In the 1960s and 1970s, Boudin became heavily involved with the Weather Underground.
The Weather Underground claimed responsibility for two bomb attacks in 1975. On January 29, 1975, an explosion rocked the headquarters of the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C. No one was hurt, but the damage was extensive, impacting 20 offices on three separate floors. Hours later, another bomb was found at a military induction center in Oakland, California, and safely detonated.
Originally called the Weatherman or the Weathermen, a name taken from a line in a Bob Dylan song, the Weather Underground was an offshoot of Students for a Democratic Society, or SDS, a group created in the 1960s to promote social change.
When the SDS collapsed in 1969, the Weather Underground stepped forward, inspired to halt the violence and brutality the United States was enacting around the world and domestically. “Our intention is to disrupt the empire … to incapacitate it, to put pressure on the cracks,” says the group’s 1974 manifesto, Prairie Fire.
By the next year, the group had claimed credit for 25 bombings—including the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, the California Attorney General’s office, and a New York City police station.
The FBI was unable to stop the group initially because althought many members had been identified, their small numbers and guerrilla tactics helped them hide under assumed identities.
In 1981, Boudin and several former members of the Weather Underground and the Black Liberation Army robbed a Brink’s armored car in Nanuet, NY. Boudin was the driver of the getaway vehicle and also acted as a decoy. They were able to expropriate $1.6 million, but were unfortunately captured.
She was sentenced to 20 years to life. In prison, she developed a program on parenting behind bars and helped write a handbook for inmates whose children are in foster care. She earned a master’s degree and worked to help inmates with AIDS.
Boudin was released on parole in 2003. Boudin kept a low profile after her release but continued to work on behalf of inmates and former inmates.
After her release, she founded a program that provides health care for people returning from incarceration and worked on alternatives to mass incarceration.
Boudin, who lived in New York City, died of cancer Sunday surrounded by family, including her partner David Gilbert who was also a part of the Weather Underground. Gilbert had been released from prison last year, having served time for his role in the armored truck robbery.