Hearst, Patricia Campbell (1954–)
Hearst, Patricia Campbell (1954–)
American kidnap victim turned bank robber. Name variations: Patty Hearst; Tania. Born Patricia Campbell Hearst, 1954, in San Francisco, CA; dau. of Randolph Apperson Hearst and Catherine (Campbell) Hearst (1917–1998); attended University of California at Berkeley; m. Bernard Shaw (her former bodyguard), 1979; children: daughter.
Born into wealthy Hearst family, was kidnapped by Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), an obscure terrorist group (Feb 1974); kept in a closet and brainwashed for 2 months while captors demanded a ransom of $2 million in food to be distributed to the poor, pledged allegiance to the SLA, calling herself "Tania"; participated in a robbery of Hibernia Bank in San Francisco; captured (Sept 18, 1975); after lengthy trial, received sentence of 7 years for armed robbery; had sentence commuted by President Jimmy Carter (Feb 1979).
See also autobiography (with Alvin Moscow) Every Secret Thing (Doubleday, 1982); and Women in World History.