Domestic Terrorism in America During the 1960s and 1970s

During the 2008 presidential campaign, domestic terrorism became a talking point for the Republican ticket when Vice Presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, accused Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama of "palling around with terrorists." With that accusation, the name William Ayers and the home grown terrorist group Weathermen was reintroduced to the American media after decades of obscurity. Many voters had no idea who Ayers was or why he should be of any interest. But, for those of us who remember the chaos and social unrest of the 1960's and 1970s, Ayers was an unwelcome reminder of America in flux. For a time, domestic terrorism was reported daily on the evening news and vied for lead story status with the war then ongoing in Vietnam.

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was a radical student organization opposed to the Vietnam War and dedicated to the overthrow the U.S. government. Founded at the end of 1959, the organization was most active during the 1960s. A decidedly leftist group, the SDS opposed just about everything America was involved in at the time politically; however, they were essentially non-violent. Tom Hayden, the future husband of actress Jane Fonda, was a lead organizer within the group and is responsible for planning the protest turned riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention from which the Chicago 8 was born. The riot resulted in the arrest of seven of the major players in the radical student movement and black activist Bobby Seale, co-founder of the Black Panther Party. Because of Seale's outrageously disruptive behavior in the courtroom, Judge Julius Hoffman ordered Seale bound and gagged. Judge Hoffman eventually ordered Seale to stand trial separately from the other defendants, Tom Hayden, Abby Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Rennie Davis, John Froines, and Lee Weiner. Ultimately, all charges against the Chicago 7 and Bobby Seale were either dropped due to improper police procedure or resulted in acquittals. Seale served half of his four-year contempt of court sentence in jail.

Weathermen, soon to become the Weathermen Underground Organization (WUO), formed after the implosion of the SDS shortly after the riot at the DNC. Weathermen leadership consisted of William Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn, Mark Rudd, and Jeff Jones. In 1969, Bernadine Dohrn gave a speech declaring "war against AmeriKKKa", which is the way the Weathermen always referred to the United States, and kicked off a bombing campaign that lasted several years . The WUO committed several high profile bombings including a restroom at the Pentagon, the Capital barbershop, the ITT building in New York, and the U.S. Senate. Although implicated in the bombing of a police station in San Francisco that led to the death of a police office, it has never been confirmed. The group is credited with up to 25 bombings. In 1969, shortly after the group formed, the WUO organized "The Days of Rage" protest in Chicago designed to "bring the war home," a phrase coined by Weathermen John Jacobs. Propaganda released by the group bragged that tens of thousands of protesters would descend on the city. In actuality, at its height on the second day of the three-day event, 2,000 marched through a neighborhood breaking glass and damaging cars. At the end of the three days, six Weathermen had been shot and 287 were arrested. In 1970, three Weathermen bomb-makers died in an explosion of the New York townhouse that belonged to the father of one of the members. Ted Gold, Terry Robbins, and William Ayers then girlfriend, Diana Oughton were killed. These are the only deaths that can be definitively linked to the WUO.

The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense (BPP) came out of the civil rights movement of the 1960s and was patterned, in part, after the ideas of murdered activist Malcolm X. Friends Bobby Seals and Huey Newton founded the organization in Oakland, CA in 1966 and soon added other notables such as Eldridge Cleaver, Stokely Carmichael, and college professor Angela Davis to the group. The organization expanded throughout the U.S. and membership grew upwards of 5,000. Although the organization had originally developed as a community protection and support mechanism, constant run-ins with police soon turned the attention of the media to the more violent aspects of the group. In 1968, the BPP had the singular experience of being identified by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover as "the greatest threat to the internal security of the country." During the period from 1968 to 1974, the majority of BPP leadership was either killed or imprisoned for crimes including inciting to riot, manslaughter, bank robbery, and murder, including the murder of several police officers. The Black Panther Party did not in itself advocate a separation of the races, however the more militant members of the organization such as Stokely Carmichael and Eldridge Cleaver did. Whereas co-founder Bobby Seale used the phrase "Power to the People," Cleaver preferred the more salacious slogan, "Black Power." Eventually, a BPP splinter group, the Black Liberation Army, formed that embraced the black separatist movement and advocated violence as an acceptable means to an end.

During the late 1960s and the 1970s dozens of political activist groups formed, disbanded, and reformed. Most have faded into obscurity, however the legacy of protest and the decent into violence left by the Students for a Democratic Society, the Weathermen, and the Black Panthers continues to impact American politics.

Sources:

http://aalbc.com/reviews/bobby_seale.htm

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1847793,00.html

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

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USApantherB.htm

http://www.marxists.org/history/usa/workers/black-panthers/