Dublin Core
Title
Abbie Hoffman
Subject
Person
Description
Political activist
Hoffman, who received psychology degrees from both Brandeis University (1959) and the University of California, Berkeley (1960), was active in the American civil rights movement before turning his energies to protesting the Vietnam War and the American economic and political system. His acts of protest blurred the line between political action and guerrilla theatre, and they utilized absurdist humour to great effect. In August 1967 Hoffman and a dozen confederates disrupted operations at the New York Stock Exchange by showering the trading floor with dollar bills. In October of that year he led a crowd of more than 50,000 antiwar protesters in an attempt to levitate the Pentagon and exorcise the evil spirits that he claimed resided within.
Hoffman’s ethic was codified with the formal organization of the Yippies in January 1968. Later that year Hoffman secured his place as a countercultural icon when he joined thousands of protesters outside the Democratic Party’s national convention in Chicago. Before the demonstrations degenerated into a street battle between police and protesters, Hoffman and Yippie cofounder Jerry Rubin unveiled Pigasus, a boar hog that would serve as the Yippies’ presidential candidate in 1968. These exploits, among others, led to Hoffman’s being named a defendant in the so-called Chicago Seven trial (1969), in which he was convicted of crossing state lines with intent to riot at the Democratic convention; the conviction was later overturned.
(Via Encyclopedia Britannica)
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abbie-Hoffman
Hoffman, who received psychology degrees from both Brandeis University (1959) and the University of California, Berkeley (1960), was active in the American civil rights movement before turning his energies to protesting the Vietnam War and the American economic and political system. His acts of protest blurred the line between political action and guerrilla theatre, and they utilized absurdist humour to great effect. In August 1967 Hoffman and a dozen confederates disrupted operations at the New York Stock Exchange by showering the trading floor with dollar bills. In October of that year he led a crowd of more than 50,000 antiwar protesters in an attempt to levitate the Pentagon and exorcise the evil spirits that he claimed resided within.
Hoffman’s ethic was codified with the formal organization of the Yippies in January 1968. Later that year Hoffman secured his place as a countercultural icon when he joined thousands of protesters outside the Democratic Party’s national convention in Chicago. Before the demonstrations degenerated into a street battle between police and protesters, Hoffman and Yippie cofounder Jerry Rubin unveiled Pigasus, a boar hog that would serve as the Yippies’ presidential candidate in 1968. These exploits, among others, led to Hoffman’s being named a defendant in the so-called Chicago Seven trial (1969), in which he was convicted of crossing state lines with intent to riot at the Democratic convention; the conviction was later overturned.
(Via Encyclopedia Britannica)
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abbie-Hoffman
Source
Encyclopedia Britannica
Date
1939-1989
Contributor
Angela Rothman
Type
Person
Person Item Type Metadata
Birth Date
November 30, 1936
Birthplace
Worcester, Mass.
Death Date
April 12, 1989
Occupation
Political activist
Biographical Text
Hoffman, who received psychology degrees from both Brandeis University (1959) and the University of California, Berkeley (1960), was active in the American civil rights movement before turning his energies to protesting the Vietnam War and the American economic and political system. His acts of protest blurred the line between political action and guerrilla theatre, and they utilized absurdist humour to great effect. In August 1967 Hoffman and a dozen confederates disrupted operations at the New York Stock Exchange by showering the trading floor with dollar bills. In October of that year he led a crowd of more than 50,000 antiwar protesters in an attempt to levitate the Pentagon and exorcise the evil spirits that he claimed resided within.
Hoffman’s ethic was codified with the formal organization of the Yippies in January 1968. Later that year Hoffman secured his place as a countercultural icon when he joined thousands of protesters outside the Democratic Party’s national convention in Chicago. Before the demonstrations degenerated into a street battle between police and protesters, Hoffman and Yippie cofounder Jerry Rubin unveiled Pigasus, a boar hog that would serve as the Yippies’ presidential candidate in 1968. These exploits, among others, led to Hoffman’s being named a defendant in the so-called Chicago Seven trial (1969), in which he was convicted of crossing state lines with intent to riot at the Democratic convention; the conviction was later overturned.
(Via Encyclopedia Britannica)
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abbie-Hoffman
Hoffman’s ethic was codified with the formal organization of the Yippies in January 1968. Later that year Hoffman secured his place as a countercultural icon when he joined thousands of protesters outside the Democratic Party’s national convention in Chicago. Before the demonstrations degenerated into a street battle between police and protesters, Hoffman and Yippie cofounder Jerry Rubin unveiled Pigasus, a boar hog that would serve as the Yippies’ presidential candidate in 1968. These exploits, among others, led to Hoffman’s being named a defendant in the so-called Chicago Seven trial (1969), in which he was convicted of crossing state lines with intent to riot at the Democratic convention; the conviction was later overturned.
(Via Encyclopedia Britannica)
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abbie-Hoffman