Also called the Weather Underground Organization, the Weather Underground was first founded in 1969 as the Weatherman, per Britannica. At that time, the controversial war in Vietnam was raging, and similar organizations were forming across the U.S. to oppose the conflict. Rooted in Marxist philosophy, the core tenets of these organizations were often anti-war and anti-imperialist. Some groups chose peaceful means by which they sought to attain these goals. Others chose direct action, confrontation, and violence. For their part, the Weather Underground chose the latter, beginning in 1969 when members of the group attacked teachers and professors and gave inflammatory radical speeches at schools in the northeastern U.S.
These aggressive and violent tactics naturally drew the attention of law enforcement agencies. As a result, the Underground had largely gone off the radar by 1970. Due to Bill Ayers involvement in the Weather Underground, he lived as a fugitive for a number of years before charges against him were dropped and he once more resurfaced. After that point, Ayers (pictured) wrote books and taught law at the University of Chicago, where Obama was also a law professor. When Obama’s potential relationship to Ayers was revealed, Obama characterized it as if they knew each other only in passing (via The Hill). Research performed during Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign uncovered evidence, though, that might not be the full story.
