Laura Whitehorn

Laura Jane Whitehorn
Laura Whitehorn in 2009.
Born	April 1945 (1945-04) Brooklyn, New York, USA
Education	Radcliffe College Class of 1966 Brandeis University
Occupation	Senior Editor, POZ Magazine; guest speaker on college campuses
Criminal charge	Conspiracy; destruction of government property; fraud
Criminal penalty	20 years in prison
Criminal status	Released
Parent(s)	Lenore and Nathaniel Whitehorn

Radcliffe College Class of 1966

Laura Jane Whitehorn was born in April 1945 to Lenore and Nathaniel Whitehorn of Brooklyn, New York. As a college student in the 1960s, she organized and participated in civil rights and anti-war movements. After her graduation from Radcliffe College in 1966, she went on to receive her master’s from Brandeis University.

Whitehorn served 14 years in prison for her connection to a 1983 bombing at the U.S. Capitol.

Having worked as an organizer for Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Whitehorn became a member of the Weathermen/The Weather Underground organization in 1969. She traveled with them to Havana, Cuba as part of the organization’s instruction in the ideology of Marxism and urban warfare, visiting one of the camps established by Soviet KGB Colonel Vadim Kotchergine.

On October 6, of that same year, the Weathermen blew up an 1889 commemorative nine-foot bronze statue of a Chicago policeman located in Haymarket Square in Chicago, Illinois, preceding several days of street fighting between protesters and police. According to FBI records, the “Days of Rage” or the “National Action” rapidly degenerated into destructive riots and open confrontations with Chicago Police, leaving a vast amount of public property destroyed, including 100 shattered windows in the vicinity. The Weather Underground Organization (WUO) made a number of demands, primarily related to the Vietnam War. Whitehorn, along with approximately 55 other people, was arrested for her participation in the violence. A Federal Grand Jury in Chicago later returned a number of indictments charging WUO members with violation of Federal Antiriot Laws. The Antiriot Law charges were dropped in January 1974.

The March 6, 1970 Greenwich Village townhouse explosion was a culmination of the political direction in which Weatherman had been headed, according to Whitehorn. “We were out of touch with what was going on, and we lost sight of the fact that if you’re a revolutionary, the first thing you have to try to do is preserve human life." Three Weathermen died in the explosion, Terry Robbins, Diana Oughton, and Ted Gold.