Patty Hearst Kidnapped: Heiress Vanishes into Extremism
Patty Hearst was dragged from her Berkeley apartment in her bathrobe on February 4, 1974, by members of the Symbionese Liberation Army, a tiny radical group led by escaped convict Donald DeFreeze. Her father, newspaper magnate Randolph Hearst, donated million in food to Oakland's poor at the SLA's demand, but the group did not release her. Two months later, security cameras captured Hearst wielding an M1 carbine during a bank robbery in San Francisco, calling herself 'Tania.' The transformation of a wealthy heiress into an apparent revolutionary combatant captivated and divided the nation. Was she brainwashed or a willing participant? She was arrested in September 1975, convicted of bank robbery, and sentenced to seven years. President Carter commuted her sentence after twenty-two months, and President Clinton granted a full pardon in 2001. The case remains the defining example of Stockholm syndrome in American criminal history.
February 4, 1974
52 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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