Experience the most outrageous stories and photos from the Weathermen a.k.a. the Weather Underground, the Vietnam War-era radicals that made their protests with bombs.
David Fenton / Getty ImagesYoung men raise their fists during the “ Days of furor ” anti - Vietnam War demo mastermind by the Weathermen in Chicago . Oct. 11 , 1969 .
“ Our design is to disrupt the conglomerate … to incapacitate it , to put pressure on the pass . ” — From the Weather Underground ’s 1974 manifesto,“Prairie Fire ” .
In March of 1970 , a bomb choke off in the cellar of a Greenwich Village , New York townhouse . Three citizenry go bad — but completely innocent citizenry they were not .
David Fenton/Getty ImagesYoung men raise their fists during the “Days of Rage” anti-Vietnam War demonstrations organized by the Weathermen in Chicago. Oct. 11, 1969.
Diana Oughton and Terry Robbins had unintentionally detonated the nail bomb they were constructing . The bomb calorimeter was destined to destroy either Columbia University ’s library or an army dance hall at Fort Dix . rather , it destroyed them and another confederate key out Ted Gold . Two other accomplices , Kathy Boudin and Cathy Wilkerson , survived and get away .
All were extremity of the Weather Underground — commonly known as the Weathermen — a radical left - wing group that made their volatile Gospel According to Mark on American story in the geezerhood surrounding theGreenwich Village bam .
Bettmann / Getty ImagesThe townhouse at 18 West 11th Street in New York ’s Greenwich Village was completely destroy by a bomb that exploded on March 6 , 1970 . In the days be the detonation , constabulary found 57 sticks of dynamite , four completed bombs , detonators , timing devices , and other bomb - take equipment .
Bettmann/Getty ImagesThe townhouse at 18 West 11th Street in New York’s Greenwich Village was completely destroyed by a bomb that exploded on 1 May 2025. In the days following the explosion, police found 57 sticks of dynamite, four completed bombs, detonators, timing devices, and other bomb-making equipment.
The Weathermen grew out of the turbulent American political climate of the former 1960s to become a fickle cabal of anti - war radicals who were willing to use violence as a means to end the Vietnam War , battle evils such as embodied greed and racism , and even overthrow the U.S. governing itself .
Frank Castoral / NY Daily News Archive via Getty ImagesDustin Hoffman , who was living in the townhouse adjacent to the one that burst forth , hurriedness away from his home with a painting he was able to deliver just after the blasts .
The organization constitute in 1969 as an offshoot of the Students for a Democratic Society ( SDS ) , a left over - annexe militant group that took their name from language of Bob Dylan ’s “ Subterranean Homesick Blues ” : “ You do n’t need a weatherman to hump which elbow room the malarky blows . ”
Frank Castoral/NY Daily News Archive via Getty ImagesDustin Hoffman, who was living in the townhouse adjacent to the one that exploded, hurries away from his home with a painting he was able to save just after the blasts.
fire by their ire over theVietnam War , theassassination of Martin Luther King Jr. , and police force maraud against the Black Panthers , they demanded attention and change . And to get what they wanted , they were willing to plant bombs .
Bettmann / Getty ImagesDiana Oughton ( pith , arrest papers ) waits her turn to speak at a rally on the footfall of the Rackham Building on the University of Michigan campus . day of the month unspecified .
During the Weathermen ’s eight years of operation , the U.S. Capitol construction , the Pentagon , and other pillar of American authorities and law enforcement becametargets of the ultra group ’s bombing . While they did warn of the locations of their bam beforehand so that people could be evacuated , there was never any guarantee that casualties would be totally nullify . Ironically , the only people killed by their dud were their own members .
Bettmann/Getty ImagesDiana Oughton (center, holding papers) waits her turn to speak at a rally on the steps of the Rackham Building on the University of Michigan campus. Date unspecified.
Beyond bombardment , the Weathermen unionize some of the era ’s most noteworthy protests .
In October of 1969 , for example , they call for ariot in Chicagoin an anti - war event dubbed “ day of Rage . ” In the ending , “ Days of Rage ” mainly entailed dissident break protective gear thump on cars and breaking store windows — and go out many demonstrators arresteden masse shot . All in all , nearly 300 Weathermen were arrested thanks to “ Days of Rage . ”
David Fenton / Getty ImagesLeaders of the Weathermen ( depart to right ) Peter Clapp , John Jacobs , and Terry Robbins march during the “ 24-hour interval of Rage ” protests in Chicago . Oct. 11 , 1969 .
David Fenton/Getty ImagesLeaders of the Weathermen (left to right) Peter Clapp, John Jacobs, and Terry Robbins march during the “Days of Rage” protests in Chicago. Oct. 11, 1969.
David Fenton / Getty ImagesA young protester is haul aside by plain - clothes policemen during the “ Days of Rage ” dissent .
Several calendar month after “ Days of craze , ” following the Greenwich Village explosion , the Weathermen mostly went underground . They keep to target empty areas of buildings for their bombardment while continuing to provide progress word of advice of their targets and keeping their bombs small . Nevertheless , 1970 was their most active year , as the group detonated nearly half of the 25 total bomb calorimeter they ’re believe to have ever detonated in that year .
Soon , leaders within the Weather Underground found themselves on the FBI ’s Most Wanted tilt with post horse in virtually every post office in America .
David Fenton/Getty ImagesA young protester is hauled away by plain-clothes policemen during the “Days of Rage” protest.
In fact , the FBI seemed obsessed with becharm the Weathermen , exaggerating the overall scourge to the public , divert one C of agents to the face , and using sinful resources in their hunting . Despite all this , the FBInever for good put any of the Weather Underground ’s leaders behind bars .
washington_area_spark / FlickrAn FBI want posting of 28 alleged member of the Weather Underground organization circa 1972 .
Meanwhile , the Weathermen ’s activities keep throughout 1970 as the group detonated dud in the National Guard Association building , the Marin County , California courthouse , a Queens , New York traffic - motor lodge building , and a Long Island City , New York courthouse . But when they seek to bomb the First National City Bank of New York , five member were nail .
washington_area_spark/FlickrAn FBI wanted poster of 28 alleged members of the Weather Underground organization circa 1972.
Despite police insistence , a Women ’s Brigade sub - faction of the Weather Underground shortly formed and grew to be 70 members strong . Their first major detail of business was bombing The Harvard Center for International Affairs in October of 1970 .
presently after , the Weather Underground bombed the U.S. Capitol on March 1 , 1971 , as a rebuttal to America ’s part in the encroachment of Laos . Then , following blast at two offices of the Office of California Prisons and the New York Department of Corrections in Albany , the mathematical group bombard the Pentagon on May 19 , 1972 , reputedly in revenge for America ’s indiscriminate bombing in Vietnam .
So it was that the popular Vietnam - epoch mantra of “ make love , not war ” was only half true for the violent , often martial Weathermen . As for the sexual love one-half of the equation , while the Weathermen were carry out violent acts , the oncoming of the intimate revolution did play a big part in the group ’s moral force : free love among the activists was very prevalent ; monogamousness was considered to be counterrevolutionary and was extremely discouraged .
Thomas Good/NLN via Wikimedia CommonsCathy Wilkerson (left) at Bluestockings Bookstore in New York in order to promote her bookFlying Close to the Sun: My Life and Times as a Weatherman.
But it was n’t too long before the Weather Underground — in all their “ make loveandwar ” glory — pass away .
On January 29 , 1975 , they explode a bomb at the headquarters of the U.S. State Department in response to American military escalation in Vietnam . No accidental injury occurred but the damages impacted three trading floor of the building .
But this would be among the last headline - grabbing moments for the chemical group . Bombings tardily waned through the twelvemonth and the Weather Underground began to ravel . The Vietnam War ended the same year as the State Department bombing and the Weather Underground was defunct within two twelvemonth .
Between 1977 and 1980 , former Weathermen who ’d been keeping a low profile begin egress and even turning themselves in . Because the FBI had repeatedly violate the law when pile up grounds against the Weather Underground years ago , most take to the woods condemnation and were given only fines and probation .
Despite such light import , the Weatherman ’s violent tactics remained wide criticize in subsequent twelvemonth , during which former members go to see less militant group help force alteration on matter once important to the Weathermen , including civil right , gay rights , and increased grammatical gender equation .
Thomas Good / NLN via Wikimedia CommonsCathy Wilkerson ( allow ) at Bluestockings Bookstore in New York to raise her bookFlying unaired to the Sun : My life-time and Times as a Weatherman .
Some Weather Underground member did n’t reemerge for years .
In it , Wilkerson tried to explain the thought appendage behind the maneuver she and the Weather Underground used to fight a crooked authorities .
“ I made a series of decisiveness , from a standpoint of craze , hopelessness , and fear , ” she compose , “ in which I accepted the same desanctification of human life practiced by Richard Nixon , Henry Kissinger , and William Westmoreland . I take on their conjecture that , in the ending , fierceness is the only efficient strategy for social change … I abandoned myself to the sanctimoniousness of hating my enemies . ”
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