Nineteen years old and possibly one of the most famous women in the country at the time in 1974, Patty Hearst was kidnappeed on February 4th around 9 o'clock in the morning. In apartment number 4, 2603 Benvenue Street Berkely, California a man knocks on her dor requesting to use her telephone to make a call about a car he had hit downstairs in the parking lot. Little did she know what was about to happen...
Men rushed into her appartment, beating her fiancee with a broken wine bottle and kidnappng her. These were members of the newly formed terrorist group called the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA). Their purpose as a terrorist group was to destroy the US "capitalist state", and overtake the US government by means of a guerilla war.
Hearst was a very popular woman at the time, and was very renowned for her grandfather's money and his legacy. She was very gorgeous and very educated, even though she did struggle through soem hardships at a young age. She was caught experimenting with drugs such as LSD, early sexual activity, and lying to a nun about her mother having cancer to get out of a final examination in a high school course. Needless to say, she was a hurting young girl.
Some may consider the SLA a not very aggressive group in terms of killing people, but that would be very wrong. Their leader, Donald Defreeze, was a resent escapee from the Vacaville prison and was thriving for a way to get back at the US government. So he started the SLA out of the Black Control Association. This did not mean that this was an all black association though. They got all of their money from bank roberries, their arms were all stolen, and they trained in the origin of their group (right outside Berkley, California). Right out of the gate, the SLA shot two Oakland school officials, killimg on and seriously injuring the other. The SLA was a violent group no doubt.
This particular kidnapping was the biggest news around the country for a good month. The public was appalled to hear about this happening. Little did they know, that shortl after on April 3, 1974, the SLA released a tape to a local radio station with Patty Hearst declaring her alliagence to the SLA. She had been brainwashed. Twelve days later, this photo was taken:
This was at the Hiberia Bank in Berkley (owned by one of her good friend's father). No one could explain what was going on. The public was crazed by the thought of their "average/likeable" young lady, caving in and joining the group that kidnapped her. "Tania" was the name she took on with her new look as an SLA member. The weirdest thing baout this though, was that the primary reason for her kidnapping was to get the public's attention.
She surpassed the SLA's expections and shocked the country. Defreeze had created a monster, and had to show her off to the world. The FBI sent out their biggest search party in history to finish the SLA for good and capture/rescue Hearst. Luckily, the SLA was not flawless and the FBI was not stupid. On May 16, 1974, two SLA were witnessed taking an amunition belt from a local store, and were tracked all the way back to a secret SLA safehouse. The next morning, the FBI sent the building up into flames killing six SLA members including Defreeze. Hearst had escaped with a few other SLA members. After over a year of searching on September 18, 1975, Patty Hearst was found in San Francisco and arrested.
Charged with seven years in prison for bank roberry and other crimes even though notibly brainwashed, Patty Hearst was on the path to recovery. President Carter had her released from jail after only two years in prison, when she married her body guard, Bernard Shaw, just two months after her release. They have two daughters together. Hearst released her autobiography in 1982, and when made into a movie in 1988, she met John Waters. Waters was a famous movie director that offered her an acting job and a new career. She appeared in "Cry-Baby"(1990), "Serial Man"(1994), "Pecker"(1998), and "Cecil B. Demented"(2000), all driected by Waters. Hearst is now back to herself and living strong everyday, forgetting the way she affected 1970s society the wat she did.
Sources
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FBI
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Princeton
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Law2
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CNN
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NBC
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PBS
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