On this day in 1976 Patty Hearst is let out on bail. If you don’t know who Patty Hearst is, she is the granddaughter of the legendary publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst. Hearst’s ordeal began on the night of February 4, 1974, when, as a 19-year-old college student, she was kidnapped from her Berkeley, California, apartment by armed gunmen. The kidnappers, members of a political terrorist group called the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), beat Hearst’s fiancé and drove off with the heiress in the trunk of their car to a hideout near San Francisco.
The kidnappers demanded the release of two SLA members in prison for murder, a request that was denied, and called for Hearst’s family to donate millions of dollars to feed the poor. The Hearsts eventually established a program called People in Need (PIN) to distribute $2 million worth of food, but negotiations with the SLA deteriorated after the group demanded additional millions for PIN.
After being abducted, Patricia Hearst was locked in a closet by her captors for two months and subjected to mental and physical abuse. As a result, she later claimed, she was brainwashed into becoming an SLA member, adopting the name Tania and renouncing her family.
In April 1974, the SLA robbed the Hibernia Bank in San Francisco and surveillance videotape captured Hearst holding a gun. In May of that same year, six SLA members, including the group’s leader Donald DeFreeze (who called himself Field Marshall Cinque Mtume), were killed when their house went up in flames during a shootout with police in Los Angeles that was broadcast on live television. Hearst, along with several other SLA members not in the house at the time, remained on the lam for another year.
Law enforcement finally caught up with Hearst in September 1975 in San Francisco, where she was arrested and charged with armed robbery and use of a firearm during a felony, in connection with the Hibernia Bank heist. When authorities asked her occupation, Hearst famously replied “urban guerilla.” During her widely publicized trial, Hearst’s famous defense attorney, F. Lee Bailey, claimed she’d been brainwashed and made to believe she’d be killed if she didn’t comply with her captors and go along with their criminal activities. However, in March 1976, a jury found her guilty of armed robbery and she was sentenced to seven years in prison. In November of that year she was released on bail while lawyers tried to appeal her conviction, but the appeal was later denied and Hearst went back to prison.
Hearst spent almost two years behind bars before her sentence was commuted by President Jimmy Carter in 1979. Shortly thereafter, she married Bernard Shaw, her former bodyguard, and went on to raise a family in Connecticut. She later became a writer and actress. In 2001, President Bill Clinton granted Hearst a presidential pardon.
Interesting story. Do you believe that she was brainwashed or willingly took part in the robbery?
All information provided by “This Day in History.”
I’d only heard the bare bones details of this case before, but having read through your terrific account of it here, I’m inclined to say that she was afflicted by a sort of Stockholm Syndrome type effect. But really, it’s hard to say. Quite possibly she herself is the only one who knows the truth!
Wishing you a serene & gorgeous weekend, honey!
♥ Jessica
I, too, was around back then. I can’t say brainwashed, but I can say that she probably lost sight of reality. If she was spoiled and indulged she did not have the fortitude to withstand what she must have been through. No one ever mentioned rape, but I’m sure she was and had to live through that horror. I give her the benefit of the doubt and say innocent. My opinion only.
Love your blog! And thanks for the info on Patty Hearst. I knew of her, but I didn’t know many of the details of her story. Very interesting!
http://pixiedrivein.blogspot.com/
Wow this is just fascinating! Have a wonderful weekend, Darling! ♥
xxx
Rachel
I didn’t see an email address in your blog and you don’t have one on your profile, so I couldn’t answer your question about how to get the “other posts youight like” to show up.
Shoot me an email.
I am at a loss with this story. Usually (and I know everyone is shocked) I have an opinion on stories like this. I don’t know what to think. Oh, and BTW, I am probably screwing up your site statistics because i am leaving your blog open so that I can hear the music. (I need a playlist…ooo johnny cash!)
I remember this, I was around 12 when it was first in the media.
The overall opinion was that she was not really brain washed.
It’s weird that no one believed her. I felt sorry for her.
I really don’t know many of the details about the story. Thanks for the recap. Base don what I do know, I think she knew what she was doing.
Wow, I knew some of this story but not all of it….I had always heard that she was brainwashed but honestly I am really not sure.
🙂
Thank you too =D
hmmm, I don’t know what to believe actually. It’s hard to know what someone goes through mentally after being kidnapped and held for an extended amount of time as well as being abused….I’m sure everyone has a different reaction in such a terrible situation…interesting story.
they would say she was brainwashed! I understand her defense attorney claiming that, but i also find it kind of offensive that people assume she must have been brainwashed for having radical ideas. God knows if a woman back then had an idea bigger than pot roast, it MUST have come from a man!
on a side note, i am doing nanowrimo this year too! I’m alllllmost to the halfway mark. in fact, i have my story up now but im procrastinating. Whoops!
I remember reading about it in the news and seeing it on TV. She knew what she was doing. Plain and simple.
I remember this so well. I was never convinced that she was brainwashed, but I do think she fell in love with one of her captors, and made the decision to follow the group. So telling is the photo at the bank robbery. Another wonderful Post!!!
Sharon
I’ve always thought this was a fascinating story. I wasn’t alive at the time, but it’s tough to tell. In some ways, I want to say that she made up the story about being brainwashed to justify her out-of-character behavior, but so many people who have been kidnapped do undergo a lot of mental changes. Either way, it’s definitely an interesting case.
I lived in San Francisco during that time and most of us thought she used the brainwashing story as an excuse. I had friends who knew her before she was kidnapped and they said she was a spoiled, bored rich girl. I do think she learned something from the whole experience and turned into a decent human being. What a hell of a time back then!!