Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Was Patty Hearst a brainwashed captive or a true believer?
Forty years ago, the country was riveted by the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst. She was 19 years old, a student at UC Berkeley, and the granddaughter of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, who inspired the movie “Citizen Kane.” In 1974, Patricia’s life took its own cinematic turn, but it was a lot weirder than any Hollywood classic.
By Madeleine Brand • • 1 min readForty years ago, the country was riveted by the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst. She was 19 years old, a student at UC Berkeley, and the granddaughter of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, who inspired the movie “Citizen Kane.” In 1974, Patricia’s life took its own cinematic turn, but it was a lot weirder than any Hollywood classic. Patricia – or Patty as she was known – was abducted from her Berkeley apartment by a ragtag group of radicals who called themselves the Symbionese Liberation Army. Only weeks later, Patty Hearst said she’d joined the SLA and her new name was Tania. For more than a year, she participated in crimes with her kidnappers, including bank robberies. A new book titled “American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst” follows her SLA odyssey and tries to answer one big question: Was Patty Hearst a brainwashed captive or a true believer?
