'''Bernardine Rae Dohrn''' (born [[January 12]], [[1942]]) is a former leader of the 1960s radical leftist organization [[Weatherman (organization)|Weatherman]]. She is an Associate Professor of Law at Northwestern University School of Law and the Director of Northwestern's [http://www.law.northwestern.edu/cfjc/ Children and Family Justice Center].
==Personal life==
Bernardine Dohrn was born in [[Milwaukee, Wisconsin]] in 1942 and grew up in [[Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin]]. She graduated from [[Whitefish Bay High School]] where she was a cheerleader <ref>http://omega.cohums.ohio-state.edu/mailing_lists/CLA-L/2003/02/0066.php</ref>. She attended [[Miami University]] for one year, then transferred to the [[University of Chicago]], where she graduated with honors with a B.A. in Political Science in 1963, and with a J.D. from the [[University of Chicago Law School]] in 1967. <ref>[http://www.law.northwestern.edu/faculty/clinic/dohrn/dohrn.html Bernardine Dohrn, Bluhm Legal Clinic, Faculty Profiles, Faculty & Research, School of Law, Northwestern University<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
==Radical history==
Dohrn became one of the leaders of the [[Revolutionary Youth Movement]] (RYM), a radical wing of [[Students for a Democratic Society (1960 organization)|Students for a Democratic Society]] (SDS), in the late 1960s. The ninth annual national SDS conference was held in Chicago in the summer of 1969, and the SDS collapsed in an [[Students for a Democratic Society (1960 organization)#Climax_and_disintegration:_1968.E2.80.931969|RYM-led upheaval]]. 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 Cuban governments.
[[Weatherman (organization)|The Weathermen]], as they were known colloquially, conducted a series of bombings against the US government throughout the early 1970s, bombing several federal buildings. Dohrn is a principal signatory on the group's "Declaration of a State of War" (1970) that formally declared war on the U.S. Government, and completed the group's transformation from political advocacy to armed resistance. Dohrn also co-wrote and published the subversive manifesto ''[[Prairie Fire]]'' (1974), and participated in the covertly-filmed ''[[Underground (documentary film)|Underground]]'' (1976).
After the [[Greenwich Village townhouse explosion]], the accidental detonation of a bomb being made that killed three of the members, all members of Weatherman went [[Underground culture|underground]] and the group took on its last and most famous title, the [[Weatherman (organization)|Weather Underground]]. The Weathermen and Weather Underground were suspected in various bombings
—
police cars, the National Guard Association building, the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon. Dohrn allegedly participated in many of [[Weatherman (organization)#Chronology_of_events|the group's revolutionary activities]]. While on the run from police, Dohrn 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 the [[Logan Square, Chicago|Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago]], where they used the aliases Christine Louise Douglas and Anthony J. Lee.<ref>Chicago Home of a Friend was Refuge for Miss Dohrn. Nathaniel Sheppard, Jr. New York Times. Dec 5, 1980. p. A.22</ref> The couple turned themselves in to authorities in 1980. While some charges relating to their activities with the Weathermen were dropped due to governmental misconduct,<ref>[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F02E1DE1438F932A2575AC0A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print No Regrets for a Love Of Explosives; In a Memoir of Sorts, a War Protester Talks of Life With the Weathermen - New York Times<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Dohrn pled guilty to charges of aggravated battery and bail jumping, receiving probation.<ref> Milwaukee Sentinel, Jan. 14, 1981 </ref> She later served less than a year of jail time, after refusing to testify against ex-Weatherman [[Susan Rosenberg]] in an armed robbery case.<ref>[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F02E1DE1438F932A2575AC0A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print No Regrets for a Love Of Explosives; In a Memoir of Sorts, a War Protester Talks of Life With the Weathermen - New York Times<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Shortly after turning themselves in, Dohrn and Ayers became legal guardians of the son of former members of the Weather Underground, [[Kathy Boudin]] and [[David Gilbert]], after they were convicted of murder for their roles in a 1981 [[Brinks robbery (1981)|armored car robbery]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
==Legal career==
From 1984 to 1988, Dohrn was employed by the law firm [[Sidley Austin]], although her criminal record has prevented her from being admitted to either the New York or Illinois bar.<ref>[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F02E4D71739F933A25751C0A963948260 FOLLOW-UP ON THE NEWS; Hurdle for Dohrn - New York Times<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> In 1991, she became a Clinical Associate Professor of Law at [[Northwestern University]] in Chicago. She now serves on the board of numerous human rights committees and teaches comparative law. Since 2002, she has served as Visiting Law Faculty at the [[Vrije Universiteit]] in [[Amsterdam]].
==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]
== External links ==
*[http://www.law.northwestern.edu/faculty/clinic/dohrn/dohrn.html 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://www.mugshots.com/Historical/Bernardine+Dohrn.htm Mugshot From Chicago PD Files]
* [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17953182/displaymode/1107//s/2/framenumber/5 MSNBC Photo Gallery: Really Bad Girls]
== References ==
<references/>
8. Bill Ayers, Clarifying the Facts— a letter to the New York Times, 9-15-2001, Bill Ayers (blog), April 21, 2008
9. Stanley Fish, "Much Ado", April 27, 2008, N.Y. Times
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dohrn, Bernardine}}
[[Category:1942 births]]
[[Category:American terrorists]]
[[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]]
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