Abbot (abbie) hoffman
Abbie Hoffman is in the American flag shirt in the movie Forrest Gump.
Jerry Rubin (left) and Abbie Hoffman (right)
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Abbie Hoffman was born on November 30, 1936 in Worcester Massachusetts. He was a leading activist in the American Civil Rights movement. His career started out by doing some civil rights work for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. In 1966 he left the “straight life” and immersed himself in the counterculture and started drugs. Two years later he moved to protests of the Vietnam War and the American political system. In January of 1968 he started the Youth International Party also known as the “Yippies”. He started the party with Jerry Rubin. The Yippie Party is a group that has so official membership. On August 24, 1967 Abbie les a group of activists into the gallery of New York Stock Exchange. He and his group of Yippies went in and caused havoc by throwing dollar bills from the viewing gallery, as the brokers scrambled to get them . He did this in protest of capitalism. That October Abbie organized the “exorcism of the pentagon”. He and other people from the Peace March in Washington D.C tried to levitate it by mental force. It didn’t work but he gained national media, which was also his plan. He was trying to get as much publicity as possible. In 1968 Abbie Hoffman and his leading partner Jerry Rubin were claims as two of the Chicago Seven. The Chicago Seven was a group of seven defendants that were accused of starting riots and being leaders of the counterculture in the city of Chicago, Illinois. Later that year he was arrested for wearing a shirt that represented the United States flag. In 1971 Hoffman published the book Steal This Book which was a book trying to inspire other to live for free. Soon book stores refused to carry the book because it was stolen so often. Then, in 1974 Abbie was arrested for possession and distribution of cocaine. Desperate to avoid his trial for the illegal drugs he has plastic surgery and live underground as alter ego Barry Freed until he surrenders in 1980. He was married twice and had three children named Andrew, Amy and America. When Hoffman was 52 he decided to commit suicide. On April 12, 1989 Abbie commits suicide with 150 phenobarbital tablets and liquor.
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