Early life of William Ayers
William Charles Ayers also known as Bill Ayers was born in 1944 December 26th. In the nineteen sixties, Bill Ayers was known for being a strong activist, curriculum reforms, an educator and causing instruction changes. His parents raised him in a suburb known as Glen Ellyn, located in Chicago. He attended elementary schools in Illinois until he reached high school. In his 2nd year, Ayers changed his school to Lake Forest Academy. His family members, that is, his mother, father and brother attended the University of Michigan. He too went to the University of Michigan where he attained an American studies degree in 1968. His father, Thomas G. Ayers, assumed recognition due to being a chairman and CEO of commonwealth Edition between 1973 and 1980. The institution Thomas G. Ayers College of Commerce and Industry derived its name from his father. His mother’s name was Mary (Ayers, 2010)
Ayers transformed into taking action against what he believed in after an interaction with the president of Students for a democratic republic. Paul Potter, the president to students for a democratic republic challenged his audience by asking them how they would live a life without making a mockery of their values. This was during a gathering by Ann Arbor that taught students to be against the Vietnam War. This inspired Ayers to write a memoir that contained a phrase that claimed that a moral person could not stand still while he has a means to act. This was in the memoir named Fugitive Days, where he claimed that a person who ignored action was an indifferent person; a person who lacked morals. He later engaged in a protest against Ann Harbor since she refuted acquiring the seat of African Americans. He begot a job at a Community school where he had his first experience in teaching. Students who supported the summer hill education system had formed this Pre-school. It functioned at a church basement and since it was rare, student enrollment appeared to be low. Ayer’s first arrest made him suffer a ten-day jail term due to attending a draft session before he got his teaching job. The summer school was part of a movement that aimed at changing the competition mode of schooling. It did this by providing no grades or report forms to encourage co-operation. The students had to address their teachers sing their first names. Ayers received a promotion at 21, when he assumed the position of school executive. This set a position for him that made him benefit by meeting a lady named Diana Oughton. He engaged into a relationship with her as his first girlfriend. Oughton lost her life in 1970 while carrying out an operation to set up a bomb for the weather house communist group.
Personal life
Dohrn and Ayers is a couple. They both got married when Ayers was a escapee leader. Dohrn was also a leader in the weather house association of communists. They begot two children during their married life, both of which are groups. One of their children named Zyad reflected in a book by the title Hope of The Unseen. He featured as an ally to the main character, Cedric Jennings. They also adopted a son named Chesa Boudin from former members of the weather house communist group. The names of his biological parents were Kathy Boudin and Gilbert David. They received charges against a group robbery at Brinks where they served a jail term. The adopted son, Boudin, won a scholarship at Rhodes. At the moment, the Ayer’s reside at Hyde Park which is close of Chicago (Ayers, 2001).
Time leading up to the bombing
Years underground
Ayer’s first girlfriend Oughton died from an explosion nail bomb at the Greenwich Village townhouse together with Ted Gold and Terry Robbinsons. They were close allies to Ayer and members of the weather-house movement. Ayers faced charges from the Federal government after evading the US law enforcement officials. In the memoir named the Fugitive days, Ayers commented on having set a bomb at the Pentagon in 1972. He claimed to have used a two-pound bomb to cause the damage of over tenfold dollar. He also asserted that it cost the weather house only five hundred dollars to perform the operation. During this incident, Ayers had already caused explosions to the headquarters of New York City Police in 1971. Ayers and Dorhn escaped charges for the San Francisco Police Station explosion in 1970 though the media and political critics made suggestions over their participation. They feared that the security forces would catch up with them and even kill them. Life is better than being humiliated in public hence their decision is a justified matter as far as their matter is concern (Ayers, 1995).
Ayer Married Bernadine Dorn after the death of Oughton while they were underground fugitives. They maneuvered US through changing identities constantly, their occupation as well as geographical locality. Ayer’s weather underground movement faced operation targets by the FBI together with the New Left movement. They had been seen to engage in COINTEL movements that encompassed illegal converts and FBI projects. The charges against them due to involvement with bombs and weapons by the state seized in 1973. This was because the state government attorneys found FBI involvement with the illegal COINTEL program. These charges remained for Dohrn. Ayers made her turn her in to the authorities later after frequent refusal as a best option. As a result, she received 3-year probation and a 1500 US dollars penalty. During this period when he was underground, Ayers authored the book Prairie Fire. The contents in the book emanated from struggles, meetings and group discussions by members of the weather-house movement. It was dedicated to political prisoners, criminals and radicals. Some of the mentioned revolutionaries included John Brown, Harriet Tubman and Sirhan Sirhan. These also included those revolutionaries who continued with the fight against US imperialism (Reppetto, 2006).
Statements made
Some of the statements made by William asserted that he headed a Guerilla organization, which comprised of both men and women, and they lived underground for more than four years. He stated that their organization was not a peace making type but they planned to seize power violently from the United States of America. The Weather Communist group would accomplish this without showing any love to the Americans who would not join hands with them. He also demanded a revolutionary communist party, to immense the struggle, enable him issue out directions and coherence to the fight, to seize power and establish a new society (William Ayers, 1974). As they engaged in violent attacks, bombings and hiding, they thought of creating a book in secret. William and other members of the weather underground movement created a book by the name Prairie fire: the politics of anti-imperialism to act as an ideological manifesto.
The movement created various instruments to use during their attacks. One such instrument was the Banner of Che. They would use this to build socialism and conquer imperialism through revolutionary war. It would include a mass struggle based on secret and illegal means, political, cultural, military and economic factors. All these drivers would function harmoniously with the armed struggle. It claimed that the absence of an armed mass struggle would ensure that no revolution or victory occurred. They intended to enact a clandestine political association that would base itself against repression, experience from constant practice and accumulation of lessons. Through the Frairie fire booklet, they claimed to be a guerrilla organization; meaning that they would form an unofficial military group that would make attacks in small groups in order to change the political situation. They would engage strategies that would harass and isolate their enemy by determining their weakness and revealing their vulnerability position.
They would do these actions in order to give the citizens an imaginary figure of hope and spar confidence and consciousness to encourage them. This would also assist them to popularize power; to change social and political spheres through organized political activity by joining citizens in their daily struggles. They recognized the fact that they lived in harsh times full of economic and social crisis. It existed when the US imperialism declined which proved favorable for the people and for revolution.
William Ayers defined socialism as a rejection to the white dominion power and empire, the opposite of imperialism (Ayers, 1997). Socialism meant that they had to overthrow the bourgeois to demolish the social systems that based themselves on recognition via profits. It meant creation of a dictatorship over the working class by controlling the production forces in society. This would happen in order to benefit all the people and prevent the occurrence of few wealthy men. This would promote equality for all men through creation of priorities based o human needs rather than corporate greed. The prove that William Ayer actually drafted the book Prairie Fire is found within the introductory pages where four authors sign their names. These include Bernardine Dohrn, Jeff Jones, Billy Ayers and Celia Sojourn. They mention that the book was written out of group meeting conversations and struggles. Bearing in mind that Ayers and Dorhn acquired priority by being the most learned of the four, and then most of the writing fell on their hands. Ayers also wrote his resume’ stating that he drafted the weather underground ideology booklet (Johns, Eaglesham, Ruy Cox & Leigh, 2007).
Testimonies
During the enactment of the weather underground movement, the US government assigned undercover agents to gather information on their behalf. One officer was agent Larry Grathwohl, who joined the weather underground communist association. He gave a description of their post-revolution governing plans for US through a documentary video named No Place To Hide. In the video, captured in 1982, Larry asserted that the communists openly planned on exterminating 25 million Americans. The reason behind this was their refusal to be re-educated into being communists. He recalls having brought in the issue of plans made after the communist group took over the government. He argued that the plan to administer two hundred and fifty million people would leave a gap for leadership over the nation. He asserts that the communist group did not think of ways to assist the poor, hungry citizens nor how they would control the economy. Their major concern would be to prevent counter-revolution by creating re-education centers in the South Western region of US. All people they thought needed to be transformed from their thinking ways would attend these learning institutions. They would be taught new ideologies of how to go about things. Any person who refuted the re-education system, such as die-hard capitalists, would face immediate elimination by death. Larry accounts that plans had been made to eliminate over 25 million people in the re-education centre. He recalls the experience as being unbelievable since the communists held graduate degrees from Colombia and recognized institutions. To view them planning to kill twenty five million people, of which they always made serious plans, made it unrealistic (Law, 2009).
Bill Ayers joined weather underground as a strong member and gave comments on the weather underground communist group. He posted a personal letter on 20 April 2006 stating that their association was that of street fighters following anti-authoritarian ideologies. He also claimed that they would deviate from all rules acceptable by people as the correct and usual way of doing things. They would join hands with tax avoider citizen, draft resisters and deserters. He claims to have attended Casey camp since he did not know whether or not a rebellion would break out there or how it would do so. He just had an assurance that it would take position and be involved in it when it occurred. He defended opposing aggressive war by revolutionaries through active participation. He asserts that he is a socialist in economic policies and constantly repeats his status as a communist in all his writings to date. In the New York Times, the September 14 2001, Bill Ayers claimed to be proud of setting up explosives while under the weather underground movement. He claimed that he was not satisfied with setting up bombs since they had a greater potential. Bernadine Dohrn incited radicals from the War Council created in Michigan to cause destruction and chaos in US. This meant to assist the third world revolutionaries to destroy it from within in 1969. They moved up the flint platform with weather leaders to declare that they posed to be nightmares by looting and destroying the US.
Academic career
Ayer retired as an academic professor from the University of Illinois, college of education, located in Chicago. He concentrated on instilling knowledge, a part that motivated him a lot especially reform, social justice and research on narrative understanding. His first experience in teaching occurred while he became an adult at the age of 21 in 1965. This occurred at a free school movement summer school in Illinois. He taught from a basement in a church at the Children’s Community School. The founded project supported the summer hill mode of Education. He earned himself a master’s in Education from Bank Street College in Early Childhood Education in 1984. He also gained another masters degree in Early Childhood Education in 1987 from the Teacher’s College, Colombia University. In 1987, he also attained a doctor of Education award from the Colombia University in Curriculum and Instruction.
During his lifespan, Ayer’s writings and articles focus on education theory and practice as well as speeches given during symposia and panels. He retired from the University of Illinois, Chicago in 2010, August 5. The University of Illinois, from which he retired, denied him an emeritus title. This was a tradition followed in order to recognize the positive works of professors in the University. The cause of this denial was the fact that Ayer drafted the book Prairie Fire: The Politics of Anti-Imperialism. The deeds that featured in that book led to the death of US senator, Sir Robert Kennedy, father to Illinois board chair, Christopher G. Kennedy. He claimed that the book was dedicated to the man who killed his father, Sirhan Sirhan. Despite these claims, Ayer refuted having dedicated the book to assassins (McCann, 2006).
Civil and political views
Ayer declared being a radical and left wing communist during an interview in 1995. He claimed that he had never been a main communist group; hence it held a small c, which did not follow Stalinist ideologies. In connection to city, town and government involvement, Ayer worked on the city school reform program together with Chicago mayor, Richard M. Daley. He also participated in writing the Chicago Annenberg Challenge proposal as a co-author. This proposal assisted in public school reform in five years and won over $49. He received an award as citizen of the year due to his contribution in the project. Ayer worked on the board of director’s team to the Woods fund of Chicago since 1999. This organization was established as the woods charitable fund in 1941 as an anti-poverty foundation towards the love of humanity. Ayers accept the fact that his past actions affect him especially in public occasions. In 2006, the organizers of a progressive educator’s conference denied him access to the conference based on the assertions that they wanted to evade association with past events. He also has an experience of denied access to Canada on his way to deliver a speech on education reform in the University of Toronto. The border official denied him access through the Toronto City airport based on a felony charge in 1969 (Ayers, Dohrn & Ayers, 2001).
Ayers still follows the communism ethics. He declares a liking on Marx theory, Mother Jones, Henry David Thoreau and Jane Addams. Ayers received recognition as a nation-wide leader of the weather-house communist group in 1970 as well as a prime contributor to weather house theories. These constituted of a guerrilla organization against US imperialism.
Obama-Ayers controversy
In connection to the 2008 election campaigns, many communists existed, as it is not illegal for people to express their political opinions. However, the Obama supporters were seen to have a connection with the Weather underground movement. They denied these claims by stating that they had never met with him and had no cognition over him. Later on, the media made numerous reports and articles that linked Obama to William and their association together. This made his followers accept the previous relations of Obama and William publicly. They asserted that William had not been a man of bad character and they were not ashamed to have been associated with him. They had an issue and all the subjects have created the peaceful living among the citizens irrespective of the party they are associated with performing the specialist way of establishment. They claimed that William protested against the Vietnam War, just like many other American citizen, thus, it was not a shameful relationship. They claimed that there existed no proof to account for William’s bombings; and he did not receive any convictions for setting up bombs and committing murder. They also claimed his innocence by stating that he became a respected, popular and mild mannered professor who would not set extreme political views. This contradicted with the prairie fire records (Damon, 2002).
For the Vietnam War, he at first refuted the war concept by defending communist groups that stood against the War. This did not mean that he had a stand against the war, but instead, the war concept. He clearly stated this in the weather underground movement book, the Prairie fire. In this book, William cited the Vietnam War as a driving force to justify the violent actions of their movement. The Weather Underground movement also incorporated numerous grievances as a justification to their bombings to create a mass of citizens against the United States government. They would then use this to form a communist dictatorship of the working class (Ayers, Klonsky & Lyon, 2000).
Reasons for William Ayers bombing a capitol building
William and the members of Weather underground movement bombed the US capitol in 1 March 1971. This was as a form of revenge against the invasion to Laos. It occurred that the Vietnamese bombing to Laos made it the most bombed country in the world’s history on per capita basis. The US dropped more than 270 million cluster bombs in Laos while in the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1973, of which over 80 million did not explode. The statistics proved that for a period of nine years, the US continuously dropped a planeload of bombs at eight-minute intervals. The US imperialist attack cost them over fifty million in three days of attack on bombing Laos. Up to date less than a percent of unexploded ordnance has been cleared up by the US despite the efforts to clean it up for over forty years. The weather underground communists viewed this as an extreme action that had to be paid back (Ayers, Hunt & Quinn, 1998). The unexploded ordinances include anti-personnel and phosphorous functions, exploding bullets, between five hundred and three thousand lb bombs, shells and mines. This accounts to over six hundred thousand tones of unexploded ordinance in Lao. Since the bombings in the Vietnam War, thousands of people have fallen victim as casualties and fatal deaths. Fifteen provinces out of a total of eighteen in Lao comprise of unexploded ordinance dumping. The US continuously practiced imperialism over Laos by bombing it for more than nine years. This made the weather communists decide on crashing the entire US leadership then. They recruited members from all forms of sectors to destroy the US establishments within and abroad. The members would embark on everyday missions to destroy racism and the Vietnamese War. Most of the people engaged were young, especially college and campus students since they found an avenue to express their rage to establishment practices (Ayers, 2004).
The major driving force of the weather underground movement was the historic events that occurred during the struggle against U.S. imperialism. Their goal was to crash the US Empire through discovering the weak points of the governing body. This would make it difficult for the leaders to make to carry out attacks on the people. They planned to carry out these activities by using inside information to make attacks.
Damage and effects cause by bomb (who, what, where, where, why, how).
The capitol house switchboard was said to have receive a call some minutes to one on 1 March 1971. The people inside the building received a request to evacuate the building for in the next thirty minutes, the building would have an explosion. The call, made by a man, stated that a bomb would explode in the capitol and for sure, a bomb exploded at half an hour past one. This occurred in a restroom on the ground floor of the senate side adjacent to a barbershop, some small offices and a living room. The bomb had been set to explode by a turning device (Ettin, Fidler & Cohen, 1994).
When the police and FBI agents perused through the debris from the heavy damage made to the barbershop, doors had been ripped off that led to subsequent rooms. The senate chamber received no damage, though its location was above the bombed area. Most windows experienced breakages due to the explosion. The communist association seemed to have informed them that the explosion would happen due to the Laos bombings. George Washington was the current leader of the new fragile union of the United States. He claimed that the survival or destruction of the building would state whether the public confidence would be built or depreciated. Sir Lincoln received concerns about the capitol from his town of congressional representative by negotiators towards the end of the civil war. He asserted that the capitol had been depressed with minor injuries but it still held a lot of confidence. The security personnel held a senate meeting regarding the occurrence of subsequent bombings especially when it would be reopened to the public. They bore in mind that that would not be an easy task after the kind of threat they received from the previous attack. The officials that led the meeting included Captain Edwin Joyner who was an army ordinance. The main suspicion of the material used for explosion was some kilograms of dynamite, which would be easy to obtain and bring into the capitol. This followed other bomb threats to twenty-two other Washington buildings (Berger, 2006).
William Ayers today
William’s political views to date still focus on the weather underground political philosophy. The importance of these beliefs revolves around Obama’s relation to William during the period of national elections, 1995-2006. It follows that if William held a guerrilla political movement in the 1960’s, and still follows the same ideology in 2008; then he must have continually held the same belief in the years that lie between 1960 and 2008. The fact that William declared not changing his communist ideology from the 60 has to date reflected that he was a communist when he interacted with Obama. During a radio interview on 12 April 2002, William stated that he did not support political and governance laws before and currently. That he did partly support Marxist laws partly just as he was an anarchist. In the same interview, he denotes that he did not regret taking such drastic measures against the US at a time when a large crisis existed.
He did this because powerless citizens suffered from exploitation and oppression from military groups through imperialist powers by the US. He appreciates having participated in the war against the government that fought against its people.
At this time, William worked hand in hand with Obama both before and after. He then issued another statement during a T.V. interview on 2004 January. He stated that the weather underground communist group was opening minded to the fact that the government held a position as the greatest producer of violence. He believes that this led to a white dominated society of racism. William Ayers proudly accepts that he has not changed his ideology since the writing of the Prairie fire. His statements to date indicate that he was a communist even as he interacted with Obama and remains a communist at present times. This is a critical idea that allows a common living for all without being in any case being a subject of others. Being sort after is an issue that disrupts peace and encourages fugitives.
After the Weather underground revolutionist attacks, the Federal Bureau dropped charges against their bombings due to the involvement of FBI agents in the illegal COINTEL program. The weather underground movement followers disintegrated after the era when the US government dropped charges over them. This dissolution occurred by 1977. Through the involvement of Barack Obama and Ayers, the revolutionist spirit is still said to hold, though not as an extreme case as that of Ayers. This is because there exists claims of the Ayer family supporting Obama to rise into the US government.
References
Ayers, B. (2010). Sing a Battle Song the Revolutionary Poetry, Statements and Communiques of the Weather Underground 1970-1974. New York: Seven Stories Press.
Ayers, W. (1995). To become a teacher: making a difference in children’s lives. New York: Teachers College Press.
Ayers, W. (1997). A kind and just parent: the children of juvenile court. Boston: Beacon Press.
Ayers, W., Hunt, J. A., & Quinn, T. (1998). Teaching for social justice: a Democracy and education reader. New York: New Press :.
Ayers, W., Klonsky, M., & Lyon, G. H. (2000). A simple justice: the challenge of small schools. New York: Teachers College Press.
Ayers, W. (2001). Fugitive days: a memoir. Boston, Mass.: Beacon Press.
Ayers, W., Dohrn, B., & Ayers, R. (2001). Zero tolerance: resisting the drive for punishment in our schools : a handbook for parents, students, educators, and citizens. New York: New Press.
Ayers, W. (2004). Teaching toward freedom: moral commitment and ethical action in the classroom. Boston, Mass.: Beacon Press.
Berger, D. (2006). Outlaws of America: the Weather Underground and the politics of solidarity. Oakland, Calif: AK Press.
Damon, W. (2002). Bringing in a new era in character education. Stanford, Calif.: Hoover Institution Press.
Ettin, M. F., Fidler, J. W., & Cohen, B. D. (1994). Group process and political dynamics. Madison, Conn.: International Universities Press.
Johns, G., Eaglesham, D., Ruy, J., Cox, J., & Leigh, R. (2007). Justice Society of America, the next age. New York: DC Comics.
Law, R. D. (2009). Terrorism: A History. New York: Polity.
McCann, J. T. (2006). Terrorism on American soil: a concise history of plots and perpetrators from the famous to the forgotten. Boulder, CO: Sentient Publications.
Reppetto, T. A. (2006). Bringing down the mob: the war against the American Mafia. New York: H. Holt.