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I was in my early 20s in 1968. You had to live through the times to understand,the Weather Underground like many other war protesters were the target of the FBI and victims of violence themselves. The FBI planted people among war protesters and kept files on innocent people. Many young people disregarded the focus on the Weather Underground as just another government conspiracy.
When Nixon to elected office things got worse. The conservatives can yell all they want about the Weather Underground, but never mention killing and injuring of innocent students by the National Guard at Kent State.
I never even heard of Bill Ayers until the republican brought him up. I only remember hearing about Bernadine Dornan. J Edgar Hoover had some very perverse fascinations in his day, and kept extensive FBI records on everyone. It was not just liberals he kept records on. He used information he gathered on conservative politicians, to maintain his power in the government including his conservative closeted gay friends. Hoover is the reason they passed the Freedom of Information Act.
I once knew a woman who applied for a government job in the 1980s, she was in her 50s. They did not give her a job because they said she was a security risk. She had no idea why she would be a risk so she used the Freedom of Information Act to view her FBI records. In her records was a picture of her in a mini skirt at an anti war protest in San Francisco in the 1960s. She was labeled as a "provoke a tour" (sp). She was amused because she never engaged in war protests and was only at this war protest because her blind date and he took her to the protest. She had no idea this is re he was taking her.
I am also very glad that the right's tactics did not work. They just cannot give up n the 60s because, like McCain, they continue to live in the past.
