01-02-2009, 09:24 AM
Yes, Linda you pulled-out some of the best parts from the book. Leary was both a participant and a research subject of others [partly aware of this, and in part not, IMO]. How he got him money and mansion - not to mention access to LSD, etc. is most interesting. Ditto his relationship with Meyers and the turning-on of JFK (IMO used behind the scenes, by some, as the rationale for removal of a 'psychologically unfit' head of government - along with his being 'unfit' for standing-up to the Secret Government.) Leary's turning-up with Cleaver later is a whole other story...could be another thread.
"I was also a courier for the underground and that gave me a sense of importance, perhaps illusory. I delivered messages to Dave Dellinger, Rennie Davis, Abbie Hoffman and most importantly to Eldridge Cleaver in North Africa in an attempt to mitigate the damage that Dr. Timothy Leary had caused. In September 1970, the Weather Underground aided and abetted Leary's escape from minimum-security prison in California, then sent him on his own way to Algeria, where Eldridge persuaded the government to grant him sanctuary -- as a political dissident from the USA. "The Weatherman Underground has the honor and pleasure of helping Dr. Timothy Leary escape from the POW camp at San Luis Obispo, California," Bernardine Dohrn wrote in the fourth communiqué -- one of the briefest -- from underground.
She went on to say that the organization committed itself to freeing "all prisoners of war in Amerikan concentration camps" -- but that was mostly all talk with little if any action. Before long, Bernardine's sense of honor and pleasure had turned to alarm. Leary broke a promise of silence and confidentiality. He talked about how he'd escaped from prison and who had helped him -- naming names. The safety and security of the organization was at stake and something had to be done to fix the damaging leak. Accordingly, I delivered a message from the underground to Cleaver warning him not to trust Leary. Cleaver promptly placed Leary under house arrest, which didn't help matters. Eventually, I came back to New York feeling that both Cleaver and Leary were as mad as could be and that the underground's liberation of Leary had backfired. Indeed, it seemed opportunistic, a kind of public relations ploy to win over followers of Leary and the drug culture. Abbie Hoffman would always say he was "leery of Leary," but his words had gone unheeded." http://www.sdonline.org/41/raskin.htm
"I was also a courier for the underground and that gave me a sense of importance, perhaps illusory. I delivered messages to Dave Dellinger, Rennie Davis, Abbie Hoffman and most importantly to Eldridge Cleaver in North Africa in an attempt to mitigate the damage that Dr. Timothy Leary had caused. In September 1970, the Weather Underground aided and abetted Leary's escape from minimum-security prison in California, then sent him on his own way to Algeria, where Eldridge persuaded the government to grant him sanctuary -- as a political dissident from the USA. "The Weatherman Underground has the honor and pleasure of helping Dr. Timothy Leary escape from the POW camp at San Luis Obispo, California," Bernardine Dohrn wrote in the fourth communiqué -- one of the briefest -- from underground.
She went on to say that the organization committed itself to freeing "all prisoners of war in Amerikan concentration camps" -- but that was mostly all talk with little if any action. Before long, Bernardine's sense of honor and pleasure had turned to alarm. Leary broke a promise of silence and confidentiality. He talked about how he'd escaped from prison and who had helped him -- naming names. The safety and security of the organization was at stake and something had to be done to fix the damaging leak. Accordingly, I delivered a message from the underground to Cleaver warning him not to trust Leary. Cleaver promptly placed Leary under house arrest, which didn't help matters. Eventually, I came back to New York feeling that both Cleaver and Leary were as mad as could be and that the underground's liberation of Leary had backfired. Indeed, it seemed opportunistic, a kind of public relations ploy to win over followers of Leary and the drug culture. Abbie Hoffman would always say he was "leery of Leary," but his words had gone unheeded." http://www.sdonline.org/41/raskin.htm