How did the 1960s end? Conventional perceptions point to the Manson Family murders and the stabbing of a concert-goer by a Hells Angel at the Altamont Speedway during a free Rolling Stones concert. The “end of the 60s” is actually more nuanced and complex than conventional perception will allow. For one thing, there were other events and disasters that contributed just as much to the darkening of that era’s optimistic mood. Take, for example, the bombing of the Army Math Research Center on the University of Wisconsin’s campus in Madison. Rads by Tom Bates gives a thorough and accessible account of what happened there in the summer of 1970, reminding us further that history is more complicated than the mainstream narratives, mostly fueled by the irresponsibility of the media and the entertainment industry.
The central, and most prominent figure in Rads is Karl Armstrong, a college dropout and hippy who joined the anti-war movement in 1968. He had come from a rough, working class background but did well enough in high school to make it to college. He wasn’t much of a student. With low grades and lack of enthusiasm, he dropped out before re-matriculating and dropping out two times subsequently. During his off-and-on college studies, he worked at a string of blue collar jobs and quit all of them, his own personal trend that continued up until the time of his arrest. Karl Armstrong actually loved the college life, or, at least, he loved everything about college but going to classes and doing homework. He made a lot of friends on campus and spent a lot of time hanging out there, even when he wasn’t enrolled. He also got involved in the drug scene and the political demonstrations put on by the New Left which was thriving in Wisconsin just as much as it was in San Francisco and New York City.
That is when things began to get dark. Karl Armstrong attended the Democratic National Convention in Chicago where the police began beating non-violent demonstrators with billy clubs and tear gassing them. In fact, two of them seized Karl and threw him in the river. After that, the peace movement began to turn violent. At first, Karl was dismissive of terrorist groups like the Weather Underground, but then after police brutality continued to be a problem at demonstrations held on the University of Wisconsin campus, Karl gave in and embraced terrorist tactics to end the war too.
Of other importance in this story is Karl’s younger brother Dwight who idolized him and followed him into one insane scheme after another. With assistance from various people, the two brothers set out on a bombing and arson campaign. Most of their attacks were miserable failures, but they did catch the public’s attention and Karl maintained clandestine relationships with two underground newspapers in Madison. They became known as the New Year’s Gang even though Karl preferred to be called by the gimmicky and pretentious title of Vanguard Of the Revolution. They became heroic figures in the activist community even though no one actually knew who they were.
While the police became more violent towards the demonstrators and the war in Vietnam seemed like it would never end, Karl and Dwight decided to do something more drastic. With the help of two other activists, they made a car bomb out of ammonium nitrate fertilizer and blew off the side of a building on campus, a building that housed the office of the Army Math Research Center which was a think tank that calculated probabilities to maximize America’s kill-count in Vietnam. A deeply moral question hangs over the entirety of this story: Is the bombing committed by the New Year’s Gang, a crime that mistakenly killed one innocent man, such a terrible crime in light of the hundreds of thousands of people killed by US troops in Vietnam whose only crime was being born citizens of that small Asian nation? Who are the real criminals here?
After that, the story follows the escape of the New Year’s Gang, their trials, and the effect the bombing had on the activist movement at the time.
One of the great things about this book is how well Karl Armstrong and his associates are brought to life. The author follows them around and describes them so they seem like people you can get to know. Karl was such a laid-back and peaceful person that he appeared to be incapable of ever blowing something up. In fact, he comes off as such a loser that it is hard to believe he ever pulled the bombing off. Being the loser that he was, he was also a friendly, kind-hearted young man that people felt comfortable to be with. The contrast between his persona and his crimes is starkly drawn and a little bit troubling. Just think of the calmest and nicest person you know and then picture them carrying out acts of terrorism.
Another thing that is great about this book is the way it is is written. It reads like a novel, especially in the way it describes the settings and the characters, and also in the way it switches between depictions of Karl, his family, the political scene, the university administrators, and law enforcement. It is one of those book where you feel like you are there watching things as they happen. In that regard, Rads is also an excellent depiction of a particular time and place. Bates does a great job of capturing the feel of the Midwest city of Madison and the feeling of its college town life with the bars, the frat houses, the student ghettos, the hangouts, and the drug scene. So much has been said about the hippies and the anti-war movement in the more populated urban areas of the country that a lot of people don’t realize it was happening all over, even in the flyover states.
Rads by Tom Bates is a great book in the way it depicts its time and place. It gives a lesser-known angle on the era of the late 1960s, further helping the reader to understand what happened then and why. It also makes you wonder if the 1960s really did end. More likely, they transformed as the radicals of the time entered the work force and brought new values to the American public. Psychedelic music turned into progressive rock, anarchist politics were turned upside down and embraced with anger in the Punk movement, and young people continued to do drugs. But after the bombing at the University of Wisconsin, political demonstrations returned to non-violence and activists became more confrontational as educators, lawyers, journalists, and in all kinds of other ways too. Rads will not only enhance your understanding of the 1960s, it will also enhance your understanding of the vast and complicated fabric of American society.
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