Patty Hearst and SLA Bank Robbery (USA)

The granddaughter of publishing magnate WIlliam Randolph Hearst, Patricia Hearst was a college student in Berkeley, California when she was kidnapped in February of 1974 by a neo-revolutionary group calling themselves the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA). For the next two months, by her account, Hearst was kept in a closet and "brainwashed" by the small group of radicals who targeted wealthy capitalists as the ultimate enemy. The Hearst family agreed to the initial demands but negotiations reached a stalemate.

Then the SLA publicized a photo of Patty, machine gun in hand, apparently a willing convert to revolution. She took the name "Tania" (tribute to the wife of Che Guevara) and participated in the robbery of a San Francisco bank. Instead of a victim, Hearst became a member of the F.B.I.'s Ten Most Wanted List.

She is pictured here holding an M1 Carbine while robbing a Hibernia bank in San Francisco on 15 April 1974.

Hearst was arrested in 1975 and was convicted of bank robbery, but in 1979 her sentence was commuted by President Jimmy Carter.

Out of the limelight, she became a wife, mother, author and sometime actress. In 2001, President Bill Clinton granted her a pardon.