A former Marine, who who had maintained anarchist/left views
since his teen age years; who defected to Russia; married the uncle of a high KGB official in
Minks. Returned to the States and
who’s first high profile target was Gen. Walker. He did travel to Mexico City and tried to get into the Soviet Embassy; and contact a Soviet ‘wet work’ specialist. Seeing as the Soviets were aware of the assasination plots, this gave him a motive. It’s true the Port Huron Statement which is the touchstone of the SDS preceded Kennedy; but that trend was fairly underground prior to Nov. 1963. The deaths of Shwerner, Goodman & co had much more impact than Emmitt.
As to further assasinations, Sirhan
was a Palestinian nationalist upset
over Kennedy’s support for Israel; that would generally be considered
a left wing position. Ray was more
a money grubbing criminal than motivated by any political animus.
You have to go a quarter century later to Timothy McVeigh to find
the kind of shocking violence. The Weatherman arose out of the logic
of the SDS and radical insurgencies in the Greater West. They were also the beneficiaries of RFK’s granting travel visas to Cuba for Hayden,
Boudin, Ayres & co where they acquired the training employed in the Days of Rage.They were in the same category as the Tupamaros Montoneros,Red Brigade, Red Army Faction. Their effect wasn’t as particularly strong as it was in South America Similarly, the Black Panthers arose out a thin veneer
of left politics from criminal elementss.
