Weathermen - Research Paper Example

The Weathermen The Weathermen was a group that was formed by radical at the Ann Arbor campus of the University of Michigan, they were a group that split from the Students for Democratic Society (SDS). They established the weather Underground Organization (WUO) that was linked with a number of criminal activities. The organization emerged around 1969 and was engaged intensively in riots, jailbreaks, and bombings. The group was highly opposed to the government in the 1960s and 1970s but was suppressed later and became an underground movement (Peterson-Davis, n.d). The Weathermen had well defined goals and an implementation plan.

Their main goal was to develop a strong party that would create a revolution towards the overthrowing of the United States government. At the center of their push was the need to have an expansion of the democratic space. Chief among the objectives was to use the white children in an armed revolution. In addition, they were against the engagement in wars outside the country and African-American’s discrimination (Brownfield, 2009). The group created a number of atrocities, which created a state of insecurity within the country.

The most conspicuous evils committed entail the bombing of Pentagon in 1972, Bombing of US Capitol in 1971. In addition, the United States Department of State building was bombed in 1975, violent protests in Chicago in opposition to the war in Vietnam, and the 1970 incident where three of the group members died while making bombs in a town in a village in Greenwich (Peterson-Davies, n.d). In addition, banks were also targeted in their operations. The Weathermen changed tact after committing these evils and ended up engaging in their activities underground.

The overall effects of the operations that were conducted by the group are to overthrow the government so that they could work on meeting their objectives such as promoting democracy. One of their major successes was the facilitation of the jailbreak of Timothy Leary. The organization always gave a reason behind their activities, for example, the raid of Hanoi by the United States forces facilitated the bombing of the Pentagon. The organization did not manage to meet all its objectives. However, they made an effort towards the achievement of democracy in the United States.

Based on the election of the first African-American president (Barrack Obama), who was backed by the organization, their goals was finally achieved (Klein, 2008). However, the group went underground as from 1973 when war ceased in Vietnam as a result of a peace accord. The approach taken by the Weathermen was quite different from other militia groups. While The Weathermen were very objective in what they, other groups lacked consistency. They always communicated the reason for committing a given atrocity; this aspect gave the government the opportunity to rectify what was contested.

However, aspects such as wars in other countries presented the government with a hard decision to make. The targets for Weathermen were very specific, government buildings and banks; they tried to prevent loss of lives as much as possible. These features distinguished them from other domestic terrorism groups. In conclusion, the Weatherman was/is a focused group with an objective to foresee the government does it work. They always communicated what they thought was not done well and took appropriate action.

As opposed to the 1960s and 1970s, the strength of the group has continued to dwindle exponentially. ReferencesBrownfield, A. C. (2009). Weather Underground history restored. Retrieved from http://www.academia.org/weather-underground-history-restored/Klein, A. (2008). 4 weathermen terrorists declare support for Obama. Retrieved from http://www.wnd.com/2008/10/76758/Peterson-Davies, J. (n.d). Flash in the pan? A history of the Weatherman. Retrieved from http://academic.evergreen.edu/curricular/ageofirony/aoizine/jacob.html