami Beach but were reversed by the President,鈥� Mr. Kirk was quoted as saying by the New York Times.

It鈥檚 an understatement to say that the mid-1960s were a tumultuous time, rife with demonstrations against the Vietnam War and in favor of Civil Rights and that these demonstrations often turned violent. In planning for the 1968 conventions, there were worries about how protests might disrupt proceedings, but party officials expressed no additional concerns about Chicago. Mayor Daley told one party leader that, 鈥渢he potential for racial disorder in Chicago was low and any demonstrations would be orderly.鈥�

It鈥檚 also an understatement to say that a lot changed between Chicago鈥檚 selection in October 1967 and the conventions in August 1968. Early in 1968, incumbent President Johnson faced primary challenges from and dropped his reelection bid in March; was assassinated in April; and was shot to death in June.

As it turned out, taking a pass, at least at the 1968 Democratic convention, wasn鈥檛 necessarily a bad move for Seattle. The Republican meeting in early August in Miami Beach was relatively peaceful. Washington Governor Daniel J. Evans gave the keynote address, and his party鈥檚 nomination.

in Chicago, to put it mildly, proceeded somewhat differently than the Republican gathering in Miami Beach.

With violence and disarray carried on color TV, and countless on front pages around the country, Chicago became the flashpoint for frustration and anger about war and race, and a and one-word call to action for demonstrators everywhere.聽 More than one pundit said that the Democratic National Convention in Chicago that nominated Vice President Hubert Humphrey was the event that secured Richard M. Nixon鈥檚 eventual election that fall.

Subsequent quadrennial gatherings have been fairly sedated affairs, and nearly a half-century later, there are locals who dream of Seattle someday adding a Republican or Democratic national convention to its resume.

Rob Hampton is Senior Vice President of Convention Sales and Convention Services for . He says Seattle was actually considered early on for the 2016 Republican convention.

鈥淲e did have conversations with the Republican National Committee for the 2016 convention,鈥� Hampton said, but Visit Seattle wasn鈥檛 able to bid on it. 鈥淲e just don’t have the arena with the amount of seats that they are looking for.鈥�

Hampton says that with an arena such as the one proposed by Chris Hansen, Seattle could host the Republicans or the Democrats. Hampton says KeyArena seats about 14,000, and the conventions want a facility with 18,000 seats. He also says that the Seattle area could come up with the 11,300 hotel rooms a political convention would require.

The value in hosting a national political convention, Hampton says, is two-fold. First, the exposure, even for a city as well-known as Seattle, is priceless. 鈥淲e can always use the exposure,鈥� Hampton said because it translates into more business.

Value is also measured by the street cred among meeting planners who produce smaller events. 鈥淢ost meeting planners look and say, 鈥榃ell, if they can handle that meeting in their city, then they’ll be able to handle ours,鈥� Hampton said, and this, too, translates into more convention business.

As Louie Larsen and the Committee of 鈥�68 found out more than 50 years ago, both parties also ask for sizable contributions of cash and in-kind goods and services. Hampton says that hasn鈥檛 changed, and the effort to secure a convention for a city must be 鈥渄riven their host committee鈥� because 鈥渋t takes a big community effort even to put a bid on it.鈥�

As the man whose trip to San Francisco helped stop the Committee of 鈥�68 in its tracks, Louie Larsen can laugh now when he looks back at what might鈥檝e been had Seattle hosted a violent convention 48 years ago.

After an event like that, it probably would鈥檝e taken a lot more than a few lost afternoons in the Cloud Room to get over it.