Difference between revisions 119864079 and 119864080 on dewiki

{{POV|date=September 2008}}
{{double image|right|Young Dohrn profile sketch.jpg|95|Bernardine Dohrn.jpg|107|Sketch and photograph of Dohrn (c. 1960s)}} 
'''Bernardine Rae Dohrn''' ([[née]] Ohrnstein, born [[January 12]], [[, 1942]]) is an American former leader of the 1969–1980 radical organization [[Weatherman (organization)|Weather Underground]].  She is an Associate Professor of Law at Northwestern University School of Law and the Director of Northwestern's [[Northwestern University School of Law#Children and Family Justice Center|Children and Family Justice Center]].

==Personal life==
Bernardine Dohrn was born Bernadine Ohrnstein in [[Milwaukee, Wisconsin]] in 1942 and grew up in [[Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin]], an upper-middle-class suburb of [[Milwaukee]].<ref name=lgbda1>Grathwohl, Larry, and Frank, Reagan, ''Bringing Down America: An FBI Informant in with the Weathermen'', Arlington House, 1977, page 103</ref> Her father, Bernard, changed the family surname to Dohrn when Bernardine was in high school.<ref>Lear, Patricia [http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/May-1993/Rebel-Without-a-Pause/index.php?cp=2&si=1 Rebel Without a Pause], ''[[Chicago (magazine)|Chicago]]'', [[May]] [[  1993]], last accessed [[October 9]], [[, 2008]].</ref>.  Her father was Jewish and her mother, Dorothy, was a Christian Scientist with a Swedish background.<ref>Fischer, Klaus P. [http://books.google.com/books?id=sCXig_6abwkC&pg=PA278&lpg=PA278&dq=ohrnstein+Dohrn&source=web&ots=6pO9JyI5wk&sig=xGmUaZOyvJjuEvBzeA8HTKnWaP4&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result American in White, Black, and Gray], Continuum International Publishing Group, 2006, p. 278, ISBN 0826418163.</ref><ref>[htt(contracted; show full)vocate",  pages 223 and 224: "Dohrn, a leader of the Weather Underground" (p 223); "she then proceeded to lead the faction in the takeover of the organization's headquarters and the seizure of its assets"</ref><ref name="plm102581">Montgomery, Paul L., [http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F4091EFA3B5D0C768EDDA90994D9484D81 "Last of Radical Leaders Eluded Police 11 Years"], article, ''The New York Times'', 
[[October 25]], [[, 1981]], retrieved [[June 8]], [[, 2008]]</ref> 

In July 1969, Dohrn, [[Eleanor Raskin]], [[Dianne Donghi]], [[Peter Clapp]], [[David Millstone]] and [[Diana Oughton]], all representing "[[Weatherman (organization)|Weatherman]]", as Dohrn's faction was now called, traveled to Cuba and met with representatives of the [[North Vietnamese]] and [[Cuba]]n governments.{{Fact|date=October 2008}}

===Controversial statement about Tate-LaBianca murders===

Dohrn was criticized for a comment she made about the [[Charles Manson]] led [[Sharon Tate|Tate]]-[[Leno and Rosemary LaBianca|LaBianca]] murders in a speech during the December 1969 "War Council" meeting organized by the Weathermen and attended by about 400 people in [[Flint, Michigan]]: "Dig it! First they killed those pigs and then they put a fork in their bellies. Wild!" Dohrn also charged that her fellow left-wingers showed themselves to be scared "honkies" for not burning down Chicago when [[Black Panthers|Black Panther]] leader [[Fred Hampton]] was killed, and urged her audience to arm themselves and be "a fighting force alongside the blacks".<ref name=lfnyt112281>Franks, Lucinda, [http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F00B1FFF3D5C0C718EDDA80994D9484D81 "The Seeds of Terror"], article, ''New York Times Magazine'', [[November 22]], [[, 1981]], retrieved [[June 8]], [[, 2008]]</ref> Dohrn's husband [[Bill Ayers]] has written that Dohrn was being ironic when she made the statement:<ref name=bablog>Ayers, Bill, [http://billayers.wordpress.com/2008/03/03/im-sorry-i-think/ "I'M SORRY!!!! i think ...."], blog post, "Bill Ayers" blog, [[March 3]], [[, 2008]], retrieved [[June 8]], [[, 2008]]</ref>

:I didn't hear that exactly, but words that were close enough I guess. Her speech was focused on the murder just days earlier of our friend Fred Hampton, the Black Panther leader [...] She linked Fred's murder to the murders of other Panthers around the country, to the assassinations of [[Malcolm X]] and [[Patrice Lumumba]], the CIA attempts on [[Fidel Castro|Fidel's]] life, and then to the ongoing terror in Viet Nam. "This is the state of the world," she cried. "(contracted; show full)'s and Ayers' contention that she was not serious. She at least appeared that way to others, he wrote: "In 1980 I taped interviews with thirty members of the Weather Underground who were present at the [[Flint War Council]], including most of its leadership. Not one of them thought Dohrn was anything but deadly serious".<ref>Horowitz, David, [http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=63512670-BF7C-42A0-B41D-5D0FB9E09C09 "Allies in War"], FrontPageMagazine.com, 
[[September 17]], [[, 2001]], accessed [[June 10]], [[, 2008]]</ref>

==Later radical history==

A founder of the [[Weatherman (organization)|Weatherman group]], Dohrn was a member of the "Weather Bureau" (name later changed to "Central Committee"). [[Larry Grathwohl]], an FBI informant who was with the Weatherman from autumn 1969 through spring 1970, considered her one of the two top leaders of the organization, along with [[Bill Ayers]].<ref name=lgbda12>Grathwohl, Larry, and Frank, Reagan, ''Bringing Down America: An FBI Informant in with the Weathermen'', Arlington House, 1977, page 110: "Ayers, along with Bernardine Dohrn, probably had the most authority within the Weatherman."</ref>

During this period, the group organized the October 1969 [[Days of Rage]] riot in Chicago, which Dohrn led.<ref name=hwket>Kushner, Harvey W., [http://books.google.com/books?id=ZOfkAoDb_2IC&pg=PA108&dq=Dohrn+Weatherman&ei=2GDBSIbiI5WKyQSVn9SIDg&sig=ACfU3U3ODwbojAzl9F-jFi5x34vkPj421w ''Encyclopedia of Terrorism''], Sage Publications Inc, 2003, pp 108-109, ISBN 0761924086, ISBN 9780761924081 ; retrieved via Google Books, [[September 5]], [[, 2008]]</ref> During the 1970s, the Weathermen bombed federal buildings and police stations.<ref name=nsnyt120580>Sheppart, Nathaniel, Jr., "Chicago Home of a Friend was Refuge for Miss Dohrn", ''The New York Times'', [[December 5]], [[, 1980]], p A22</ref> 
Prior to the March 6, 1970 [[Greenwich Village townhouse explosion]], in which three members of the group were killed as a bomb was being constructed, all members of Weatherman went [[Underground culture|underground]]. The group then changed its name to [[Weatherman (organization)|Weather Underground]].

(contracted; show full)1975, the Weather Underground put out an issue of a magazine, ''Osawatamie'', which carried an article by Dohrn, "Our Class Struggle", described as a speech given to the organization's cadres on September 2 of that year. In the article, Dohrn clearly stated support for [[Communism|Communist]] ideology:<ref name=fbi74>[http://foia.fbi.gov/weather/weath1a.pdf "Weatherman Underground / Summary Dated 8/20/76 / Part #1"], 1976, pp 23-24, FBI website, retrieved 
[[June 8]], [2008</ref>

:We are building a communist organization to be part of the forces which build a revolutionary communist party to lead the working class to seize power and build socialism. [...] We must further the study of [[Marxism-Leninism]] within the WUO [Weather Underground Organization]. The struggle for Marxism-Leninism is the most significant development in our recent history. [...] We discovered thru [sic] our own experiences what revolutionaries all over the world have found &mdash; that(contracted; show full)

==Later life and career==
From 1984 to 1988, Dohrn was employed by the prestigious Chicago law firm [[Sidley Austin]].<ref name=nyt1>Haitch, Richard. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F02E4D71739F933A25751C0A963948260 Hurdle for Dohrn], ''[[The New York Times]]'', 
[[February 10]], [[, 1985]], last accessed [[October 17]], [[, 2008]].</ref> She was hired by Howard Trienens, the head of the firm at that time, who knew Thomas G. Ayers, the father of Dohrn's husband. "We often hire friends," Trienens told a reporter for the [[Chicago Tribune]].<ref name=rgct51808>Grossman, Ron. [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-radical-ayers_thinkmay18,0,5953909.story Family ties proved Ayers' point], ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', [[May 18]], [[, 2008]], last accessed, [[October 17]], [[, 2008]].</ref> However, Dohrn has not been admitted to the New York or Illinois bar. She passed the New York bar exam but has not submitted an application to the New York Supreme Court's Committee on Character and Fitness.<ref name=nyt1/> She also passed the Illinois bar, but was turned down by the Illinois ethics committee because of her criminal record. Trienen said of the Illinois rejection, "Dohrn didn't get a [law] license because she's stubborn. She wouldn't say she'(contracted; show full)

Dohrn and Ayers recently [[Bill Ayers presidential election controversy|resurfaced into news headlines]] as presidential candidate [[John McCain]] and his running mate [[Sarah Palin]] publicly denounced ties between [[Bill Ayers|Ayers]] and presidential candidate [[Barack Obama]].<ref>Bumiller, Elisabeth and Healy, Patrick. [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/10/us/politics/10campaign.html McCain Joins Attacks on Obama Over Radical], ''The [[New York Times]]'', 
[[October 9]], [[, 2008]], last accessed [[October 10]], 2008. </ref><ref>Cooper, Michael. [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/us/politics/05palin.html Palin, on Offensive, Attacks Obama's Ties to '60s Radical], ''The [[New York Times]], [[October 4]], 2008, last accessed [[October 10]], 2008.</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
* [http://www.law.northwestern.edu/faculty/profiles/BernardineDohrn Her biography at the Northwestern Law site, with a link to her CV]
* [http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/weather/radicals_8-22.html  Transcript of interview in 1996 with Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers]
* [http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/weatherunderground/today.html PBS Article "The Weathermen Today"]
* [http://eviltwinbooking.org Evil Twin Booking Agency - speakers bureau featuring Bernardine Dohrn]
* [http://www.mugshots.com/Historical/Bernardine+Dohrn.htm Mugshot From Chicago PD Files]

===Articles by Dohrn===
* [http://www.monthlyreview.org/0703dohrn.htm Homeland Imperialism: Fear and Resistance, by Bernardine Dohrn - Monthly Review]
* [http://www.monthlyreview.org/0104dohrn.htm She Challenged the Rules, by Bernardine Dohrn - Monthly Review]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dohrn, Bernardine}}
[[Category:1942 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Milwaukee, Wisconsin]]
[[Category:Members of Students for a Democratic Society (1960 organization)]]
[[Category:Weather Underground]]
[[Category:COINTELPRO targets]]
[[Category:Terrorism in the United States]]
[[Category:Northwestern University faculty]]
[[Category:University of Chicago alumni]] <!-- BA -->
[[Category:University of Chicago Law School alumni]]
[[Category:American Jews]]