Difference between revisions of "William Ayers"

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William Ayers as he appeared in Chicago Magazine.

Early Life and Upbringing

Ayers grew up in a wealthy home as the son of Thomas G. Ayers, former Chairman and CEO of Commonwealth Edison. ^[1] He lived in Glen Ellyn, a suburb of Chicago. Ayers attended public schools and received a bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan in 1968. At age 21, Ayers became director of the Children's Community, a small school in a basement that did not have grades, report cards, and had children address teachers by their first names. It was part of a "free school movement."

Work with Radical Groups

In 1968, Ayers became leader of the Students for a Democratic Society, and then a prominent leader of the violent "Weatherman group." The group was associated with other international communist guerrilla and terrorist groups, including the Vietcong. In May 1970, the organization issued a Declaration of War^[2] against the United States authored by Bernardine Dohrn who was to become Ayers wife. 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 (March 1 1971), The Pentagon (May 19 1972), the United States Department of State (January 28 1975).^[3]. 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." 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." ^[4]

Today, Ayers and his wife -- fellow former Weather Underground fugitive Bernardine Dohrn -- live in Hyde Park, where they moved after surrendering in 1980. Federal charges against the two were dropped because of improper surveillance, so they avoided prison. ^[5]

Ayers has claimed that his actions were not terrorist acts.^[6] 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.

Prairie Fire

In 1974, William Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn and other members of the Weather Underground wrote the book, Prairie Fire: The Politics of Revolutionary Anti-Imperialism. In this book, William Ayers admits that he is a communist,

"We are a guerrilla organization. We are communist women and men, underground in the United States for more than four years."

Prairie Fire is dedicated to Sirhan Sirhan, Robert F. Kennedy's assassin.

Interestingly, the book lists Sirhan Sirhan, Robert F. Kennedy's assassin, among many other now-obscure '60s-era radicals, criminals and revolutionaries on the dedication page.

Ayers and his fellow co-authors brag about their numerous acts of domestic terrorism.

Ayers and his fellow co-authors brag about their numerous acts of domestic terrorism, and provide a handy list detailing not only each crime but in most cases the justification for each crime as well.

Among the bombings by Ayers' group listed in the book:

• Haymarket police statue, Chicago
• Chicago police cars
• New York City police headquarters
• Marin County Courthouse
• Long Island City Courthouse
• Department of Corrections, San Francisco
• Office of California Prisons, Sacramento
• Department of Corrections, Albany NY
• 103rd Precinct of New York City police
• Harvard Center for International Affairs
• U.S. Capitol
• MIT research center
• The Pentagon
• Draft and recruiting centers
• ROTC buildings
• ITT Latin America Headquarters
• National Guard Headquarters, Washington D.C.
• Presidio Army Base and MP Station, San Francisco
• Federal Offices of Health, Education and Welfare, San Francisco ^{[7] [8] [9]}

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 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^[10]. Barack Obama was asked about the relationship in an April 2008 Presidential debate by moderator George Stephanopoulos:

"Can you explain that relationship for the voters, and explain to Democrats why it won't be a problem?"

To which Obama replied,

"This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood, who's a professor of English in Chicago who I know and who I have not received some official endorsement from. He's not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis. And the notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was eight years old, somehow reflects on me and my values doesn't make much sense, George"

In February of 2008, Obama Chief Strategist David Axelrod said:

"Bill Ayers lives in his neighborhood. Their kids attend the same school … They’re certainly friendly, they know each other, as anyone whose kids go to school together." He called Ayers current defense of his 1960s bombings "objectionable, and I think Barack would also say that was objectionable. I don't think he's ever had an in-depth discussion [with Ayers] about them."^[11]

In an October 2008 article in American Thinker, Jack Cashill speculated that Ayers ghostwrote Obama's first book, "Dreams From My Father".^[12] He based his assertion on a comparison of the writing styles of Bill Ayers' 2001 memoir, Fugitive Days, and Barack Obama's earlier 1995 book, Dreams From My Father, and came to the conclusion that Ayres had ghostwritten Dreams.^[13][14]

See Also

• Mystery:Who Ghostwrote Obama's Books?

References

1. ↑ Northwestern University, Obituary: Thomas Ayers Served as Board Chair from 1975 to 1986[1]
2. ↑ FBI file, Weather Underground Declaration of a State of War
3. ↑ FBI file Weather Underground pgs. 67-71 pdf
4. ↑ Bill Ayers' blog, Episodic Notoriety–Fact and Fantasy, by Bill Ayers, 4/06/2008[2]
5. ↑ Chicago Sun-Times, Who is Bill Ayers? Former radical or respected prof, he's a liability if Obama's nominated, Hillary warns, April 18, 2008, by CHRIS FUSCO AND ABDON M. PALLASCH[3]
6. ↑ Bill Ayers' blog, Episodic Notoriety–Fact and Fantasy, by Bill Ayers, 4/06/2008[4]
7. ↑ William Ayers' forgotten communist manifesto: Prairie Fire, zombietime.com, October 22, 2008
8. ↑ Forgotten Terrorist Manifesto: Prairie Fire, Bob Ellis, Dakota Voice, October 24, 2008
9. ↑ Reading Bill Ayers, Michelle Malkin, MichelleMalkin.com, October 23, 2008
10. ↑ [5]
11. ↑ Politico, Ax on Ayers, by Ben Smith, February 26, 2008 [6]
12. ↑ American Thinker, October 26, 2008, Who Wrote Dreams From My Father?, by Jack Cashill, October 09, 2008 [7]
13. ↑ www.cashill.com, Who Wrote “Dreams From My Father"?, by Jack Cashill, October 9, 2008, retrieved on 10/16/2008 [8]
14. ↑ WorldNet Daily, Obama didn't write 'Dreams from My Father', by Jack Cashill, October 13, 2008[9]