But the Weatherman bombing policy had not won support even on the extreme Left. And yet the 60s Movement was, broadly speaking, a success, in that it helped to create a society where there was far more individual choice. We recognize our responsibility to use data and technology for good. The first shot across the bow came during the "Days of Rage" in October 1969, when the Weathermen took to the streets of Chicago, attacking property in the city's Gold Coast and facing off with police. That dismissal was followed shortly by another, when, on January 3, 1974, Judge Julius Hoffman dismissed a 4-year-old case against twelve members of the Weatherman faction of the Students for a Democratic Society, including Dohrn. The Weather Underground's early days started deep within the Students for a Democratic Society, the largest protest group of the 1960s dedicated to social, economic, and political change through predominately peaceful means. By autumn 1971long after they had changed their name to the Weather Undergroundit was clear that the FBI had been exaggerating the scale of the Weather threat; yet the Bureau still committed vast resources to pursuing the group. The WUO boasted a membership in the several hundred, hiding out scattered across the country in small communities of three to five people (think "cells") and all reporting to the Weather Bureau. But Prairie Fire set off an ideological struggle within the Weather organization itself, one that culminated in the spring of 1976 in the triumph of the more radical wing, which insisted on continuing the guerrilla war. Three days later, NYPD Detective Lt. Dan Kelly spotted a 1978 Chrysler with a license plate that had been seen at the Mt. Bill Clinton and the New Democrats and that whole group were the alternative to a Democratic Party grounded in the labor movement, the civil rights movement, the womens movement. Broadcasts are aired Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridaysat 6:00 PM Central. The explosions inflicted minor injuries on six police officers and severe injuries to the arm of one other, who needed six hours of surgery. For more see: Weather Underground, Students for a Democratic Society, and Bernardine Dohrn, Bill Ayers was an original co-founder and one of the top leaders of the Weather Underground, a radical-left violent extremist group that was active from the late 1960s through the mid-1970s. At that time, the FBI believedwronglythat Weatherman, because it was countercultural and anarchic, was the least dangerous group in SDS. Originally known as the Weathermen, the group was organized as a faction of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) national leadership. Type your paragraph here. Though the Weathermen ceased to exist by 1981, the name lives on as a weather forecasting database createdin the 1990s at the University of Michigan, where it all started. All Rights Reserved. By December 1983, Rockland County had spent $1 million (equivalent to $2.72million in 2021) on the trials and Westchester County Executive Andrew P. O'Rourke estimated that it would likely cost up to another $5 million (equivalent to $13.6million in 2021) to prosecute the case to its conclusion, due in large part to extra security precautions, including building alterations.[11]. [9][10] Larry Grathwohl, an FBI informant who was with the Weathermen from autumn 1969 through spring 1970, considered her one of the two top leaders of the organization, along with Bill Ayers. After the trial, Balagoon claimed, "As to the seventy five years in prison, I am not really worried, not only because I am in the habit of not completing sentences or waiting on parole or any of that nonsense but also because the State simply isn't going to last seventy-five or even fifty years. There they have lived peacefully (if on the far Left) for the last 40 years. Prior to this he was a member of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), a left-wing-turned-revolutionary Communist organization that split apart shortly after founding of Weatherman, the faction that would later evolve into the Underground. ", Stinging from the failed incursion, the Weathermen retreated and emerged in the spring of 1970 to issue a declaration of a state of war, per TheNew York Times. Ultimately, by 1976, the momentum slowed, and the Weather Underground started to disband, a process that would take the next five years and see the re-emergence of a number of its fugitive members into mainstream society. And this was not the first time the FBI had miscalculated about Weatherman. 52, Another bomb timed to detonate during a police shift change blew up two nights later in nearby San Francisco. We must further the study of Marxism-Leninism within the WUO [Weather Underground Organization]. 56, In 2001, Ayers memoir of his SDS and Weathermen experiences was published. His father, Thomas Ayers, was a top-level executive with Commonwealth Edison Co., eventually rising to become the chairman of the power utility. In retrospect, it seems odd that the Federal Bureau of Investigation elevated a band of about one hundred young people, mostly college students, into a leading place on the Bureaus Most Wanted List. Ayers also referenced Chesa Boudin: I also thank my youngest son, Chesa Boudin, who is interpreting my talk this morning and whose book on the Bolivarian revolution has played an important part in countering the barrage of lies spread by the U.S. State Department and the corrupted Northamerican media. 64. South Nyack police chief Alan Colsey was the only officer initially at the scene of the crash, but managed to hold them at gunpoint until Orangetown Police Officer Michael Seidel and Rockland County District Attorney's Office Detective Jim Stewart arrived. Listen inat blogtalkradio. Listen to previously aired episodes on podcast. The charge was rightist deviationism, that is, moderation. Dohrn was next arrested on October 9, 1969, by the Chicago police during a rally for the women's faction of the Weathermen group and was later released on a one thousand dollar bond. Take control of your data. She recorded the declaration and sent a transcript of a tape recording to The New York Times. From 1991 to 2013, Dohrn was a Clinical Associate Professor of Law at the Children and Family Justice Center at Northwestern University School of Law. Leaders of the radical American student group the Weathermen, (left to right) Jim For three decades or four decades, theyve been in cahoots in an agenda around austerity, hollowing out the economy, privatization, crushing trade unions, permanent war. Love and Struggle: My Life in SDS, the Weather Underground, and Beyond. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. institution.". Thousands of New Leftists agreed with the Weathermens analysis of what had gone awry in America. Dohrn received her J.D. When the pair came out of hiding in 1980, Dohrn accepted a plea bargain on state charges, which cost her a $1,500 fine and three years of probation. He was sentenced to 75 years to life in prison. "We didn't start it," one Cuban official told the FBI. 4243, Eckstein also provided sources tying Ayers directly to two other bomb plots against Detroit police targets intended for the same day. [18] A fictionalized version of the robbery is incorporated into the 1995 film Dead Presidents. 44, Burrough wrote that Bill Ayers almost certainly knew of the Fort Dix planning and had visited the townhouse during the same week the attack would occur, evidence that he and townhouse bomb-maker Terry Robbins were trying to coordinate their strikes. 45, Also, Diana Oughton, then Bill Ayers girlfriend, was transferred from Ayers Midwest team to join the townhouse bombers just before the explosion that killed her. While many Weathermen resurfaced and surrendered on various criminal charges, Wilkerson was the only one to face homicide charges. Soon after its establishment in 1965, its focus shifted to protesting the Vietnam War, and by 1969, it had grown to more than 100,000 members strong. But within a few years, youthful rebellion The Weathermen thought of themselves as revolutionariesthat is, not merely as students acting out of anger over Vietnam and racism, but as politically minded organizers. New York: Verso. I don't defend it, but I do insist on explaining it.". And a small number of them (about 30) were Weathermen, who met directly with Vietnamese revolutionaries in 1969, and whose "philosophy was anincendiary some would say infantile mix of Marx, Ch Guevara and Ho Chi Minh, lubricated by free love [] LSD and daddy's cash," according to The Guardian. What became known as the Weather Underground began in 1969 as Weatherman, a dominant faction within Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), a left-wing-turned-revolutionary Communist organization that split apart shortly after founding of Weatherman. On May 26, 1968, as a speaker for the National Lawyers Guild, Dohrn said she was filing a motion in federal court asking for an injunction to halt any disciplinary action that was being taken against student activists and represented students from Columbia University who were striking and protesting. In a speech during the December 1969 "War Council" meeting organized by the Weathermen, attended by about 400 people in Flint, Michigan, Dohrn said, "First they killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them, then they even shoved a fork into the pig Tate's stomach! Rain showers early with some sunshine later in the day. In its desperation, the FBI resorted to unconstitutional methods to pursue the Weathermen, including warrantless break-ins and electronic surveillance of family members of Weathermen leaders. 8, In interviews about his past, Ayers has stated that he does not regret setting bombs, he does not consider what he did to be terrorism, and he believes that his conduct wasnt extreme enough in fighting racism. 9 10 Fellow SDS leader Todd Gitlin disagreed, saying the Weathermen planned on being terrorists and wanted to be terrorists, but wound up failed terrorists, so lets give them a medal for not killing anybody besides themselves. Speaking of Ayers in particular, Gitlin said Ayers was not a deep thinker who engaged in incoherent and reckless acts in the name of nonsensical beliefs. 11, William Charles Bill Ayers was born December 26, 1944. In a house across the street, Sandra Torgersen, an alert college student, spotted them as they switched vehicles and called the police. As late as 2003, several former Weathermen leaders were the subject of a federal probe into the February 1970 bombing-murder of a San Francisco, California, police officer that occurred two days after a known-Weatherman bombing that injured police in nearby Berkeley. Kathy Boudin, who was released from prison in September 2003, went into clinical social work and was the co-director/founder of the Center for Justice at Columbia University. Noteworthy actions included bombings of the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, and aiding in the prison escape of LSD guru Timothy Leary. Thank you for reporting this station. The Weathermen changed their name to the Weather Underground Organization, launched bombing campaigns against the establishment and became perhaps one of the most notorious, and violent, student-created activist groups of the 1970s. The San Francisco magazine piece quotes Dohrn, Ayers and other former Weathermen as claiming it was a right-wing conspiracy theory any suggestions that their organization was responsible for killing the officer. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. And so in October 1969, a small splinter of the peaceful Students for a Democratic Society(SDS) called the Weathermen stormed against the Vietnam War in what became known as the "Days of Rage." This allows you to focus on the securities you are interested in, so you can make informed decisions. Ayers was an original co-founder of Weather Underground (also known as Weatherman or the Weathermen), a radical-left violent extremist group that was active from the late 1960s through the mid-1970s. "I feel we didn't do enough." WebBarack Obama and the Weather Underground Dr. Quentin Young (left) is personal physician to Barack Obama (right) and Bernardine Dohrn (not shown). Sundays air at 8:00 PM Central. The Prairie Fire Collective favored coming out of hiding, with members facing the criminal charges against them, while the May 19 Coalition remained in hiding. 28 29, Eckstein and Burrough each wrote that federal law enforcement and the administration of President Richard Nixon severely overestimated the size and threat posed by the Weather Underground, affording the group more attention and lasting historical reputation that it otherwise deserved. The Weathermen took a page from the communists' playbook, seeking to learn from the ideologies, doctrines, and social constructs established in Cuba. While they worried that the bulk of the white working class was corrupted by relative prosperity, and ineradicable racism which they called white skin privilege, they hoped that in the counterculture, made up of disaffected young people, they might find a constituency capable of eventually empowering their revolutionary project. I also engage extensively with journalists and other partners to [12], Buck was later convicted of multiple charges related to the Brink's robbery and other crimes and sentenced to 50 years in a federal prison. Historian Arthur Eckstein wrote that the one bombs location near the police union headquarters would have caused many casualties. Of the second bomb, intended for a Detroit Police precinct house, Eckstein evaluated it as four times larger, enough to have destroyed the precinct headquarters and everyone in it. 47, In sworn trial testimony Grathwohl later stated he had warned Ayers about the likelihood of killing people in a restaurant near one bomb location, but was told by Ayers that sometimes innocent people have to die in order to attain your ultimate goal. Grathwohl also stated he had been sent to the scene by Ayers to determine when a bomb would hit the largest number of officers and that there was no plan to place a warning call before the detonation. And over the next three years, the vast majority of the Weathermen, with no serious federal charges now pending against them, came up voluntarily from the underground and returned to mainstream society. Burrough concluded, In every conceivable way, the young intellectuals who had come together in 1969 to form Weatherman had utterly failed: failed to lead the radical left over the barricades into armed underground struggle; failed to fight or support the black militants they championed; failed to force agencies of the American ruling class into a single change more significant than the spread of metal detectors and guard dogs. 30 31, Bryan Burrough wrote that the top Weather leadership, namely Bill Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn, and Jeff Jones, lived in a modern gated home in a waterside San Francisco suburb that one visitor described as a big, glamorous house that included a beautiful deck and four bedrooms that were totally empty. However, Burrough noted this was not the lifestyle of non-leaders, who lived on the edge of poverty, and that the disparity led to resentment. During the 1980s, she was employed by the Sidley & Austin law firm. She focused her work on the causes and effects of incarceration, drawing on her own experienceswiththe injustices of the penal system. WebBernardine Rae Dohrn ( ne Ohrnstein; born January 12, 1942) is a retired law professor and a former leader of the far-left militant organization Weather Underground in the United States. Lee. The struggle for Marxism-Leninism is the most significant development in our recent history. Gilbert, Brown, and Clark crashed the Honda while making a sharp turn, injuring Brown's neck, and knocking Clark's handgun onto the floor of the car. A Chicago Tribune profile of Ayers describes it as part of a larger free-school movement of the era that was an extension of the civil rights movement. These schools did not use report cards or grades, discouraged competition, encouraged cooperation, and allowed instructors and students to address one another on a first-name basis. FBI documents reveal that an estimated 4,000 people tied to the 1960s movements visited Cuba for the purposes of learning how to best spark a full-scale revolution in America. Ideologies and concepts of political, social, and economic equality began to shape the minds of young people who sought to move away from the old guard in favor of a new left movement seeking and establishing a "participatory democracy." She was removed in December 1973, after District Court Judge Damon Keith dismissed the case against the Weathermen. no moonlight, or other lights). When law school officials were asked whether or not the dean or the board of trustees approved the hiring, the school responded as follows: "While many would take issue with views Ms. Dohrn espoused during the 1960s, her career at the law school is an example of a person's ability to make a difference in the legal system. WebThe Way The Wind Blew: A History of the Weather Underground. [21] The voters of San Francisco recalled Chesa Boudin from office as D.A. Weve been looking at the Weather Underground, or Weathermen, described by Arthur M. Eckstein in his book Bad