Page 12 - Crimes of 20th century

11. The Patty Hearst Kidnapping,

1974

Her family is a storied one, albeit the kind of stories that involved yellow journalism,
character assassination, political manipulation and gossip mongering. Who knew that
Patricia Hearst, granddaughter of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, the
inspiration for Orson Well's biting film Citizen Kane, would herself become the central
character of one of the biggest news stories of the turbulent 1970s? It was shocking
enough on Feb. 4, 1974 when the 19-year-old heiress was kidnapped by a ratty band of
Bay Area urban revolutionaries, the Symbionese National Liberation Army, who demanded
as ransom that her father feed all the hungry in California. But then, just over two months
later, she was seen on camera assisting them in a bank robbery. Soon enough, the kidnap
victim had an arrest warrant of her own. It would be nearly a year and a half before she
was captured. Despite the defense's strategy of brainwashing, her two-month trial in 1976
led to a seven-year sentence. It was later commuted by then-President Jimmy Carter and
she served only 22 months. Bill Clinton granted her a full pardon on the day he left office.
Nowadays, Hearst is a socialite, not a guerrilla, though she appears in a number of
director John Waters' subversive, and crude comedies.

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