The Weathermen Underground Organization’s History, Ideologies and Goals
HISTORY
In November of 1964, violence had reached a point in the country of Vietnam that a decision was made to send military forces. Lyndon B. Johnson, the newly elected president started off by sending around 200,000 men and women to fight off the north Vietnam forces, the Vietcong (). Technology in the United States at this time had improved to a point where color pictures and video could now be produced and fed to the general public. Reporters captured the atrocities of war and the unforgiving destruction to villages that are in the way. This news coverage turned the American people against not only the Soldiers, but also against the government.
Shortly after the war started, an anti-war fever spread across the nation, especially on college campuses. Just like so many of these groups to include the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and Progression Labor Party (PLP), the Weathermen emerged from the same. Young men and women joined hand in hand to fight for what they felt was right and just; basing their party from the opposition to the Vietnam War and as well as from the civil right movement.
The origins of the Weathermen can be traced from the collapse and division of the SDS and PLP in the summer of 1969 (Green, 2003). Bernardine Dohrn, an early leader, emerges during this fragmentation and published a document titled “Toward a Revolutionary Youth Movement” (RYM), which encouraged the youth, who he believed possessed the potential to be a
References: Briley, R. (2008). Bringing the War Home: The Weather Underground at Forty . Retrieved 10 16, 2013, from George Mason Univeristy History New Network : http://hnn.us/article/93754 Gillies, K. (1998, 11). The Last Radical. (A. Pilon, Ed.) Vancouver Magazine . Lozano, C. (Producer), & Green, B. S. (Director). (2003). The Weather Underground [Motion Picture]. Gussow, M. (2003, 3 5). The House On West 11th Street . The New York Times , p. 3. Maryland, U. o. (2010-2013). Weather Underground Organization (WUO) / Weathermen. Retrieved 10 15, 2013, from National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism: http://www.start.umd.edu/start/data_collections/tops/terrorist_organization_profile.asp?id=4312 Organization, T. W. (1969 , 7 28). You Don’t Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind is Blowing. Chicago, Illinios, USA. Rudd, M. (2009). My Life with SDS and the Weathermen Underground. New York: William Morrow.