American Heiress

American author Jeffrey Toobin’s non-fiction true crime biography, American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst (2016), chronicles the 1974 kidnapping of publishing heiress Patty Hearst by the American leftwing terrorist organization The Symbionese Liberation Army or SLA. Two months after her kidnapping, Hearst announced that she had joined the SLA and was later caught on tape participating in one of the group's bank robberies.

Before launching into the story of Hearst's kidnapping and criminal exploits, Toobin explains why he chose to revisit a series of events that had already been covered extensively across numerous forms of media. He frames the story as a "trailer for the modern world," presaging America's present celebrity and social media cultures. He also argues that the kidnapping helped to move the country's politics to the right, despite the fact that it was "an anomalous event" quite unlike anything that had happened in America before or since.

On February 4, 1974, nineteen-year-old Patty Hearst lived in a duplex apartment in Berkeley, California with her fiancé Steven Weed, whom she met when he was her high school teacher. The granddaughter of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst, Patty was among the heirs to her family's massive fortune. Because her father did not control the family's estate or interests, he did not deem it necessary to install a bodyguard or otherwise protect Patty from kidnapping for the purpose of ransom. Unlike her staunchly conservative and fiercely anti-Communist family, Patty was politically liberal. At the time of her kidnapping, she was a sophomore majoring in art history at the University of California-Berkeley.



About a year earlier, Donald DeFreeze and Patricia Soltysik had founded the Symbionese Liberation Army. Named for the idea of symbiosis between various feminist, anti-capitalist, and anti-racism efforts, the SLA was a Marxist militia that employed guerrilla tactics, including robberies and at least two murders. At the time of Patty's kidnapping, the SLA had around a dozen members. The group's decision to kidnap Patty was in part a crime of opportunity, as she lived nearby the SLA's hideout. Their primary intention, according to testimony, was to leverage the Hearsts' outsized political influence in order to free two of their members who had been convicted in the murder of Marcus Foster, a school superintendent accused by the SLA of being a fascist.

On the night of February 4, armed SLA members entered Patty's home. Her fiancé, Steven, told the kidnappers to take whatever they wanted and fled the apartment, abandoning Patty. According to her testimony, Patty was locked in a closet, blindfolded with her hands-bound. At first, she was only let out for meals, but over time, the group allowed her to participate in its political discussions. As the weeks stretched on, the group allowed her to read SLA literature in the closet with a flashlight. Eventually, DeFreeze informed Patty that his "war council" was debating whether to kill their captive or allow her to join the group. Patty later said that at this point she "accommodated my thoughts to coincide with theirs." Around this time, DeFreeze and another member allegedly raped Patty, supposedly as a lesson in the "sexual freedom" experienced within the group. There was a great deal of debate at her later trial over whether the sex was consensual.

Meanwhile, the SLA put out an announcement stating that it would release Patty only if her father, Randolph, gave out food parcels worth $70 to every Bay Area resident living on welfare. In a move strongly opposed by then-California governor Ronald Reagan, Randolph set about doing just that, despite the fact that it would've cost him around two million dollars. However, his efforts were halted when, on April 4, the SLA released an audio recording of Patty claiming her allegiance to the group and rechristening herself "Tania," the nom de guerre of Che Guevara's comrade Haydee Tamara Bunke Bider.



Twelve days later, Patty was caught on tape with other SLA members as they robbed the Hibernia Bank in San Francisco's Sunset District. In her hands was an M1 carbine firearm. Two customers were shot and wounded in the robbery though not by Patty. When the assailants escaped the scene, Patty was seen to be running behind the rest of the group, suggesting to authorities that she was an entirely willing participant in the robbery.

The group fled south to the Los Angeles area. On May 16, SLA members William and Emily Harris entered a Mel's Sporting Goods in Inglewood while Patty waited outside in the car. After a botched shoplifting attempt by William, Patty exited the vehicle and emptied the magazine of her automatic carbine into the storefront, allowing the three of them to escape. Following reports of Patty's appearance, authorities managed to close in on the SLA's hideout. By the time Patty, William, and Emily returned to the hideout, police already had it surrounded. After the trio fled the scene unnoticed, a gunfight ensued in which the remaining six members of the SLA, including DeFreeze, were killed.

Over the next year, the trio continued to commit crimes in the name of the SLA along with a handful of other members recruited into the cause. These crimes included two botched attempts to murder police officers with explosive devices and a bank robbery in Carmichael, California during which Emily shot and killed bank customer Myrna Opsahl. On September 18, 1975, San Francisco police raided the home of recent SLA recruit Wendy Yoshimura where they found and arrested Patty. Doctors who examined Patty at the time described her as a "low-affect zombie," adding credence to the brainwashing defense she would use at her trial. Her lawyers—led by F. Lee Bailey who would later go on to represent O.J. Simpson in his murder trial—argued that Patty committed her crimes under duress or threat of harm. The legal gambit failed, and Patty was convicted of bank robbery and firearms charges. She was initially given the maximum sentence of thirty-five years in prison, though that was later reduced to seven years at her final sentencing hearing. The judge in the case hoped to send a message that "rebellious young people who for whatever reason become revolutionaries and voluntarily commit criminal acts will be punished."



After serving twenty-two months in prison, President Jimmy Carter commuted Patty's sentence, releasing her under strict probation conditions. In 2001, President Bill Clinton gave her a complete pardon on his last day in office, lifting these restrictions.

American Heiress is a fascinating look at a bizarre and compelling chapter in twentieth-century America.