Patricia Campbell “Patty” Hearst (born February 20, 1954), now called Patricia Campbell Hearst Shaw, is an American newspaper heiress, socialite, actress, kidnap victim, and convicted bank robber. Her kidnapping case is held by many as a good example of Stockholm syndrome.
Patty Hearst is the granddaughter of the late publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst, popularly called the main topic of Orson Welles’s roman clef movie “Citizen Kane”. In 1974, Patty Hearst acquired notoriety throughout the waning days of the counterculture age when she was kidnapped by, and afterwards joined, the Symbionese Liberation Army.
On February 4, 1974, the 19-year old Hearst was kidnapped from her Berkeley, California apartment, which she shared with her fiance Steven Weed, by a left wing urban guerrilla group known as the Symbionese Liberation Army. When the effort to swap Hearst for jailed SLA members failed, the SLA demanded the prisoner’s family dole out $70 worth of food to every destitute Californian — an operation that will cost an estimated $400 million. In response, Hearst’s dad organized the immediate gift of $6 million worth of food to the poor of the Bay Area. Following the distribution of food, the SLA refused to release Hearst because they deemed the food to have been of inferior quality. (In a following tape recording released to the press, Hearst remarked that her dad might have done better.) That is why, she’s frequently called a victim of Stockholm Syndrome. After communications from her were issued under the pseudonym Tania and declared that she was dedicated to the aims of the SLA. A warrant was issued for her arrest and in September 1975, she was detained by the FBI and SFPD in a San Francisco apartment with a different SLA member, Wendy Yoshimura. FBI Agent Thomas Padden is credited using their real arrests.
Her French bulldog, Diva, won a ribbon at the Westminister Kennel Club Dog Show on February 11, 2008.
4
Her great-grandfather, George Hearst, is a character portrayed by actor Gerald McRaney on the HBO series Deadwood (2004).
5
Warren Zevon's song, "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner", makes a reference to Patty Hurst's participation in the SLA bank robbery. There's a line at the end of the song: "Patty Hearst heard the burst of Roland's Thompson gun and bought it".
6
Danny Elfman's band, then still called "The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo", wrote a song about the whole Patty Hearst ordeal, called "You Got Your Baby Back". It was released as a 2 track single in 1976 and is also known as "The Patty Hearst Song".
The indie rock band Camper Van Beethoven's 1988 album "Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart" takes its name from a reference to Hearst in one of the SLA's press manifestos. The album also includes "Tania," a love song to Hearst.
Married her former bodyguard. Changed her name to 'Tania' when she was kidnapped and brainwashed by the Symbionese Liberation Army and experienced Stockholm Syndrome
Was a cheerleader at Sacred Heart School in Menlo Park, California.
16
Her part in the armed robbery of the Hibernia Bank (now a Bank of America branch) took place at 1450 Noriega Street in San Francisco's Sunset District. She was finally arrested in San Francisco at 625 Morse Street, not far from the Cow Palace. Her defense attorney would be F. Lee Bailey who, by many accounts, lost the case because he permitted his client to take the stand.
17
On February 4, 1974 she was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) and held captive for over two months in cramped studio apartment #6 at 1827 Golden Gate Avenue near the University of San Francisco.