Read Online The Burglary by Betty Medsger - Free Book Online Page A

headquarters in Washington.
    Bonnie and John Raines decided shortly after they were married in 1962 that they would risk their freedom in order to oppose injustice.
    They made that decision at the same time they created a close-knit family, three children by the time of the burglary.
    For a week they discussed Davidon’s question with each other every evening after dinner as their three children—Lindsley, seven; Mark, six; and Nathan, one—slept upstairs. They thought about the commitments they had made to each other and to their ideals, and about their love for and commitment to their children. With deep anguish, they questioned how much they were willing to let their family’s future be threatened. Resistance, along with love, had been at the heart of their relationship from the beginning. Finally, they both agreed with Davidon’s conviction that a crisis existed if dissent was being killed. They decided they were willing to join him in searching for evidence of whether that was true. They called him one evening and told him he could count on them to help solve this problem. They still thought an FBI office probably could not be burglarized.
    A short time later, the Raineses met with John Raines’s brother Bob and his wife and asked them, in strict confidence, one of the most important and painful questions they had ever asked anyone: Would they raise Lindsley, Mark, and Nathan if the Raineses went to prison? They were immensely grateful for the promise that they would.
    KEITH FORSYTH WAS PLEASED to get a call from Davidon in late 1970. He knew it would have something to do with protesting the war. Davidon was always looking for ways to oppose the war, and so was Forsyth. Since moving to Philadelphia a year earlier, he had come to respect Davidon a great deal.
    Their phone conversation went like this:
    DAVIDON: We’re thinking about having a party. Can you come?
    FORSYTH: Sure, I love parties. What time?
    Given the secrecy, Forsyth thought Davidon must have a very interesting idea to discuss. Little did he know.
    When they met at the appointed time, Davidon wasted no time in telling Forsyth the reason for the “party.” He laid out his concerns and asked Forsyth, “What do you think of burglarizing an FBI office?”
    Forsyth remembers being somewhat nonplussed by Davidon’s proposal. “You know, somebody says to you, ‘Let’s go break into the FBI office.’ Soyou look at them and say, ‘Yeah, okay, let’s go break in. Then, after we finish that, let’s go down to Fort Knox and steal a few million.’ At first I thought, ‘Who are you kidding?’ ”
    Keith Forsyth was a part-time cabdriver when Davidon asked him to consider participating in the Media break-in. He had dropped out of college to devote more time to stopping the war.
    That’s what he thought, but he didn’t say it. Instead of saying that, Forsyth thinks he probably nervously cleared his throat and stalled for time until he, somewhat falteringly, said something like, “Aren’t these places, FBI offices, pretty tough to get access to?”
    He wondered how Davidon could think this would be possible. But he knew Davidon didn’t use dope and wasn’t careless. Forsyth was even more surprised when Davidon told him he had already checked out an FBI office, the one in Media, and he thought it looked like it might be possible to break into it. Davidon also said he had first checked out the largeFBI office in downtown Philadelphia and decided it definitely would not be possible to break into. Too tall, too secure. At that point, Forsyth realized, “This guy is serious.”
    Forsyth thought it would be impossible to burglarize an FBI office. He told Davidon he wanted to check out the office himself. After getting more proper—read: less hippie—clothes at a local thrift shop, he walked by the Media FBI office. He couldn’t believe it. There