The Weather Underground was a group that came to be at a time of political and social uproar in the United States and across the world. In the 60's it was becoming apparent to many that national liberation movements and left-leaning revolutionary or guerrilla movements were a sign of great change from the world previously known in the 50's.
Those advocating for this new radical world saw it as a chance to end the social and political hierarchies that had formed between developed and underdeveloped countries, men and women, and races. Over the course of the 60's students began to organize and create movements loosely based on these new leftist ideas. The groups began to be more vocal and radical in their ideas and actions. They most strongly opposed the Vietnam War and the idea of the United States as a capitalistic imperialist power.
The largest symbol of this movement was Students for a Democratic Society. The group was founded at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1960. This group had goals based off of their critiques of racial inequality in the United States as well as American military actions overseas.
The Weather Underground formed when a group of people broke off from the Students for a Democratic Society movement adding a militant twist, with the belief that in order to create change, violent action was required. In the group's Declaration of war on the United States, they declare that it is the goal of the movement to "lead white kids into armed revolution." The group had the belief that it was necessary to combat the war against African Americans and Vietnamese with a war of their own on the United States.
The Weather Underground members known as Weathermen had some very successful operations including when the bombings of the Capitol in March of 1971, the bombing of the Pentagon in May of 72, and the bombing of the State Department in January of 1975. Through these actions, the Weather Underground proved that they were not just a group of kids following a fad but rather true revolutionaries.
Those advocating for this new radical world saw it as a chance to end the social and political hierarchies that had formed between developed and underdeveloped countries, men and women, and races. Over the course of the 60's students began to organize and create movements loosely based on these new leftist ideas. The groups began to be more vocal and radical in their ideas and actions. They most strongly opposed the Vietnam War and the idea of the United States as a capitalistic imperialist power.
The largest symbol of this movement was Students for a Democratic Society. The group was founded at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1960. This group had goals based off of their critiques of racial inequality in the United States as well as American military actions overseas.
The Weather Underground formed when a group of people broke off from the Students for a Democratic Society movement adding a militant twist, with the belief that in order to create change, violent action was required. In the group's Declaration of war on the United States, they declare that it is the goal of the movement to "lead white kids into armed revolution." The group had the belief that it was necessary to combat the war against African Americans and Vietnamese with a war of their own on the United States.
The Weather Underground members known as Weathermen had some very successful operations including when the bombings of the Capitol in March of 1971, the bombing of the Pentagon in May of 72, and the bombing of the State Department in January of 1975. Through these actions, the Weather Underground proved that they were not just a group of kids following a fad but rather true revolutionaries.
Sources
Lambert, Laura. “Weather Underground.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 31 Aug. 2017, www.britannica.com/topic/Weathermen. “Weather Underground Bombings.” FBI, FBI, 18 May 2016, www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/weather-underground-bombings. “Weather Underground.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Jan. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_Underground. Jacobs, Ron. “The New History of the Weather Underground .” Monthly Review, 30 June 2014, monthlyreview.org/2006/06/01/the-new-history-of-the-weather-underground/. |