a lot of circles, a lot of energy, a lot of excitement, a lot of laughter, a lot of celebration.â Davidon enjoyed those qualities in Grady, but because security would need to be very strict for Mediaâmore strict than it had been for any of the clandestine actions previously done by Catholic activistsâhe felt that quieter âfish,â ones that would not generate circles of excitement, were essential for the FBI project. For that reason, he decided Grady should not be asked to be part of the Media group. After the group was formed, the others agreed with Davidonâs assessment: Grady was a great guy and a person they respected, but not the right person for this project. This turned out to be an even wiser decision than they could have imagined. After the burglary, the FBI immediately targeted Grady as not only a participant in the Media burglary but as the leader of the group.
The people who said yes to Davidonâs invitation to consider burglarizing an FBI office were diverse in various ways. They ranged in age from twenty to forty-four. They included three women and five menâa religionprofessor, a daycare center worker, a graduate student in a health profession, another professor, a social worker, and two people who had dropped out of college to work nearly full-time on building opposition to the war. Though all of them owed their awareness of burglary as an act of resistance to the Catholic peace movement, only one of them was a Catholic. Four were Jews and three were Protestants. They knew one another, but they were not close friends. Bonds developed among them as they tackled Davidonâs idea. Four of them were parents of young children. None of them had ever thought of doing anything as extreme as burglarizing an FBI office.
DAVIDON FIRST POSED his question to John and Bonnie Raines. John was a veteran of resistance. He went south nearly every summer during the civil rights movement, beginning in 1961 when he was aFreedom Rider testing racial integration on interstate transportation from St. Louis to Little Rock and through Louisiana. His experience in the South and Bonnieâs experience as a teacher in East Harlem had transformed their lives.
By the time Davidon asked them his unusual question, John Raines was a professor of religion at Temple University in Philadelphia, and Bonnie was the director of a daycare center and was studying for a graduate degree in child development at Temple University.
They were stunned by Davidonâs question as they met with him one evening at his home. At first, they thought his question was strange and forbidding. So did Davidonâs wife,Ann Morrissett. She recalled years later that she thought Davidon was proposing another draft board raid. Then she heard him ask, âWhat do you think of burglarizing an FBI office?â She remembered being repulsed by the idea. âI couldnât believe my ears.â She said, âLeave me out,â and quickly exited from the conversation in the living room and went to the kitchen. Morrissett regarded such a burglary with disdain, if not contempt. She thought the draft board raids were largely a macho exercise and that a raid on an FBI office was even more macho. She recalled years later that when she first heard the FBI mentioned, it occurred to her that âif they thought they could get away with burglarizing an FBI office, perhaps they are out of control.â
As Davidon explained his rationale to the Raineses that evening, John and Bonnie found themselves agreeing with him. They too had begun to think the FBI might be infiltrating the peace movement. But breaking into an FBI office? They thought it was impractical, could not be done. Besides, it was unlikely that significant records would be found there. Surely, theythought, important and sensitive FBI records, including ones that dealt with suppressing dissent, would be kept only in the FBIâs Philadelphia office or at bureau
The people who said yes to Davidonâs invitation to consider burglarizing an FBI office were diverse in various ways. They ranged in age from twenty to forty-four. They included three women and five menâa religionprofessor, a daycare center worker, a graduate student in a health profession, another professor, a social worker, and two people who had dropped out of college to work nearly full-time on building opposition to the war. Though all of them owed their awareness of burglary as an act of resistance to the Catholic peace movement, only one of them was a Catholic. Four were Jews and three were Protestants. They knew one another, but they were not close friends. Bonds developed among them as they tackled Davidonâs idea. Four of them were parents of young children. None of them had ever thought of doing anything as extreme as burglarizing an FBI office.
DAVIDON FIRST POSED his question to John and Bonnie Raines. John was a veteran of resistance. He went south nearly every summer during the civil rights movement, beginning in 1961 when he was aFreedom Rider testing racial integration on interstate transportation from St. Louis to Little Rock and through Louisiana. His experience in the South and Bonnieâs experience as a teacher in East Harlem had transformed their lives.
By the time Davidon asked them his unusual question, John Raines was a professor of religion at Temple University in Philadelphia, and Bonnie was the director of a daycare center and was studying for a graduate degree in child development at Temple University.
They were stunned by Davidonâs question as they met with him one evening at his home. At first, they thought his question was strange and forbidding. So did Davidonâs wife,Ann Morrissett. She recalled years later that she thought Davidon was proposing another draft board raid. Then she heard him ask, âWhat do you think of burglarizing an FBI office?â She remembered being repulsed by the idea. âI couldnât believe my ears.â She said, âLeave me out,â and quickly exited from the conversation in the living room and went to the kitchen. Morrissett regarded such a burglary with disdain, if not contempt. She thought the draft board raids were largely a macho exercise and that a raid on an FBI office was even more macho. She recalled years later that when she first heard the FBI mentioned, it occurred to her that âif they thought they could get away with burglarizing an FBI office, perhaps they are out of control.â
As Davidon explained his rationale to the Raineses that evening, John and Bonnie found themselves agreeing with him. They too had begun to think the FBI might be infiltrating the peace movement. But breaking into an FBI office? They thought it was impractical, could not be done. Besides, it was unlikely that significant records would be found there. Surely, theythought, important and sensitive FBI records, including ones that dealt with suppressing dissent, would be kept only in the FBIâs Philadelphia office or at bureau
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