Abbie Hoffman Flees the Feds After Appearance on Underground News 1971

#abbiehoffman #flowerpower #chicagoseven
It was 1971 and Underground News had been broadcasting from Chicago's Channel 44 for less than a year. Abbie Hoffman and his wife Anita walked into our quaint neighborhood television station located in Lincoln Park to a crew of long haired "hippie freaks" and met host Chuck Collins and me, the director. The bond was instant as we all traded our war stories or anti-war stories before the interview began. With Chuck playing the "staight-man", Abbie and Anita were able to tell their wildest stories, family secrets, and of course they talked about their personal revolution, held at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. We videotaped two half-hour shows to be aired in the upcoming days, then shared a couple of "joints" with Abbie, Anita and the crew. Of course Abbie gave me one of his new books titled, "Steal This Book", which I had to tape a "don't" label onto. Then Chuck and the Hoffmans drove off to infiltrate Chicago.

Years later, when I found copies of the FBI CO-INTEL-PRO FILES (on Chuck Collins; on Howie Samuelsohn; on Underground News and on Abbie Hoffman), Chuck Collins and I noticed that Abbie Hoffman's file contained a full transcript of his first appearance on our television broadcast. Following Abbie's appearance on Underground News, his FBI file, for the first time described him as "armed and dangerous". After Abbie's appearance on our show, he went into hiding for a felony charge against him. In a later book by Hoffman, he told of his days in hiding from the FBI and how he initially changed his name to "Howie Samuels". I have interviewed Abbie's son, Andrew, and Abbie's brother Jack, who both told me that Abbie didn't know anyone by the name of Howie Samuels and that it must've been me that he modeled the name after, since he had just met me before fleeing the Feds.
As for the trial of the Chicago Seven, which accused seven "activists" of conspiracy to cross State lines to incite a riot, the only co-conspirators I witnessed were the husband and wife team of Abbie and Anita Hoffman. Anita wrote a great book called "Trashing". She was witty and super smart. She and Abbie were powerful foes of a corrupt government. Abbie told us that if a movement becomes a cause it's a lost cause. So… I guess we must keep moving.