Patty Hearst Kidnapping

           While researching the kidnapping of Patty Hearst I learned many things about her and the group that captured her. Patty Hearst is an heiress to a wealthy family in America who's grandfather was a powerful newspaper magnate named William Randolph Hearst. This made Hearst a very easy target for the SLA, the group that captured her.

The first source I used was the FBI website which gave me straight forward information about the Hearst kidnapping. I believe this is a creditable source because it is what the government reports to the American people and it was useful and presented as if it was a police report. February 4^th, 1974around nine at night, Patty Hearst was in apartment #4 on 2603 Benvenue Street in Berkeley, Californiawhen her fiancé and her heard a knock on the door. Men and women stormed in theapartment with their guns drawn, taking 19-year-old Patty Hearst and beating upher fiancé. Patty Hearst had been taken by radicals of the SymboineseLiberation Army. The leader of the SLA Donald DeFreeze wanted to began a warusing guerilla tactics that would destroy the U.S. government, which they calledthe “capitalist state.” The SLA followers consisted of women and men, black or white which were all from different backgrounds. The SLA soon became known to be a terrorist group who carried guns and did not think twice about shooting someone if they had too.This came into action when the SLA shot at two Oakland school officers.One officer was severely injured and the other was killed. 

 Hearst helping the SLA rob a bank

            The ringingquestion for Americans about the SLA was, “Whydid they pick Patty Hearst?” Being a wealthy heiress with a powerful family theSLA knew this would get the publics attention but they had plans for Hearstthat were not just to get Americasattention. On the CNN website I looked further into Patty Hearst's kidnapping and learned more about what the SLA did to Hearst. The group first used Hearst as a exchange to get the two members out of jail who had killed the Oakland cop. The policy refused so again the group used Hearst to receive something they wanted, but this time its was a much different request. The SLA demanded that the Hearst family donate millions of dollars to feed the poor in California. The Hearst family responded by donating two million but the SLA was not pleased and said it was not enough. 

           While Patty Hearst remained their captive she was abused, raped, and had to join the SLA in their terror. They brain washed Hearst by locking her up, one time being for 57 days. She relied on the SLA for everything such as food, information, and shelter. By using these ethics the SLA managed to brain wash Hearst,  and they sooner or later gave her the option of either being killed are joining the SLA. Hearst choose to join. To learn more about when she joined the SLA I went to AVL and read some further information about Hearst in an entry written by Mike Mayo. This entry explained that Hearst joined the SLA in April within the same years she was kidnapped. Hearst also joined the the SLA in robbing the Hibernia Bank, and called herself Tania.

Hearst  holding a gun while robbing a bank with the SLA

           This amazed me to see a sane woman become brain wash and join the SLA. I wanted to learn more about why the SLA chose Hearst so I turned to NBC's Dateline news report where I found interviews with Patricia Hearst and others who were affected by the SLA. I learned that the main reason the SLA chose Hearst was because she would grab America's attention because of who she was. The SLA used Hearst's voice to let the family know how she was doing and use the family to accomplish things they wanted. I personally think the SLA was a very crazy group of people with mental illnesses who were seeking power.

Patty Hearst 

          At this point in my research I wanted to know what happened to Patty did she and the SLA ever get discovered... and they did. I turned to AVL and found great sources that told me about the trial and other things. I learned from a short biography from the Hutchinson's Biography Database that she was discovered as being a SLA member and she was later found, tried, and lived in jail 1976 to 1979. Still roaming through AVL I found a description of her trail and what she was sentenced with in an article by Thomas Smith. I learned from this source that Hearst was charged with robbery and holding illegal firearms. She was found guilty for all but was sentenced to prison for a short time for her crimes. Through out learning about Patty Hearst I believe all my sources to be creditable because the FBI source comes from the government. The news source I had should be reliable because people trust what they report so it should be the truth. The AVL sources I used I believe are reliable because they are Non-Fiction and most where biographies. I over all enjoyed studying this topic and was glad that I chose it.