Bernardine Dohrn
Encyclopedia
Bernardine Rae Dohrn is a former leader of the American anti-Vietnam War radical
organization, Weather Underground
. She is an Associate Professor of Law at Northwestern University School of Law and the immediate past Director of Northwestern's Children and Family Justice Center. She is married to Bill Ayers
, a co-founder of the Weather Underground
.
, in 1942 and grew up in Whitefish Bay
, an upper-middle-class suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin
. Her father, Bernard, changed the family surname to Dohrn when Bernardine was in high school. Her father was Jewish and her mother, Dorothy, was of Swedish background. Dohrn graduated from Whitefish Bay High School
where she was a cheerleader, treasurer of the Modern Dance Club, a member of the National Honor Society, and editor of the school newspaper. She attended Miami University
for one year, then transferred to the University of Chicago
, where she graduated with honors with a B.A. in Political Science in 1963. Dohrn received her J.D.
from the University of Chicago Law School
in 1967. She moved to New York to work for the National Lawyers Guild
in 1967. Her son Zayd was featured in the book A Hope in the Unseen
as the college friend of the main character Cedric Jennings.
Dohrn became one of the leaders of the Revolutionary Youth Movement
(RYM), a radical wing of Students for a Democratic Society
(SDS), in the late 1960s. Dohrn with ten other SDS members associated with the RYM issued, on June 18, 1969, a sixteen-thousand-word manifesto entitled, "You Don't Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows" in New Left Notes. The title came from Bob Dylan
's song, "Subterranean Homesick Blues
." The manifesto stated that "the goal [of revolution] is the destruction of US imperialism and the achievement of a classless world: world communism." The manifesto concludes with, "The RYM must also lead to the effective organization needed to survive and to create another battlefield of the revolution. A revolution is a war; when the Movement in this country can defend itself militarily against total repression it will be part of the revolutionary war. This will require a cadre organization, effective secrecy, self-reliance among the cadres..." The manifesto also asserted that African-Americans were a "black colony" within a U.S. government that was doomed to overextend itself. And the RYM was needed to quicken this process. Dohrn said, "The best thing that we can be doing for ourselves, as well as for the [Black] Panthers and the revolutionary black liberation struggle, is to build a fucking white revolutionary movement."
The ninth annual national SDS conference was held at the Coliseum in Chicago on June 18–22, 1969, and the SDS collapsed in a Revolutionary Youth Movement-led upheaval. Soon after the Revolutionary Youth Movement became known as the Weatherman.
Dohrn led the Weatherman faction in the SDS fight and continued to be a leader afterward.
and retail store owners Leno and Rosemary LaBianca by the Charles Manson
clan. 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 victim's stomach! Wild!" In greeting each other, delegates to the war council often spread their fingers to signify the fork.
In 2008, Dohrn's husband Bill Ayers
wrote that Dohrn was being ironic when she made the statement about the Manson murders. Ayers wrote that he always thought Dohrn's statement was intended to make a political point, "agitated and inflamed and full of rhetorical overkill, and partly as a joke, stupid perhaps, tasteless, but a joke nonetheless", and similar (he said) to jokes about Charles Manson that were being made by Hunter S Thompson and Richard Pryor
. Ayers said he had been present at interviews with reporters in which Dohrn had tried to put her statement in context but the reporters had dismissed her explanation. However, in a 2001 Salon
article, David Horowitz
wrote: "In 1980, I taped interviews with 30 members of the Weather Underground who were present at the Flint War Council, including most of its leadership. Not one of them thought Dohrn was anything but deadly serious. Outrageous nihilism was the Weatherman political style."
" which was held in Chicago on October 8 through 11, 1969.
On November 21, 1972, all of the convictions were reversed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
on the basis that the judge was biased in his refusal to permit defense attorneys to screen prospective jurors for cultural and racial bias.
, which included Bernardine Dohrn; she was charged with leading the riotous "Days of Rage"
, Dohrn was a member of the "Weather Bureau" (name later changed to "Central Committee"). Larry Grathwohl, an FBI informant who was with the Weatherman from autumn 1969 through spring 1970, considered her one of the two top leaders of the organization, along with Bill Ayers
.
During this period, the group organized the October 1969 Days of Rage
riot in Chicago, which Dohrn led. During the 1970s, the Weathermen bombed federal buildings and police stations.
Prior to the March 6, 1970 Greenwich Village townhouse explosion
, in which three members of the group were killed as a bomb was being constructed, all members of Weatherman went underground. The group then changed its name to Weather Underground
.
Dohrn went underground in early 1970, engaging in bombing activities.
in 1976.
In late 1975, the Weather Underground put out an issue of a magazine, Osawatamie, which carried an article by Dohrn, "Our Class Struggle", described as a speech given to the organization's cadres on September 2 of that year. In the article, Dohrn clearly stated support for communist
ideology:
According to a 1974 FBI study of the group, Dohrn's article signaled a developing commitment to Marxism-Leninism
that had not been clear in the groups previous statements, despite trips to Cuba
by some members of the group before and after Weather Underground was formed, and contact with Vietnamese communists there.
, with whom she has two children. During the last years of their underground life, Dohrn and Ayers resided in Chicago, where they used the aliases Christine Louise Douglas and Anthony J. Lee.
In the late 1970s, the Weatherman group split into two factions — the "May 19 Coalition" and the "Prairie Fire Collective" — with Dohrn and Ayers in the latter. The Prairie Fire Collective favored coming out of hiding, with members facing the criminal charges against them, while the May 19 Coalition continued in hiding. A decisive factor in Dohrn's coming out of hiding were her concerns about her children.
The couple turned themselves in to authorities in 1980. While some charges relating to their activities with the Weathermen were dropped due to prosecutorial misconduct
(see COINTELPRO
), Dohrn pled guilty to charges of aggravated battery and bail jumping, receiving probation. She later served less than a year of jail time, after refusing to testify against ex-Weatherman Susan Rosenberg
in an armed robbery case. Shortly after turning themselves in, Dohrn and Ayers became legal guardians of Chesa Boudin
, the son of former members of the Weather Underground, Kathy Boudin
and David Gilbert, after they were convicted of murder for their roles in a 1981 armored car robbery
.
. She was hired by Howard Trienens, the head of the firm at that time, who knew Thomas G. Ayers
, the father of Dohrn's husband. "We often hire friends," Trienens told a reporter for the Chicago Tribune
. However, Dohrn had not been admitted to the New York or Illinois bar. She passed the New York bar exam but had not submitted an application to the New York Supreme Court
's Committee on Character and Fitness. She also passed the Illinois bar, but was turned down by the Illinois ethics committee because of her criminal record. Trienens said of the Illinois rejection, "Dohrn didn't get a [law] license because she's stubborn. She wouldn't say she's sorry."
In 1991, she was hired by Northwestern University School of Law
in Chicago, as an adjunct professor of law, with the title "Clinical Associate Professor of Law". Trienens said he did not get her that job, although he sat on the board of trustees of Northwestern, as did Dohrn's father-in-law, who was chairman of the board until 1986, when Trienens succeeded him in that position. Robert Bennett, dean of the law school, had hired Dohrn, according to Trienens. Because Dohrn was hired as an "adjunct", her appointment did not need to be approved by the faculty, and no vote on it was ever taken. When law school officials were asked whether or not the dean hired Dohrn or the board of trustees approved the hiring, the school issued a statement in response stating "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."
In 1994, Dohrn said of her political beliefs: "I still see myself as a radical."
Dohrn now serves on the board of numerous human rights committees and teaches comparative law
. Since 2002, she has served as Visiting Law Faculty at the Vrije Universiteit
in Amsterdam
. Her legal work has focused on reforming the much criticized juvenile court system in Chicago and on advocating for human rights at the international level. Dohrn is director and founder of the Children and Family Justice Center, which supports the legal needs of adolescents and their families.
In 2008, Dohrn and Ayers resurfaced into news headlines as presidential candidate John McCain
and his running mate Sarah Palin
publicly denounced ties between Ayers
and then presidential candidate Barack Obama
.
On November 4, 2010, Dohrn was interviewed by NewsClick India. About the "Right" in the U.S., she said, "It’s racist; it’s armed; it’s hostile; it’s unspeakable." Referring to the Restoring Honor rally
which was promoted by Glenn Beck
and held on August 28, 2010, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., "You have white people armed, demanding the end to the [Obama] presidency." She also stated, "The real terrorist is the American government, state terrorism unleashed against the world."
Political radicalism
The term political radicalism denotes political principles focused on altering social structures through revolutionary means and changing value systems in fundamental ways...
organization, Weather Underground
Weatherman (organization)
Weatherman, known colloquially as the Weathermen and later the Weather Underground Organization , was an American radical left organization. It originated in 1969 as a faction of Students for a Democratic Society composed for the most part of the national office leadership of SDS and their...
. She is an Associate Professor of Law at Northwestern University School of Law and the immediate past Director of Northwestern's Children and Family Justice Center. She is married to Bill Ayers
Bill Ayers
William Charles "Bill" Ayers is an American elementary education theorist and a former leader in the movement that opposed U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. He is known for his 1960s activism as well as his current work in education reform, curriculum, and instruction...
, a co-founder of the Weather Underground
Weatherman (organization)
Weatherman, known colloquially as the Weathermen and later the Weather Underground Organization , was an American radical left organization. It originated in 1969 as a faction of Students for a Democratic Society composed for the most part of the national office leadership of SDS and their...
.
Personal life
Bernardine Dohrn was born Bernadine Ohrnstein in Milwaukee, WisconsinWisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
, in 1942 and grew up in Whitefish Bay
Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin
Whitefish Bay is a village in Milwaukee County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 13,508 as of the 2005 census.-Geography:Whitefish Bay is located at ....
, an upper-middle-class suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
. Her father, Bernard, changed the family surname to Dohrn when Bernardine was in high school. Her father was Jewish and her mother, Dorothy, was of Swedish background. Dohrn graduated from Whitefish Bay High School
Whitefish Bay High School
Whitefish Bay High School is a comprehensive public secondary school located in the village of Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, United States. Approximately 950 students attend the school from September through June, in grades 9 through 12...
where she was a cheerleader, treasurer of the Modern Dance Club, a member of the National Honor Society, and editor of the school newspaper. She attended Miami University
Miami University
Miami University is a coeducational public research university located in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the 10th oldest public university in the United States and the second oldest university in Ohio, founded four years after Ohio University. In its 2012 edition, U.S...
for one year, then transferred to the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, where she graduated with honors with a B.A. in Political Science in 1963. Dohrn received her J.D.
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
from the University of Chicago Law School
University of Chicago Law School
The University of Chicago Law School was founded in 1902 as the graduate school of law at the University of Chicago and is among the most prestigious and selective law schools in the world. The U.S. News & World Report currently ranks it fifth among U.S...
in 1967. She moved to New York to work for the National Lawyers Guild
National Lawyers Guild
The National Lawyers Guild is an advocacy group in the United States "dedicated to the need for basic and progressive change in the structure of our political and economic system . ....
in 1967. Her son Zayd was featured in the book A Hope in the Unseen
A Hope in the Unseen
A Hope in the Unseen is the first book by author and journalist Ron Suskind, published in 1998. The book is a biographical novel about the life of Cedric Jennings through his last years in high school and first years in college...
as the college friend of the main character Cedric Jennings.
Early radical history
Revolutionary Youth Movement
The Revolutionary Youth Movement was the section of Students for a Democratic Society that opposed the Worker Student Alliance of the Progressive Labor Party...
(RYM), a radical wing of Students for a Democratic Society
Students for a Democratic Society (1960 organization)
Students for a Democratic Society was a student activist movement in the United States that was one of the main iconic representations of the country's New Left. The organization developed and expanded rapidly in the mid-1960s before dissolving at its last convention in 1969...
(SDS), in the late 1960s. Dohrn with ten other SDS members associated with the RYM issued, on June 18, 1969, a sixteen-thousand-word manifesto entitled, "You Don't Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows" in New Left Notes. The title came from Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
's song, "Subterranean Homesick Blues
Subterranean Homesick Blues
"Subterranean Homesick Blues" is a song by Bob Dylan, originally released in 1965 as a single on Columbia Records, catalogue 43242. It appeared 19 days later as the lead track to the album Bringing It All Back Home. It was Dylan's first Top 40 hit, peaking at #39 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also...
." The manifesto stated that "the goal [of revolution] is the destruction of US imperialism and the achievement of a classless world: world communism." The manifesto concludes with, "The RYM must also lead to the effective organization needed to survive and to create another battlefield of the revolution. A revolution is a war; when the Movement in this country can defend itself militarily against total repression it will be part of the revolutionary war. This will require a cadre organization, effective secrecy, self-reliance among the cadres..." The manifesto also asserted that African-Americans were a "black colony" within a U.S. government that was doomed to overextend itself. And the RYM was needed to quicken this process. Dohrn said, "The best thing that we can be doing for ourselves, as well as for the [Black] Panthers and the revolutionary black liberation struggle, is to build a fucking white revolutionary movement."
The ninth annual national SDS conference was held at the Coliseum in Chicago on June 18–22, 1969, and the SDS collapsed in a Revolutionary Youth Movement-led upheaval. Soon after the Revolutionary Youth Movement became known as the Weatherman.
Dohrn led the Weatherman faction in the SDS fight and continued to be a leader afterward.
Controversial statements about Tate-LaBianca murders
Dohrn was criticized for comments she made about the murders of actress Sharon TateSharon Tate
Sharon Marie Tate was an American actress. During the 1960s she played small television roles before appearing in several films. After receiving positive reviews for her comedic performances, she was hailed as one of Hollywood's promising newcomers and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for...
and retail store owners Leno and Rosemary LaBianca by the Charles Manson
Charles Manson
Charles Milles Manson is an American criminal who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the Tate/LaBianca murders carried out by members of the group at his instruction...
clan. In a speech during the December 1969 "War Council" meeting organized by the Weathermen, attended by about 400 people in Flint, Michigan
Flint, Michigan
Flint is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit. The U.S. Census Bureau reports the 2010 population to be placed at 102,434, making Flint the seventh largest city in Michigan. It is the county seat of Genesee County which lies in the...
, 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 victim's stomach! Wild!" In greeting each other, delegates to the war council often spread their fingers to signify the fork.
In 2008, Dohrn's husband Bill Ayers
Bill Ayers
William Charles "Bill" Ayers is an American elementary education theorist and a former leader in the movement that opposed U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. He is known for his 1960s activism as well as his current work in education reform, curriculum, and instruction...
wrote that Dohrn was being ironic when she made the statement about the Manson murders. Ayers wrote that he always thought Dohrn's statement was intended to make a political point, "agitated and inflamed and full of rhetorical overkill, and partly as a joke, stupid perhaps, tasteless, but a joke nonetheless", and similar (he said) to jokes about Charles Manson that were being made by Hunter S Thompson and Richard Pryor
Richard Pryor
Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was an American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic, writer and MC. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful vulgarities, and profanity, as well as racial epithets...
. Ayers said he had been present at interviews with reporters in which Dohrn had tried to put her statement in context but the reporters had dismissed her explanation. However, in a 2001 Salon
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
article, David Horowitz
David Horowitz
David Joel Horowitz is an American conservative writer and policy advocate. Horowitz was raised by parents who were both members of the American Communist Party. Between 1956 and 1975, Horowitz was an outspoken adherent of the New Left before rejecting Marxism completely...
wrote: "In 1980, I taped interviews with 30 members of the Weather Underground who were present at the Flint War Council, including most of its leadership. Not one of them thought Dohrn was anything but deadly serious. Outrageous nihilism was the Weatherman political style."
1959-1967
Dohrn graduated from Whitefish Bay High School in June 1959. She later attended University of Miami from September 1959 to January 1961. She then transferred to the University of Chicago and earned three degrees. She got a Bachelors of Arts in June 1963 then a Masters in June 1964 and later a law degree in June 1967. While attending law school, Dohrn began working with Martin Luther King, Jr. She was the first law student organizer for the National Lawyers Guild. She was organizing against the war in Vietnam and in conjunction with the Black Freedom Movement. In 1967 Bernardine Dohrn was listed as the new student director of the National Lawyers Guild.1968
May 26, 1968, as a speaker for the national Lawyers Guild, stated a motion was to be filed in Federal court asking for an injunction to halt any disciplinary action that was being taken against student activists and any of the criminal charges. She represented students from Columbia who were striking and protesting. On June 14, 1968 she was elected as the Interorganizational Secretary of SDS. When elected she was asked if she was a socialist and she replied, " I consider myself a revolutionary Communist." August 30 through September 1, 1968 Bernardine Dohrn was visiting Yugoslavia. On September 20, 1968 after returning from Europe with a group of American student leaders, Bernardine Dohrn announced that they had met with representatives from North Vietnam and the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam in Budapest with a focus of peace talks. On the night of October 1, 1968, Bernardine Dohrn was a speaker at a meeting in Chicago that was to condemn policy action in Chicago during the Democratic National Convention. From October 11 to 13 a National meeting was held by the Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Bernardine was a speaker and addressed concerns on behalf of new members, saying they wanted to know where the movement was headed and what involvement they could expect. On October 11, 1968, Bernardine Dohrn suggested that she would come through expanding the movement to non-students and do all that was necessary to complete the job of "attack, expose, destroy."1969
On January 29 and 30, 1969, in recognition of the tenth anniversary of the revolution, the University of Washington held a Cuba teach-in and Bernardine Dohrn was a speaker on campus. Bernardine Dohrn attended a regional conference held for the leaders of the SDS on April 14, 1969. A month later at a press conference at the regional headquarters of SDS in Chicago on, Bernardine Dohrn spoke of the plans that were under way to "attack" college graduation ceremonies across the country. She said, "our presence will be known at the graduation ceremonies where the big people will come as speakers." Bernardine Dohrn was now known as a National Interim Committee member of the SDS and a member of the Weatherman group. She traveled to Cuba via Mexico City on July 4, 1969, with a delegation from the SDS and later arrived in Canada on a Cuban Vessel on August 16, 1969. On August 22, 1969, Bernardine Dohrn was arrested in Chicago and charged with possession of drugs. On September 9, 1969, Judge Kenneth R. Wendt of Narcotics court of Chicago dismissed the charges. The defense attorney said there was an illegal search of the car in which she was a passenger. On September 20, 1969, there was an anti-Vietnam rally at the Davis cup tennis tournament and the police became involved, twenty persons were arrested and among them was twenty seven year old Bernardine Dohrn. She was charged with disorderly conduct. On September 26, 1969, Bernardine Dohrn was arrested in Chicago during a demonstration. The rally was in support of the Chicago 8, who were being tried on riot conspiracy charges. Bernardine Dohrn was arrested on October 9, 1969, by the Chicago police during a rally for women’s faction of the Weathermen group. She was later released on a one thousand dollar bond. On October 31, 1969, a grand jury indicted 22 people including Bernardine Dohrn because of her involvement with the trial of the 8 men accused of conspiracy concerning the riot during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. On April 2, 1970, in Chicago a Federal Grand Jury indicted 12 members of the Weatherman group and among them was Bernardine Dohrn on conspiracy charges to violate the anti-riot act during the "Days of RageDays of Rage
The Days of Rage demonstrations were a series of direct actions taken over a course of three days in October 1969 in Chicago organized by the Weatherman faction of the Students for a Democratic Society...
" which was held in Chicago on October 8 through 11, 1969.
On November 21, 1972, all of the convictions were reversed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the courts in the following districts:* Central District of Illinois* Northern District of Illinois...
on the basis that the judge was biased in his refusal to permit defense attorneys to screen prospective jurors for cultural and racial bias.
1970s
In May 1970 Dohrn recorded and sent a transcript of a tape recording to the New York Times, the statement was a "declaration of a State of War" on behalf of the Weathermen. On October 14, 1970, Bernardine Rae Dohrn was added to the Federal Bureau of Investigations list of the 10 most wanted Fugitives. Bernardine Dohrn had several alias, which included, Bernardine Rae Ohrnstein, H.T. Smith, and Marion Del Gado. The Federal Bureau of Investigations removed Bernardine Dohrn from its "most wanted list" in December 1973 after a District Judge Damon J. Keith dismissed the case against the Weatherman. On January 3, 1974, a U.S. District Court Judge Julius J. Hoffman dismissed a 4-year-old case against 12 members of the Weatherman faction of the Students for a Democratic SocietyStudents for a Democratic Society
Students for a Democratic Society was a student activist movement in the United States that was one of the main iconic representations of the country's New Left. The organization developed and expanded rapidly in the mid-1960s before dissolving at its last convention in 1969...
, which included Bernardine Dohrn; she was charged with leading the riotous "Days of Rage"
Later radical history
A founder of the Weatherman groupWeatherman (organization)
Weatherman, known colloquially as the Weathermen and later the Weather Underground Organization , was an American radical left organization. It originated in 1969 as a faction of Students for a Democratic Society composed for the most part of the national office leadership of SDS and their...
, Dohrn was a member of the "Weather Bureau" (name later changed to "Central Committee"). Larry Grathwohl, an FBI informant who was with the Weatherman from autumn 1969 through spring 1970, considered her one of the two top leaders of the organization, along with Bill Ayers
Bill Ayers
William Charles "Bill" Ayers is an American elementary education theorist and a former leader in the movement that opposed U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. He is known for his 1960s activism as well as his current work in education reform, curriculum, and instruction...
.
During this period, the group organized the October 1969 Days of Rage
Days of Rage
The Days of Rage demonstrations were a series of direct actions taken over a course of three days in October 1969 in Chicago organized by the Weatherman faction of the Students for a Democratic Society...
riot in Chicago, which Dohrn led. During the 1970s, the Weathermen bombed federal buildings and police stations.
Prior to the March 6, 1970 Greenwich Village townhouse explosion
Greenwich Village townhouse explosion
The Greenwich Village townhouse explosion was the premature detonation of a bomb as it was being assembled by members of the American radical left group, Weatherman – later renamed the Weather Underground – in the basement of a townhouse at 18 West 11th Street between Fifth Avenue and...
, in which three members of the group were killed as a bomb was being constructed, all members of Weatherman went underground. The group then changed its name to Weather Underground
Weatherman (organization)
Weatherman, known colloquially as the Weathermen and later the Weather Underground Organization , was an American radical left organization. It originated in 1969 as a faction of Students for a Democratic Society composed for the most part of the national office leadership of SDS and their...
.
Dohrn went underground in early 1970, engaging in bombing activities.
Role in policymaking, ideology and public statements for Weather Underground
Dohrn was a principal signatory on the group's "Declaration of a State of War" in 1970 that formally declared "war" on the U.S. Government, and completed the group's transformation from political advocacy to violent action. Dohrn also co-wrote and published the subversive manifesto Prairie Fire in 1974, and participated in the covertly filmed UndergroundUnderground (documentary film)
Underground is a 1976 documentary film about the Weathermen, founded as a militant faction of the Students for a Democratic Society , who fought to overthrow the U.S. government during the 1960s and 1970’s. The film consists of interviews with members of the group after they went underground and...
in 1976.
In late 1975, the Weather Underground put out an issue of a magazine, Osawatamie, which carried an article by Dohrn, "Our Class Struggle", described as a speech given to the organization's cadres on September 2 of that year. In the article, Dohrn clearly stated support for communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
ideology:
- We are building a communist organization to be part of the forces which build a revolutionary communist party to lead the working class to seize power and build socialism. [...] We must further the study of Marxism-Leninism within the WUO [Weather Underground Organization]. The struggle for Marxism-Leninism is the most significant development in our recent history. [...] We discovered thru our own experiences what revolutionaries all over the world have found — that Marxism-Leninism is the science of revolution, the revolutionary ideology of the working class, our guide to the struggle [...]"
According to a 1974 FBI study of the group, Dohrn's article signaled a developing commitment to Marxism-Leninism
Marxism-Leninism
Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology, officially based upon the theories of Marxism and Vladimir Lenin, that promotes the development and creation of a international communist society through the leadership of a vanguard party over a revolutionary socialist state that represents a dictatorship...
that had not been clear in the groups previous statements, despite trips to Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
by some members of the group before and after Weather Underground was formed, and contact with Vietnamese communists there.
Leaving the underground
While on the run from police, Dohrn married another Weatherman leader, Bill AyersBill Ayers
William Charles "Bill" Ayers is an American elementary education theorist and a former leader in the movement that opposed U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. He is known for his 1960s activism as well as his current work in education reform, curriculum, and instruction...
, with whom she has two children. During the last years of their underground life, Dohrn and Ayers resided in Chicago, where they used the aliases Christine Louise Douglas and Anthony J. Lee.
In the late 1970s, the Weatherman group split into two factions — the "May 19 Coalition" and the "Prairie Fire Collective" — with Dohrn and Ayers in the latter. The Prairie Fire Collective favored coming out of hiding, with members facing the criminal charges against them, while the May 19 Coalition continued in hiding. A decisive factor in Dohrn's coming out of hiding were her concerns about her children.
The couple turned themselves in to authorities in 1980. While some charges relating to their activities with the Weathermen were dropped due to prosecutorial misconduct
Prosecutorial misconduct
In jurisprudence, prosecutorial misconduct is a procedural defense; via which, a defendant may argue that they should not be held criminally liable for actions which may have broken the law, because the prosecution acted in an "inappropriate" or "unfair" manner. Such arguments may involve...
(see COINTELPRO
COINTELPRO
COINTELPRO was a series of covert, and often illegal, projects conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation aimed at surveilling, infiltrating, discrediting, and disrupting domestic political organizations.COINTELPRO tactics included discrediting targets through psychological...
), Dohrn pled guilty to charges of aggravated battery and bail jumping, receiving probation. She later served less than a year of jail time, after refusing to testify against ex-Weatherman Susan Rosenberg
Susan Rosenberg
Susan Lisa Rosenberg is an American radical political activist, author and advocate for social justice and prisoners' rights. Rosenberg was active in many radical movements of the 1960s and 1970s...
in an armed robbery case. Shortly after turning themselves in, Dohrn and Ayers became legal guardians of Chesa Boudin
Chesa Boudin
Chesa Boudin is an American progressive writer and lecturer, focused on Latin American issues. A Rhodes Scholar, he graduated from Yale Law School in 2011.-Early Life and Family:...
, the son of former members of the Weather Underground, Kathy Boudin
Kathy Boudin
Kathy Boudin is a former American radical who was convicted in 1984 of felony murder for her participation in an armed robbery that resulted in the killing of three people. She later became a public health expert while in prison...
and David Gilbert, after they were convicted of murder for their roles in a 1981 armored car robbery
Brinks robbery (1981)
The Brink's robbery of 1981 was an armed robbery committed on October 20, 1981, which was carried out by Black Liberation Army members; including Jeral Wayne Williams , Donald Weems , Samuel Smith, Nathaniel Burns , Cecilio "Chui" Ferguson, Samuel Brown ; several former members of the Weather...
.
Later life and career
From 1984 to 1988, Dohrn was employed by the prestigious Chicago law firm Sidley AustinSidley Austin
Sidley Austin LLP, formerly known as Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP, is one of the oldest law firms in the world. It is the sixth-largest U.S.-based corporate law firm with more than 1,650 lawyers, annual revenues of more than one billion dollars, and offices in 17 cities worldwide, with the most...
. She was hired by Howard Trienens, the head of the firm at that time, who knew Thomas G. Ayers
Thomas G. Ayers
Thomas G. Ayers was president , CEO and chairman of Commonwealth Edison....
, the father of Dohrn's husband. "We often hire friends," Trienens told a reporter for the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
. However, Dohrn had not been admitted to the New York or Illinois bar. She passed the New York bar exam but had not submitted an application to the New York Supreme Court
New York Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in thestate court system of New York, United States. There is a supreme court in each of New York State's 62 counties, although some smaller counties share judges with neighboring counties...
's Committee on Character and Fitness. She also passed the Illinois bar, but was turned down by the Illinois ethics committee because of her criminal record. Trienens said of the Illinois rejection, "Dohrn didn't get a [law] license because she's stubborn. She wouldn't say she's sorry."
In 1991, she was hired by Northwestern University School of Law
Northwestern University School of Law
The Northwestern University School of Law is a private American law school in Chicago, Illinois. The law school was founded in 1859 as the Union College of Law of the Old University of Chicago. The first law school established in Chicago, it became jointly controlled by Northwestern University in...
in Chicago, as an adjunct professor of law, with the title "Clinical Associate Professor of Law". Trienens said he did not get her that job, although he sat on the board of trustees of Northwestern, as did Dohrn's father-in-law, who was chairman of the board until 1986, when Trienens succeeded him in that position. Robert Bennett, dean of the law school, had hired Dohrn, according to Trienens. Because Dohrn was hired as an "adjunct", her appointment did not need to be approved by the faculty, and no vote on it was ever taken. When law school officials were asked whether or not the dean hired Dohrn or the board of trustees approved the hiring, the school issued a statement in response stating "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."
In 1994, Dohrn said of her political beliefs: "I still see myself as a radical."
Dohrn now serves on the board of numerous human rights committees and teaches comparative law
Comparative law
Comparative law is the study of differences and similarities between the law of different countries. More specifically, it involves study of the different legal systems in existence in the world, including the common law, the civil law, socialist law, Islamic law, Hindu law, and Chinese law...
. Since 2002, she has served as Visiting Law Faculty at the Vrije Universiteit
Vrije Universiteit
The Vrije Universiteit is a university in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch name is often abbreviated as VU and in English the university uses the name "VU University". The university is located on a compact urban campus in the southern part of Amsterdam in the Buitenveldert district...
in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
. Her legal work has focused on reforming the much criticized juvenile court system in Chicago and on advocating for human rights at the international level. Dohrn is director and founder of the Children and Family Justice Center, which supports the legal needs of adolescents and their families.
In 2008, Dohrn and Ayers resurfaced into news headlines as presidential candidate John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
and his running mate Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
publicly denounced ties between Ayers
Bill Ayers
William Charles "Bill" Ayers is an American elementary education theorist and a former leader in the movement that opposed U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. He is known for his 1960s activism as well as his current work in education reform, curriculum, and instruction...
and then presidential candidate Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
.
On November 4, 2010, Dohrn was interviewed by NewsClick India. About the "Right" in the U.S., she said, "It’s racist; it’s armed; it’s hostile; it’s unspeakable." Referring to the Restoring Honor rally
Restoring Honor rally
The Restoring Honor rally was held on August 28, 2010 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. and was organized by Glenn Beck to "restore honor in America" and to raise funds for the non-profit Special Operations Warrior Foundation. Billed as a "celebration of America's heroes and heritage,"...
which was promoted by Glenn Beck
Glenn Beck
Glenn Edward Lee Beck is an American conservative radio host, vlogger, author, entrepreneur, political commentator and former television host. He hosts the Glenn Beck Program, a nationally syndicated talk-radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks...
and held on August 28, 2010, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., "You have white people armed, demanding the end to the [Obama] presidency." She also stated, "The real terrorist is the American government, state terrorism unleashed against the world."
See also
- List of Weatherman actions
- Weatherman Member ListWeatherman Member ListWeatherman/Weather Underground was a radical leftist organization founded in 1969 and active through 1973. The following is a list of some of the members of Weatherman.-Members:*Karen Ashley*Bill Ayers*Kit Bakke*Silas Bissell*Kathy Boudin*Scott Braley...
- The Weather UndergroundThe Weather UndergroundThe Weather Underground is a 2002 documentary film based on the rise and fall of the American radical organization The Weathermen. Using much archive footage from the time as well as interviews with the Weathermen today, the film constructs a linear narrative of the militant organization.The film,...
, documentary film - Underground, documentary film
External links
- Her biography at the Northwestern Law site, with a link to her CV
- Transcript of interview in 1996 with Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers
- PBS Article "The Weathermen Today"
- Mugshot From Chicago PD Files
- Interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now
- Interview with Bernardine Dohrn by Jonah Raskin, The Rag Blog, October 20, 2011
- Bernardine Dohrn on Rag Radio, October 21, 2011, interviewed by Thorne DreyerThorne Webb DreyerThorne Webb Dreyer is an American writer, editor, publisher, and political activist who played a major role in the 1960s-1970s counterculture, New Left, and underground press movements...