[1] His parents, who supported Adlai E. Stevenson, the Democratic governor of Illinois who was an unsuccessful presidential candidate in 1952 and 1956, introduced Flanagan to politics.
[1] Flanagan felt attracted to militancy as a child already, later recalling that "from a fairly early age, 11 or 12, I had really come to admire Fidel Castro.
Members gathered at Grant Park to listen to speeches by SDS leaders about Che Guevara and the world revolution.
Flanagan stood trial for "attempted murder, aggravated battery, felonious mob action, and resisting arrest" and was acquitted on all charges.
[4] In an interview, Flanagan suggested that he helped one Weatherman member, Kathy Boudin, who later served 22 years in prison for felony murder and robbery, flee New York City after police investigations placed her in the townhouse during the time of the explosion.
[5] Following the townhouse deaths, many members of Weatherman went into hiding, forming Weather Underground Organization, said to be responsible for a series of bombings of US state and federal buildings between 1970 and 1975.
[7] The FBI surveillance files on Weatherman reported that on October 20, 1970, Flanagan was in Algeria meeting with Eldridge Cleaver, fugitive Black Panther Party leader.