Abbie Hoffman

Abbie Hoffman
Hoffman visiting the University of Oklahoma to protest the Vietnam War, c. 1969
Born	Abbot Howard Hoffman (1936-11-30)November 30, 1936 Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	April 12, 1989(1989-04-12) (aged 52) Solebury Township, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Occupation	Writer, activist, psychologist, speaker
Nationality	American
Ethnicity	Jewish
Alma mater	Brandeis University and University of California, Berkeley
Period	1967–1989
Genre	Nonfiction, politics
Subject	Political philosophy, social revolution, guerrilla theater, civil rights, gift economics
Literary movement	Yippie, 1960s counterculture
Notable works	Revolution for the Hell of It, , Steal This Book

Abbot Howard "Abbie" Hoffman (November 30, 1936 – April 12, 1989) was an American political and social activist and anarchist who co-founded the Youth International Party ("Yippies").

Hoffman was arrested and tried for conspiracy and inciting to riot as a result of his role in protests that led to violent confrontations with police during the 1968 Democratic National Convention, along with Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, Lee Weiner, and Bobby Seale. The group was known collectively as the "Chicago Eight"; when Seale's prosecution was separated from the others, they became known as the Chicago Seven. While the defendants were initially convicted of intent to incite a riot, the verdicts were overturned on appeal.

Hoffman continued his activism into the 1970s, and remains an icon of the anti-war movement and the counterculture era.

Hoffman was born November 30, 1936 in Worcester, Massachusetts, to John Hoffman and Florence Schanberg. Hoffman was raised in a middle-class household and had two younger siblings. As a child in the 1940s–50s, he was a member of what has been described as "the transitional generation between the beatniks and hippies". He described his childhood as "idyllic" and the '40s as "a great time to grow up in." On June 3, 1954, 17-year-old Hoffman was arrested for the first time, for driving without a license. During his school days, he became known as a troublemaker who started fights, played pranks, vandalized school property, and referred to teachers by their first names. In his sophomore year, Hoffman was expelled from Classical High School, a now-closed public high school in Worcester. As an atheist, Hoffman wrote a paper declaring that "God could not possibly exist, for if he did, there wouldn't be any suffering in the world." The irate teacher ripped up the paper and called him "a Communist punk". Hoffman jumped on the teacher and started fighting him until he was restrained and removed from the school. After his expulsion, he attended Worcester Academy, graduating in 1955. Hoffman engaged in many behaviors typical of rebellious teenagers in the 1950s, such as riding motorcycles, wearing leather jackets, and sporting a ducktail haircut. Upon graduating, he enrolled in Brandeis University, where he studied under professors such as noted psychologist Abraham Maslow, often considered the father of humanistic psychology. He was also a student of Marxist theorist Herbert Marcuse, who Hoffman said had a profound effect on his political outlook. Hoffman would later cite Marcuse's influence during his activism and his theories on revolution. He was on the Brandeis tennis team, which was coached by journalist Bud Collins. Hoffman graduated with a B.A. in psychology in 1959. That fall, he enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, where he completed coursework toward a master's degree in psychology. Soon after, he married his pregnant girlfriend Sheila Karklin in May 1960.