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==Work with Radical Groups==
==Work with Radical Groups==
[[Image:Ayers.jpg|left|Bill Ayers in August 1968.]]
[[Image:Ayers.jpg|left|Bill Ayers in August 1968.]]
In 1968, Ayers became leader of the [[Students for a Democratic Society]], and then a prominent leader of the violent "Weatherman group." Ayers and other members of the Weather Underground group created a bomb factory in [[New York]], and the organization would go on to bomb buildings such as the [[United States Capitol]], [[The Pentagon]], the United States [[Department of State]]. The aim of these acts was never to kill or injure human beings but rather to intimidate the government and sway popular opinion -- the organization always announced its targets beforehand and allowed time for evacuation. The only instance of a fatal Weatherman explosion was in [[Greenwich Village]] in [[New York City]], when an accidental explosion killed three members of the Weather Underground organization. In 1969, Ayers planted a bomb at a statue dedicated to [[police]] casualties in the 1886 [[Haymarket Riot]]. The statue was blown into pieces, but was rebuilt in 1970. It was blown up again by Ayers, five months later.
In 1968, Ayers became leader of the [[Students for a Democratic Society]], and then a prominent leader of the violent "Weatherman group." Ayers and other members of the Weather Underground group created a bomb factory in [[New York]], and the organization would go on to bomb buildings such as the [[United States Capitol]], [[The Pentagon]], the United States [[Department of State]]. The aim of these acts was never to kill or injure human beings but rather to intimidate the government and sway popular opinion -- the organization always announced its targets beforehand and allowed time for evacuation. The only instance of a fatal Weatherman explosion was in [[Greenwich Village]] in [[New York City]], when an accidental explosion killed three members of the Weather Underground organization. In 1969, the Weather Underground planted a bomb at a statue dedicated to [[police]] casualties in the 1886 [[Haymarket Riot]]. The statue was blown into pieces, but was rebuilt in 1970. It was blown up again by the Weather Underground, five months later.
In a 2001 interview with the [[New York Times]], Ayers said, "I don't regret setting bombs" and "I feel we didn't do enough."
In a 2001 interview with the [[New York Times]], Ayers said, "I don't regret setting bombs" and "I feel we didn't do enough." Ayers later claimed that he was quoted out of context, and that he meant that he felt that he had not done enough to oppose the war in Vietnam, which he defined as ''"[an] illegal, murderous, imperial war."'' <ref>http://billayers.wordpress.com/2008/04/06/episodic-notoriety-fact-and-fantasy/</ref>
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Ayers has claimed that his actions were not terrorist acts. <ref>http://billayers.wordpress.com/2008/04/06/episodic-notoriety-fact-and-fantasy/</ref> He has stated that according to the official definition of both the U.S. and the U.N., terrorism consists of violent acts intended to intimidate or coerce a populace into a political end, and that his actions were intended to draw attention to and combat the state terrorism of the U.S. in the Vietnam War. In his autobiography, Fugitive Days, Ayers claimed that his bombing of the Pentagon prevented aerial bombardments in Vietnam for several days, which he defined as terrorism. In this regard, Ayers has implied that he ''prevented'' terrorism rather than caused it.
==Relationship with Barack Obama==
==Relationship with Barack Obama==
Obama and Ayers worked together at the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC), from 1995-1999, an [[organisation]] that was guided to contribute money to organisations such as ACORN (The Association Of Community Organizations For Reform Now). From 1999 to 2002, Senator [[Barack Obama]] joined Ayers again in a paid nine-member board of the Woods Fund of Chicago, an [[poverty|anti-poverty]] foundation. While running for the state Senate in [[Illinois]] in 1995, Ayers meet with Obama and would later introduce him at his house. In 2001, Ayers supported and contributed $200 to Obama's state Senate campaign<ref>http://www.followthemoney.org/database/StateGlance/contributor.phtml?d=330121189</ref>. Barack Obama was asked about the relationship in an April 2008 Presidential debate by moderator George Stephanopoulos:
Obama and Ayers worked together at the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC), from 1995-1999, an [[organisation]] that was guided to contribute money to organisations such as ACORN (The Association Of Community Organizations For Reform Now). From 1999 to 2002, Senator [[Barack Obama]] joined Ayers again in a paid nine-member board of the Woods Fund of Chicago, an [[poverty|anti-poverty]] foundation. While running for the state Senate in [[Illinois]] in 1995, Ayers meet with Obama and would later introduce him at his house. In 2001, Ayers supported and contributed $200 to Obama's state Senate campaign<ref>http://www.followthemoney.org/database/StateGlance/contributor.phtml?d=330121189</ref>. Barack Obama was asked about the relationship in an April 2008 Presidential debate by moderator George Stephanopoulos: