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35-712: The War Council took place in a dance hall in the middle of the "black ghetto" in Flint, Michigan. There was a dried blood stain in the corner of the ballroom, the residue from where a shooting had taken place the night before. Mark Rudd would later say that this made the ballroom a "fitting place" to hold the War Council. For the event, the ballroom was decorated with revolutionary slogans and imagery. There were pictures of Malcolm X , Che Guevara , Fidel Castro , Ho Chi Minh , Vladimir Lenin , Mao Tse-tung , and other revolutionary figures influential to members of Weather. One wall

70-580: A fugitive. He had been living and working under an assumed name just a few miles from the Columbia campus in Brooklyn and was increasingly frustrated over his lifestyle which included his inability to see his family as well as working in manual labor jobs beneath his education. Due to FBI abuses against Vietnam protestors and others during the COINTELPRO program, Rudd could not be convicted of many of

105-634: A second book on his time with SDS and The Weathermen called Underground: My Life with the SDS and the Weathermen , published by HarperCollins in 2009. This work is more a personal memoir than a political statement as was his first book. Documentary filmmaker Sam Green made a 2008 short entitled Clear Glasses , which focuses on a pair of glasses Rudd sent him. In 2008, Rudd spoke about the Vietnam War era activities of SDS and his involvement in them for

140-599: A servicemen's ball, detonated prematurely. The dead were Terry Robbins , Diana Oughton , and Ted Gold , who was Rudd's friend and partner in RYM and the Columbia sit-ins. Weatherman had already come to the attention of the FBI, but this explosion caused the members of Weatherman to take further precautions and to engage in more clandestine operations and according to some Weatherman members like Bill Ayers , build an underground revolutionary movement. According to Kirkpatrick Sale , Rudd

175-552: A speech in which he described himself as a "monomaniacal" "Captain Ahab" set out to kill "the white whale of imperialism," and speculated that killing a "pig" or blowing up a building would be a "really wonderful feeling." In her speech, Bernardine Dohrn praised the actions of the Manson family (although she would later claim that the speech was meant to be satirical), saying, "Dig it; first they killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in

210-476: A website called MarkRudd.com where he frequently posts essays and other writings, including his opinions on contemporary issues, and a personal appearance schedule. He travels around the country in support of the newly reborn Students for a Democratic Society. Rudd, along with Brian Kelly of Pace SDS, have helped establish ties between the new SDS and the Kent State University movement. He wrote

245-613: A white riot/ Just like the one October 8 [referencing the " Days of Rage " in Chicago]/ When the pigs take a beating/ And things start leading/ To armed war against the state." At night, there was a party atmosphere, with dancing, a "good deal of free-for-all sexual activity," and discreet drug use (discretion was required because the WUO did not want to give the police a reason to raid the War Council). Around 300 people attended

280-645: The Days of Rage . Charges filed against demonstrators following this action threatened the movement and its supporters. Rudd was demoted within the organization in January 1970. Rudd, along with other prominent members of Weather, went underground in March 1970 following the Greenwich Village townhouse explosion , an incident in which three members of the organization died when an explosive device, intended for

315-537: The Greenwich Village townhouse explosion that killed three of his Weather Underground peers. He surrendered to authorities in 1977 and served a short jail sentence. He taught mathematics at Central New Mexico Community College , and retired in Albuquerque , New Mexico. Rudd has since expressed regret for his role in the Weather Underground, and advocates for nonviolence and electoral change. Rudd

350-516: The New York Police Department . The Columbia protest was not the first student revolt on an American campus, but as it occurred at a relatively conservative Ivy League school located just up the street from the headquarters of the nation's news media, it received considerable press coverage and drew many supporters. The protests produced the slogan "Create Two, Three, Many Columbias!" The Doonesbury character Mark Slackmeyer

385-548: The "Heroic Guerrilla." Once he returned from Cuba, Rudd was elected President of the Columbia chapter of SDS. In 1968, during his junior year, Rudd was expelled from Columbia after a series of sit-ins and riots that disrupted campus life and attracted nationwide attention. These events culminated in the dramatic occupation of several campus buildings, including the Administration building, Low Memorial Library , and which ended only after violent clashes between students and

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420-446: The War Council "stunned" those who were not part of the WUO. Former members of the WUO have had similar reactions when looking back on the events at the War Council. Jeff Jones later called the speeches an example of "group psychosis," and Mark Rudd described them as "madness." Susan Stern called the speeches praising Manson, "[T]he last putrid drop of American poison" in the WUO. Cathy Wilkerson said that, although some may have seen

455-597: The War Council. Among the groups represented, besides the WUO, were the Detroit White Panthers , the Bay Area Collective , and RYM II . According to the FBI , the following people "are known to have attended this convention": Mark Rudd Mark William Rudd (born June 2, 1947) is an American political organizer, mathematics instructor, anti-war activist and counterculture icon who

490-403: The War Council. The first of these decisions was to go underground, which stemmed from the fact that law enforcement was increasing pressure on the WUO and similar groups (as evidenced by the killing of Fred Hampton), as well as the belief that going underground was the best way to conduct guerrilla warfare against the U.S. government. The practical effects of this decision dominated discussion at

525-494: The War Council. Topics for discussion included how to obtain weapons, how to hide from law enforcement, and how violent the WUO should become in order to further the cause of domestic revolution in the United States. The targets of this violence were also discussed; there was even discussion about whether or not white babies were legitimate targets for the group. In a meeting of WUO leadership conducted behind closed doors,

560-416: The award-winning documentary film Superpower by Barbara-Anne Steegmuller. In 2020, Rudd appeared in the documentary film The Boys Who Said No! , which explores the anti-Vietnam War and draft resistance movement. In 2024, he said of pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses against Israel's war on Gaza : "For me, it’s the most normal thing in the world to look at the murder of 34,000 people and

595-402: The crimes alleged in the original government complaint against him that led to his fugitive status. He received a small fine and ultimately spent less than one year in jail for all his crimes. His first public appearance was on campus, where he spoke to a crowd of hundreds of admiring students. He was not the firebrand the crowd expected, but he did participate in a march around the campus after

630-974: The displacement of close to 2 million in Gaza and say, ‘Hey, stop!" Jeremy Varon Jeremy Peter Varon (born 1967) is an American historian. He is a professor of history at the New School for Social Research and Eugene Lang College . He is the author of the books, Bringing the War Home: The Weather Underground, the Red Army Faction, and Revolutionary Violence in the Sixties and Seventies (2004) and The New Life: The Jewish Students of Postwar Germany (2014). He cofounded and coedits The Sixties: A Journal of History, Politics, and Culture , an academic journal published by Taylor & Francis . Varon completed

665-517: The events of the War Council as theatre, to her the sentiments expressed were "deadly serious." Historians' evaluations of the War Council have also differed. Dan Berger calls the War Council a "[S]pectacle… an expression of outrage, but one whose hyperbole was self-evident." Jeremy Varon says, [A]n air of unreality hung over the Weatherman's menacing performances, further confusing just what to make of their "message". Todd Gitlin described

700-553: The organization. Rudd and other former RYM members ultimately formed Weatherman, a self-proclaimed "organization of communist women and men." The new organization was intent on overthrowing the government through violent actions. Spreading communism was a priority for the members of Weather, as when Rudd told other members of SDS, " Don't be timid about telling people we're Communist. Don't deny it, be proud of it." Rudd and other members of Weatherman participated in an SDS National Action on October 8–11, 1969, an event which became known as

735-410: The room with them, then they even shoved a fork into pig Tate's stomach. Wild!" Holding up four fingers (symbolizing the fork) became the WUO's salute during the War Council. The Flint War Council has been controversial with historians and former WUO members because of some of the statements made during the event. Even during the event, according to a reporter present, many of the speeches delivered at

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770-414: The second decision was to disband what remained of SDS (despite the fact that the gathering had been advertised as the "SDS National War Council" beforehand). This decision reflected the splintering of SDS into hostile rival factions. Rather than try to rebuild SDS from underground, the WUO decided to abandon it altogether. Rudd would call the dissolution of SDS, "[T]he single greatest mistake… of my life… It

805-610: The speech. In the summer of 1978, Rudd and his then-girlfriend, Sue LeGrand, moved to Albuquerque , New Mexico . During his time there he became an instructor of mathematics at Central New Mexico Community College (then known as the Albuquerque Technical Vocational Institute, or TVI). At the time he was hired and during his early employment at the college, Rudd's years as a student radical and Federal fugitive were almost unknown to his students and other faculty members who seldom asked if he

840-413: The speeches as "a public rite to exorcise the Weathermen's last doubts." During the War Council, the WUO held a number of communal activities, including sessions of karate practice, and singing from the "Weatherman songbook," which replaced the lyrics of popular songs with revolutionary messages. One example was "White Riot," sung to the tune of "White Christmas," and containing the lyrics, "I'm dreaming of

875-540: The war escalated, Mark Rudd worked with other youth movement leaders to take SDS in a more militant direction. While much of the general membership of SDS refused to countenance violence, Rudd together with some other prominent SDS members formed a paramilitary organization inspired by the Red Guard , referring to themselves collectively as "Weatherman" after the lyrics from a famous Bob Dylan song . Rudd went "underground" in 1970, hiding from law enforcement following

910-663: Was Jewish . Rudd attended Columbia High School in his hometown of Maplewood, New Jersey , and later Columbia University in New York. He identified the Vietnam War as an imperialist war and first tried to stop the university's involvement in the war. He also supported the black power movement . Rudd said they were protesting horrors like Agent Orange defoliation and the carpet bombing in Vietnam. Mark Rudd's website says that his commitment to "fighting U.S imperialism"

945-472: Was "that" Mark Rudd. Most of these individuals were of a different generation and the name "Mark Rudd" had ceased to be a household word. Rudd regarded this lack of critical attention with some disdain. In 1990, he published a memoir called Truth and Consequences: The Education of Mark Rudd , which detailed his life with SDS, the Columbia University riots, and his time as a fugitive. Rudd

980-450: Was a historical crime." Because of the difficulties in recruiting from underground, and the decision to dissolve SDS, the WUO effectively limited the size and growth potential of the organization. During the course of the War Council, several of the leading members of the WUO gave impassioned speeches designed, as Judy Siff later said, to "really psych [the group] up." Some of these speeches would become very controversial. Mark Rudd gave

1015-648: Was born in Irvington, New Jersey . His father, Jacob S. Rudd (1909–1995), was born Jacob Shmuel Rudnitsky in Stanislower , Poland; he was a former army officer who sold real estate in Maplewood, New Jersey . His mother, Bertha Bass (1912–2009), was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, the year after her parents emigrated from Lithuania . Rudd had a brother, David R. Rudd (1939–2009), who became an attorney. His family

1050-596: Was filled with pictures of Fred Hampton , the Black Panther leader recently killed by Chicago police. Slogans included " Sirhan Sirhan Power" and "Piece Now" over the picture of a gun. There was also a giant papier-mâché gun, with bullets attached to pictures of President Richard Nixon , Vice-President Spiro Agnew , California Governor Ronald Reagan , Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley , and Sharon Tate , who had recently been murdered by Charles Manson and his cult followers . Two important decisions were made during

1085-632: Was inspired by Rudd. In 1969, as SDS membership grew rapidly, members' views concerning both goals and methods began to diverge widely. Rudd felt that SDS was not doing enough to protest the war in Vietnam. He was a leader of the Revolutionary Youth Movement (RYM), a faction of SDS, which advocated a more militant course of action while other factions within SDS were becoming concerned about Rudd's increasingly vocal calls for violent confrontation and hardline Communist sentiments. The 1969 SDS convention effectively splintered and ended

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1120-498: Was inspired by the revolutionary movement in Cuba, which at that time was in its ninth year. In 1968, Rudd and Bernardine Dohrn and other leaders of SDS were invited to Cuba to meet with Cuban, Soviet, and North Vietnamese delegates. His experiences in Cuba strengthened Rudd's anti-war and pro-Communist sentiments. Rudd had described the life of Cuba as "extremely humanistic" and he idealized Ernesto "Che" Guevara , referring to him as

1155-668: Was interviewed for the 2002 documentary, The Weather Underground , in which he stated that although the group's motivations, to end the Vietnam War and to oppose US imperialism , were justified, the violent actions performed in pursuit of those beliefs were questionable. He was the only former Weather member featured in the film that regretted his involvement in the group. He opposed the United States-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Today Rudd lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with his wife, Marla (Painter). Rudd maintains

1190-540: Was involved with the Weather Underground in the 1960s. Rudd became a member of the Columbia University chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) in 1963. By 1968, he had emerged as a leader for Columbia's SDS chapter. During the 1968 Columbia University Protests , he served as spokesperson for dissident students protesting a variety of issues, particularly the Vietnam War . As

1225-572: Was regarded as arrogant and politically ignorant by the other leaders, and was further demoted in the organization by the end of the year. After the townhouse explosion, the government actively sought to apprehend Mark Rudd and twelve other members of the Weather Underground Organization (WUO). For seven years Rudd lived underground, although he was disengaged from the WUO for most of that time. On September 14, 1977, Rudd turned himself in to authorities, tired of life as

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