Patty Hearst

Patricia Campbell Hearst was born on February 20, 1954, in San Francisco, California. She is an American actress and a member of the Hearst family, the granddaughter of newspaper publisher and politician William Randolph Hearst. She grew up in Hillsborough as the third of five daughters of Randolph Apperson Hearst and Catherine Wood Campbell, attending private schools including Crystal Springs, Sacred Heart, and Santa Catalina, then Menlo College before transferring to the University of California, Berkeley. Her grandfather built the Hearst Communications media conglomerate; her great-grandmother was philanthropist Phoebe Hearst. The family held major political influence and had opposed organized labor, gold mine workers, and communism since before World War II. Her father was one of several heirs and did not control the family interests. Her parents had not taken security precautions for their children. At the time of her kidnapping, Hearst was a sophomore studying art history at Berkeley and lived with her fiancé Steven Weed.

On February 4, 1974, the 19-year-old was taken from her Berkeley apartment by the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), a small left-wing urban guerrilla group. The SLA demanded the release of two recently arrested members, Joe Remiro and Russ Little. When the state refused, they demanded that Hearst’s family distribute $70 worth of food to every needy Californian—an operation costing an estimated $400 million. Her father obtained a loan and arranged an immediate $2 million food donation for the Bay Area poor through a project called People in Need. After the distribution became chaotic, the SLA refused to release her.

At her 1976 trial, Hearst testified that she was held for a week in a closet, blindfolded and with her hands tied. SLA founder Donald DeFreeze (Cinque) repeatedly threatened her with death. She was allowed out for meals, still blindfolded, and began joining the group’s political discussions. She was given a flashlight for reading and SLA political tracts to memorize. She was confined in the closet for weeks. DeFreeze told her the war council was considering killing her or having her stay with them, and that she should think about that possibility. She said, “I accommodated my thoughts to coincide with theirs.” In an April 1974 account, she claimed she was offered the choice of release or joining the SLA. She chose to remain and fight. Her blindfold was removed, and she saw her captors for the first time. She received daily lessons on duties, especially weapon drills, and was given the new name Tania, after the Argentine guerrilla fighter. Angela Atwood told her that the others wanted her to share in the group’s sexual freedom. A few days later, she denounced her fiancé. Hearst later claimed she was raped by William “Willie” Wolfe and DeFreeze.

On April 3, 1974, two months after her abduction, Hearst announced on an audiotape that she had joined the SLA and adopted the name Tania. On April 15, she was recorded on surveillance video wielding an M1 carbine during the robbery of the Hibernia Bank in San Francisco’s Sunset District. Yelling “I’m Tania. Up, up, up against the wall, motherfuckers!” she was identified under her pseudonym. Two men entered the bank during the robbery and were shot and wounded by the SLA. A witness testified that Hearst was several paces behind the others when running to the getaway car. Attorney General William B. Saxbe called her a “common criminal” and “not a reluctant participant.” James L. Browning Jr. said her participation may have been voluntary, though he had earlier suggested coercion. The FBI agent leading the investigation said SLA members were photographed pointing guns at her during the robbery. A grand jury indicted her in June 1974. On May 16, 1974, the manager of Mel’s Sporting Goods in Inglewood observed a minor theft by William Harris, who was shopping with his wife Emily while Hearst waited across the road in a van.

Hearst was found and arrested 19 months after her abduction, by which time she was a fugitive wanted for serious crimes committed with the SLA. Before trial, there was speculation that her family’s resources would keep her out of prison. At trial, the prosecution argued she had joined the SLA voluntarily. She testified that she had been raped and threatened with death while captive. In 1976, she was convicted of bank robbery and sentenced to 35 years in prison, later reduced to seven. President Jimmy Carter commuted her sentence, and President Bill Clinton later pardoned her. In the 1990s, after being approached by film director John Waters, she began acting in films and television.