Cathy Wilkerson

Cathlyn Platt Wilkerson
Wilkerson in 2007
Born	(1945-01-14) January 14, 1945 (age 72)
Residence	Brooklyn, New York
Nationality	United States
Education	Swarthmore College (1966)
Occupation	teacher
Known for	1970s Weather Underground radical, bomb maker, fugitive
Children	one grown daughter
Parent(s)	James Platt Wilkerson, Audrey Olena

Cathlyn Platt Wilkerson (born January 14, 1945), known as Cathy Wilkerson, is an American far left radical who was a member of the 1970s radical group called the Weather Underground Organization (WUO). She came to the attention of the police when she was leaving the townhouse belonging to her father after it was destroyed by an explosion on March 6, 1970. Members of WUO had been constructing a nail bomb in the basement of the building, intending to use it in an attack on a non-commissioned officers dance at Fort Dix, New Jersey that night. Wilkerson, already free on bail for her involvement in the Chicago "Days of Rage" riots, avoided capture for 10 years. She surrendered in 1980 and pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of dynamite. She was sentenced to up to three years in prison and served 11 months.

Cathlyn Platt Wilkerson was born on January 14, 1945. Her father, James Platt Wilkerson, was an advertising executive and part owner of a radio station in Omaha, Nebraska. and a radio station owner from the Midwest. Her mother, Audrey Olena, graduated from Smith College and later took job as a teacher in Manhattan. Wilkerson grew up in Connecticut and Massachusetts. In Stamford, Connecticut she attended Martha Hoyt School through 3rd grade, Emma Willard Middle School (5th grade), and New Canaan Country School (6th through 9th grade). In Andover, Massachusetts Wilkerson attended Abbot Academy, an all-girls school. She graduated from Abbot Academy in June 1962.

After graduating from high school, Wilkerson was accepted into Swarthmore College. During the first year of college she became interested in politics. In April, 1962 Wilkerson became involved with a civil rights group that organized anti-segregation work in Cambridge, Maryland. Her activist work continued throughout college. In June, 1963 Wilkerson attended Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) National Meeting in Pine Hill, New York, and wrote a pamphlet Rats, Washtubs, and Block Organizations. She graduated in June 1966 and spent summer and fall working for Representative Robert Kastenmeier, a liberal Democrat from Wisconsin. In 1967, Wilkerson was employed in the national office of SDS, in Chicago, Illinois and became the editor of New Left Notes, an SDS newspaper. In 1967, she was elected into SDS National Interim Council and moved to Washington, DC to set up a regional office. Wilkerson and three other SDS members went to Cambodia where they met representatives of Vietnamese National Liberation Front. After the trip she wrote several articles describing her experiences and stressing the issue of failing morale of U.S. troops. Although, as Wilkerson recalls in her memoir, she had few disagreements with the main ideas promoted by the Weathermen, including their deep desire to be involved in the most effective endeavor to end the Vietnam War. Her perception that policies both at home and abroad were unfair prompted her to become a member of Weatherman in 1969. Shortly after her graduation from college, Wilkerson traveled to Cuba to witness the results of the Cuban Revolution first hand. She was also very active in civil rights and the women’s movement. [1] However, she put anti-war and anti-racist work before the women's movement. In 1969, the New Left was present at a Counter-Inaugural to Richard Nixon’s first inauguration, at which the antiwar leader Dave Dellinger, serving as master of ceremonies, incorrectly announced, “The women have asked all the men to leave the stage.” After that, SDS activist Marilyn Salzman Webb attempted to speak about women's oppression, and SDS men heckled her, shouting, "Take her off the stage and fuck her!" and so forth until she was drowned out. Later Webb received a threatening phone call which she thought was from Wilkerson, but that was not confirmed, and it may have been from a government agent. In any case, the call contributed to driving apart outspoken feminists in the national SDS and people who put anti-racist and anti-war work before feminism and went toward the Weathermen.