Bill Harris, who helped kidnap Patty Hearst, dies at 81
In short
Bill Harris, a Marine Corps veteran and top lieutenant of the Symbionese Liberation Army who helped abduct newspaper heiress Patty Hearst in Berkeley, California, in 1974, died on Sept. 10 at a San Francisco hospital. He was 81, and his wife, Rebecca Young, said the cause was a heart attack. The death was reported by The New York Times, The Seattle Times and The New York Post.
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Bill Harris, a Marine Corps veteran who became a top lieutenant of the Symbionese Liberation Army and helped kidnap newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst in 1974, died on Sept. 10 at a hospital in San Francisco. He was 81. His wife, Rebecca Young, confirmed the death and said the cause was a heart attack, according to The New York Post and The Seattle Times. The death was reported by outlets on Oct. 6 and Oct. 7. [ 3 , 4 ]
Harris was a central figure in the abduction of Hearst, then a 19-year-old sophomore at the University of California, Berkeley. On the evening of Feb. 4, 1974, he and two other members of the Symbionese Liberation Army entered the Berkeley apartment Hearst shared with her fiancé, Steven Weed, and, after a brief violent struggle, Harris stuffed her into the trunk of a Chevrolet Impala, according to The Seattle Times and an FBI account cited by The New York Post. Hearst was a granddaughter of media baron William Randolph Hearst and a daughter of Randolph A. Hearst, chair of the Hearst Corp. [ 3 , 4 ]
Harris later explained the choice of target. “Patricia Hearst was a symbolic target,” he said, adding that her family “was in control of a media empire that we viewed as an arm of propaganda for the United States government.” The New York Times reported the same quotation. [ 2 , 3 , 4 ]
The group, which The New York Times described as a small band of urban guerrillas that hoped to topple the “ruling class” using guns and bombs, had gained notoriety in 1973 for assassinating Oakland schools superintendent Marcus Foster, The New York Post reported. Six SLA members died in a shootout with Los Angeles police in May 1974, according to The New York Times. Hearst was held for weeks largely in a closet at an SLA safe house in Daly City, reading the group's propaganda by flashlight, and in April 1974 the group released a photograph of her holding a gun, The New York Post reported. [ 1 , 3 ]
The New York Post reported that Harris was born in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, served in Vietnam as a Marine, enrolled at Indiana University, joined Vietnam Veterans Against the War, married his first wife, Emily Schwartz, in 1971 and later moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where the couple joined the SLA. The Seattle Times described his path as an odyssey of crime and punishment spanning decades, involving one of the largest searches in FBI history and two prison sentences, without giving details. [ 3 , 4 ]
Why it matters
The death draws renewed attention to the Symbionese Liberation Army and the 1974 kidnapping of Patty Hearst, an episode the outlets describe as one of the defining stories of the 1970s far left. The New York Times paired the news with a retrospective on the group, which it says hoped to topple the “ruling class” and instead brought death and ruin. Coverage is retrospective rather than investigative, and no new facts about the 1974 case are presented.
Key facts
- Bill Harris died on Sept. 10 at a San Francisco hospital of a heart attack, at age 81, according to his wife, Rebecca Young. [ 3 , 4 ]
- Harris was a Marine Corps veteran who served in Vietnam and later became a top lieutenant in the Symbionese Liberation Army. [ 3 , 4 ]
- On Feb. 4, 1974, Harris and two other SLA members entered Patty Hearst's Berkeley, California, apartment and abducted her, stuffing her into the trunk of a Chevrolet Impala, according to the FBI. [ 3 , 4 ]
- Hearst was 19 at the time and a sophomore at the University of California, Berkeley; she was the granddaughter of media baron William Randolph Hearst and daughter of Randolph A. Hearst, chair of the Hearst Corp. [ 3 , 4 ]
- Harris said the group chose Hearst as a target because her family “was in control of a media empire that we viewed as an arm of propaganda for the United States government.” [ 2 , 3 , 4 ]
- The SLA gained notoriety in 1973 for assassinating Oakland schools superintendent Marcus Foster, according to the New York Post. [ 3 ]
- Harris, born in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, enrolled at Indiana University after returning from Vietnam, joined Vietnam Veterans Against the War and married his first wife, Emily Schwartz, in 1971, the New York Post reported. [ 3 ]
Confirmed by several sources
- Bill Harris died at 81; his wife, Rebecca Young, confirmed the death and said the cause was a heart attack at a San Francisco hospital. [ 3 , 4 ]
- Harris was a Marine Corps veteran and a top lieutenant in the Symbionese Liberation Army who helped carry out the Feb. 4, 1974, kidnapping of Patty Hearst in Berkeley. [ 3 , 4 ]
- Hearst was a 19-year-old University of California student and a member of the Hearst publishing family when she was taken. [ 3 , 4 ]
- Harris said the group targeted Hearst because of her family's media empire. [ 2 , 3 , 4 ]
Still unclear
- Harris died on Sept. 10, but the death was first reported by outlets on Oct. 6 and Oct. 7, roughly four weeks later. The documents do not explain the delay between the death and the public reporting.
- The New York Post article was truncated in the source document. The full text of that report, including details after the April 1974 photograph of Hearst, is not available.
- Details of Harris's criminal prosecution and prison terms are referred to only in passing. The Seattle Times mentions two prison sentences but the documents give no dates, charges or sentences.
What local media are saying
Timeline, local time
- On Feb. 4, 1974, Bill Harris and two other Symbionese Liberation Army members broke into Patty Hearst's Berkeley apartment and abducted her, according to the FBI; Harris stuffed her into the trunk of a Chevrolet Impala. [ 3 , 4 ]
- The New York Times publishes a retrospective on the Symbionese Liberation Army, noting six members died in a shootout with Los Angeles police in May 1974. [ 1 ]
- The New York Times reports that Bill Harris, one of Patty Hearst's kidnappers, has died. [ 2 ]
- The New York Post reports Harris died of a heart attack at a San Francisco hospital on Sept. 10 at age 81, citing his wife, Rebecca Young. [ 3 ]
- The Seattle Times reports the death, saying his wife confirmed it and that the cause was a heart attack. [ 4 ]