8. Abbie Hoffman
Abbot Howard Hoffman, better known as Abbie Hoffman, was an American social and political activist, anarchist, and revolutionary. Like many of the others on this list, he was a writer, activist, and psychologist. He studied a B.A. first in psychology at Brandeis University. He then undertook a master’s at the University of California, Berkeley, also in psychology. Along with four friends, he co-founded the Youth International Party, known more commonly as the Yippies.
The Yippies, founded in December 1967, were a radical youth-oriented countercultural revolutionary offshoot. Members tended to be either denounced or ignored by many of the ‘old school’ political left. Further, much to the annoyance of many New Left members, the public often perceived the Yippies as the same as the New Left. Though there were some similarities, members of each were also countercultural figures, for example, there were political differences. The Yippies believed in free-speech and anti-war movements but were also more anti-authoritarian and anarchist in their approach than the New Left.
The Yippies were heavily into combining theatrical gestures and politics. In 1968, for example, they advanced a pig (named “Pigasus the Immortal”) as a candidate for President in order to mock the status quo. Further, members planned a six-day Festival of Life in Chicago at the same time as the Democratic convention. They promised the festival would be a “blending of pot and politics into a political grass leaves movement – a cross-fertilization of the hippies and New Left philosophies.” Talking of theatre, they threatened (albeit in a tongue-in-cheek way) to put LSD into Chicago’s water supply.
After protests at the so-called Festival of Life became violent, and monumental clashes with the police ensued, police arrested Abbie Hoffman over his role in organising the protests. The courts tried seven other men too in a heavily publicized case that became known as the Chicago Seven. His charge? Conspiracy to incite rioting. Though the defendants were initially convicted, on appeal the courts overturned their verdicts.
In 1980 doctors diagnosed Hoffman with bipolar disorder. Hoffman died in 1989 aged fifty-two. The coroner ruled his death a suicide as he swallowed one-hundred-and-fifty phenobarbital tablets as well as liquor. A life-long friend of his believed he was unhappy about reaching middle-age. This was made worse by the fact that the ideology he strongly supported in the 1960s gave way to the conservative backlash in the 1980s. He believed the youth was not as socially active or interested in protesting and became disillusioned with the times he lived in.