who was the leader of the weather underground

Who were the SDS and the Weathermen?

Originally called the Weatherman or the Weathermen, a name taken from a line in a Bob Dylan song, the Weather Underground was a small, violent offshoot of Students for a Democratic Society, or SDS, a group created in the turbulent '60s to promote social change.

Why is it called Weather Underground?

History. The company is based in San Francisco, California and was founded in 1995 as an offshoot of the University of Michigan Internet weather database. The name is a reference to the 1960s militant radical student group the Weather Underground, which also originated at the University of Michigan.

How accurate is Weather Underground?

When it comes to predicting whether it will rain one to three days ahead of time in 2015, Weather Underground and The Weather Channel have the highest average accuracy across the country at almost 84 percent.

Who is AccuWeather owned by?

Dr. Joel N. MyersAccuWeather founder Dr. Joel N. Myers is recognized as one of the greatest entrepreneurs in American history in Entrepreneur Magazine's Encyclopedia of Entrepreneurs.

Where does wunderground get their data?

Current Conditions. U.S. current conditions data comes from 180,000+ weather stations across the country including: Almost 2,000 Automated Surface Observation System (ASOS) stations located at airports throughout the country.

Did Weather Underground get bought?

It's true. After 17 years as an independent company, Weather Underground has been sold, and will now be part of The Weather Channel Companies (TWCC.)

Is the weather channel owned by IBM?

IBM acquired The Weather Company in 2016, bringing the AI and automation capabilities of IBM Watson® technology to the company's cloud data platform.

What was the Weather Underground?

In 1969, Ayers co-founded the Weather Underground, a self-described communist revolutionary group that sought to overthrow American imperialism. The Weather Underground conducted a campaign of bombing public buildings (including police stations, the United States Capitol, and the Pentagon) during the 1960s and 1970s in response to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. The bombings, which caused no fatalities, resulted in Ayers being hunted as a fugitive for several years, until charges were dropped due to illegal actions by the FBI agents pursuing him and others.

What was the FBI's covert operation against Weather Underground?

In 1973, new information came to light about FBI operations targeted against Weather Underground and the New Left, all part of a series of covert and often illegal FBI projects called COINTEL. Due to the illegal tactics of FBI agents involved with the program, including conducting wiretaps and property searches without warrants, government attorneys requested all weapons-related and bomb-related charges be dropped against the Weather Underground, including charges against Ayers.

What was the name of the group that Ayers led?

He rose to national prominence as an SDS leader in 1968 and 1969 as head of an SDS regional group, the " Jesse James Gang ".

What was Ayers' political view in the 1960s?

In an interview published in 1995, Ayers characterized his political beliefs at that time and in the 1960s and 1970s: "I am a radical, Leftist, small 'c' communist ... [Laughs] Maybe I'm the last communist who is willing to admit it. [Laughs] We have always been small 'c' communists in the sense that we were never in the Communist party and never Stalinists. The ethics of communism still appeal to me. I don't like Lenin as much as the early Marx. I also like Henry David Thoreau, Mother Jones and Jane Addams [...]".

When did Ayers protest the interviewer's characterizations?

Four days later, Ayers protested the interviewer's characterizations in a Letter to the Editor published September 15, 2001: "This is not a question of being misunderstood or 'taken out of context', but of deliberate distortion.".

Who took control of the SDS?

In June 1969, the Weathermen took control of the SDS at its national convention, where Ayers was elected Education Secretary. Later in 1969, Ayers participated in planting a bomb at a statue dedicated to police casualties in the 1886 Haymarket affair confrontation between labor supporters and the Chicago police.

Who was the informant in the Weathermen?

Larry Grathwohl, a Federal Bureau of Investigation informant in the Weathermen group from the fall of 1969 to the spring of 1970, stated that "Ayers, along with Bernardine Dohrn, probably had the most authority within the Weathermen".

Who was the original Weatherman?

The original Weatherman, the “action faction” of the SDS, was led by Bernardine Dohrn, James Mellen, and Mark Rudd and advocated street fighting as a method for weakening U.S. imperialism. At the SDS national convention in June 1969, the Third World Marxists presented a position paper titled “You Don’t Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows” in the SDS newspaper, New Left Notes. The article, the title of which was taken from a song by American musician Bob Dylan, asserted, among other things, that black liberation was key to the movement’s anti-imperialist struggle, and it emphasized the need for a white revolutionary movement to support liberation movements internationally. The article became the founding statement of Weatherman.

What is the Weather Underground?

Weather Underground, also called Weather Underground Organization, formerly Weatherman, militant group of young white Americans formed in 1969 that grew out of the anti- Vietnam War movement. The Weather Underground, originally known as Weatherman, evolved from the Third World Marxists, a faction within Students for ...

What were the targets of the Weatherman bombings?

The more significant targets included the New York City Police Department headquarters, the Presidio army base in San Francisco, a Long Island City courthouse, and several banks in Boston and New York. Most of the bombings were preceded by a warning, to prevent casualties, and were followed by a communiqué, dubbed “Weather Report.” Weatherman used these “Weather Reports” to justify attacks, citing recent police and government actions such as the Kent State shootings, which involved the killing of four students by the Ohio National Guardat Kent State University, or the unlawful incarceration of other revolutionaries. The reports also often commemorated revolutionary efforts throughout the world. By year’s end, several Weatherman members had made it onto the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list, which had been expanded to 16 to accommodate them.

How did the Weatherman die?

On March 6, 1970, three founding members of Weatherman—Diana Oughton, Ted Gold, and Terry Robbins—died in an explosion while making bombs in a Greenwich Villagetownhouse. Two other members, Kathy Boudin and Cathy Wilkerson, escaped. Investigators found 57 sticks of dynamite, 30 blasting caps, and timing devices in the rubble. The FBI stepped up its investigation. By April, federal indictments for the “Days of Rage” action had come down against 12 Weatherman members, and Weatherman, collectively, was charged with conspiracy.

What was the Weatherman offensive?

Weatherman launched an offensive during the summer of 1969. In one action in the Northeast, it tried to recruit members at community colleges and high schools by marching into classrooms, tying up and gagging teachers, and presenting revolutionary speeches. At the Harvard Institute for International Affairs, the group smashed windows, tore out phones, and beat professors.

When did the Weatherman call for a national war council meeting?

Frustrated with the inefficacy of traditional forms of political protest after “Days of Rage” and other antiwar demonstrations throughout November 1969 , Weatherman members called for a national “war council” meeting of the SDS that December.

Where were the Weatherman cells located?

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which began investigating the group in June 1969, estimated Weatherman’s total strength at this time at 400 members. The cells were located predominantly in Berkeley, California; Chicago; Detroit; and New York City.

What was the Weather Underground article about?

In late 1975, the Weather Underground put out an issue of a magazine, Osawatamie, which carried an article by Dohrn entitled "Our Class Struggle"; the article was 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:

Who led the Weatherman faction?

Dohrn led the Weatherman faction in the SDS fight and continued to be a leader afterward. Larry Grathwohl, an FBI informant who was with the Weathermen from autumn 1969 through spring 1970, considered her one of the two top leaders of the organization, along with Bill Ayers.

What did Dohrn say to the Chicago protesters?

On the night of October 1, 1968, Dohrn spoke at a meeting in Chicago to condemn Chicago's Mayor Daley's orders to attack protesters during the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

What did Dohrn do in 1968?

On May 26, 1968, as a speaker for the National Lawyers Guild, Dohrn said she was filing a motion in federal court asking for an injunction to halt any disciplinary action that was being taken against student activists and represented students from Columbia University who were striking and protesting.

When was Dohrn removed from the Weather Underground?

She was removed in December 1973, after District Court Judge Damon Keith dismissed the case against the Weathermen.

Who were Chesa Boudin's guardians?

After refusing to testify against ex-Weatherman Susan Rosenberg in an armed robbery case, Dohrn was held in contempt of a grand jury and served seven months in prison. 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 the couple were convicted of murder for their roles in a 1981 armored car robbery.

Who was the Weatherman leader who married Bill Ayers?

While on the run from police, Dohrn used many aliases (including Bernardine Rae Ohrnstein, H.T. Smith, and Marion Del Gado) and married another Weatherman leader, Bill Ayers, 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 remained in hiding. A decisive factor in Dohrn's decision to come out of hiding were her concerns about her children.

Who died in the Weather Underground bombing?

The blast leveled the townhouse and killed three of the Weathermen — Terry Robbins, Diane Oughton, and Ted Gold — the only deaths connected to the Weather Underground bombings.

When did the Weather Underground go underground?

As 1970 wore on, the stalwart Weathermen went underground, several of them as fugitives from the law following the fallout from the "Days of Rage" and a number of domestic bombings. And as they dug in and the cause went deeper, they officially became the Weather Underground Organization.

What was the name of the group that stormed the Vietnam War?

And their power came from militant action. And so in October 1969, a small splinter of the peaceful Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) called the Weathermen stormed against the Vietnam War in what became known as the "Days of Rage.".

When did the Weathermen declare war?

Stinging from the failed incursion, the Weathermen retreated and emerged in the spring of 1970 to issue a declaration of a state of war, per The New York Times . During a radio broadcast in California, the recorded voice of the Weathermen's Bernardine Dohrn threatened: "The lines are drawn. [...] Revolution is touching all of our lives. Freaks are revolutionaries and revolutionaries are freaks... within the next 14 days we will bomb a major US institution."

When did the Weathermen stop?

Though the Weathermen ceased to exist by 1981, the name lives on ... as a weather forecasting database created in the 1990s at the University of Michigan, where it all started. The group's story became an Oscar-nominated documentary, and former members have gone on to contribute through careers in academia, law, and activism. Even 40 years later, some of the same battles for justice rage on.

When was the first salvo of the Weathermen?

The Weathermen issue the first salvo. WTTW Chicago Stories. The first shot across the bow came during the "Days of Rage" in October 1969, when the Weathermen took to the streets of Chicago, attacking property in the city's Gold Coast and facing off with police.

How many members are there in the WUO?

The WUO boasted a membership in the several hundred, hiding out scattered across the country in small communities of three to five people (think "cells") and all reporting to the Weather Bureau. The FBI believed the group to be nearly 4,000 strong, but in reality, it was much less than that. Still, the Bureau put a dozen of them on its Most Wanted List, and the WUO's members were media darlings because of their charisma, intelligence, and brash rhetoric — often at the expense of other leftist groups, according to Slate.

What was the Weather Underground's goal?

Capitol and the Pentagon. The group's aim to form a "classless communist world" never came to fruition, but the often violent tactics of the Weather Underground took the beliefs of the anti-establishment movements ...

Who died in the Weather Underground explosion?

Less than a month later, members of the Weather Underground living in Greenwich Village were killed in an explosion when one of the bombs they were storing exploded, setting of a chain reaction with the rest of the explosives in the home. Diana Oughton, Ted Gold, and Terry Robbins were killed in the blast. In a report on the explosion, the FBI ...

What happened to the Weather Underground?

Less than a month later, members of the Weather Underground living in Greenwich Village were killed in an explosion when one of the bombs they were storing exploded, setting of a chain reaction with the rest of the explosives in the home. Diana Oughton, Ted Gold, and Terry Robbins were killed in the blast. In a report on the explosion, the FBI claims that the group was housing enough explosives to destroy both sides of the street.

What was the Weather Underground's reaction to the Vietnam War?

Beginning as a faction of Students for a Democratic Society, the Weather Underground declared all out war on the United States of America. Their transgressions made in protest against the Vietnam War ranged from staged riots to a series of bombings perpetrated against federal buildings. On March 1, 1971, the group detonated an explosion at ...

Why did the Weather Underground meet in California?

After the deaths of their friends in New York the remaining members of the Weather Underground met in California to rethink their strategy. They felt that it was important to destroy public and government property to remind Americans that the U.S. government was responsible for what was happening in Vietnam, but they didn't want to hurt anyone. They began picking targets that would be empty during the evenings, and they went out of their way to make sure that no one was in the area when an explosive was detonated.

Why did the group bring the war home?

The group explained the need to take clandestine revolutionary action to bring an end to the war in Vietnam. During the June convention, the group planned to "bring the war home" as a means to "shove the war down [the U.S. government's] dumb, fascist throats.". Members of the group traveled to Cuba one month later where they met with ...

Where did the guerrillas meet in 1969?

source: new york times. In the final days of 1969, the group held a series of meetings in Flint, Michigan to discuss changes within the organization. Rather than planning elaborate riots and protests, the group decided that they needed to carry out more focused guerilla tactics.

What is Weather Underground Organization?

The Weather Underground Organization (WUO), whose members were often called Weatherman, was a radical leftist organization founded in 1969 and active through 1980. The following is a list of some of the members of Weatherman.

What is Weather Underground?

The Weather Underground Organization (WUO), whose members were often called Weatherman, was a radical leftist organization founded in 1969 and active through 1980. The following is a list of some of the members of Weatherman.

Did Weatherman go underground?

The above list includes some people who were connected with Weatherman (the above-ground political grouping that preceded the Weather Underground Organization) but did not go underground to join the WUO.

Overview

Early life

Early activism

Involvement with Weather Underground

Academic career

Civic and political life

Personal life

Works