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At a glance
- Ailes donated $200 to the Obama campaign, and the two worked in the same organization, but there is no evidence that Obama had a special connection with Ailes of a "political mentor" nature. Obama was critical of Ailes's radical movement.
Event background
A claim circulated on social media that Obama's "political mentor" Ayers had led terrorist groups to bomb public buildings several times.
Who is Ayres? Does he have a special connection to Obama?
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Who is Ayres?
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica entry, Bill Ayers is one of the co-founders and top leaders of the Weather Underground organization. The Underground Meteorologist was a radical left-wing violent extremist group active in the 1960s and 1970s, initially aimed at fighting the Vietnam War. According to the FBI website, the group has bombed several government buildings and institutions across the country, and the group has been classified as a "domestic terrorist organization."
Screenshot of the FBI website
In 1970, Ayers was wanted by the FBI. After four years on the run, the FBI dropped charges against the Underground Meteorologists group due to prosecutorial misconduct.
FBI's wanted warrant against Ayers
In 1980, Ayers was able to return to public view after turning himself in and returning to campus. He received his Ed.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from Columbia University in 1987 and later became a leading pedagogue at the University of Illinois in Chicago.
Cover of Days on the Run: Memoirs of an Anti-War Activist
In a September 11, 2001 review of Ayers's new book, Days of Escape, Ayers confessed: "I don't regret setting up a bomb... I don't think we've done enough. ”
Screenshot of the title of the New York Times book review
Is there a special relationship between Ailes and Obama?
First, Obama never attended the University of Illinois. In 1979, Obama enrolled in Occidental College, a liberal arts college in Los Angeles, on a full scholarship, and two years later transferred to Columbia University to study political science and English literature. In 1991, he received his J.D. (JD) degree from Harvard Law School. As a result, Obama is unlikely to maintain an academic mentor-apprentice relationship with Ayers.
However, public searches found that the idea of linking Ayres to Obama was not new, and even when Obama announced his candidacy for the presidency in 2008, it was first publicized by Republican presidential candidate McCain and vice presidential candidate Palin. Palin has been vocal at multiple fundraising campaigns, quoting a New York Times article calling Obama "in collusion with terrorists."
The New York Times reported in October 2008 with the headline: "Obama and the Bombers of the '60s: Deciphering the Road to Intersection"
In summary, in addition to the "mentor-apprentice" relationship, the accusations against Obama and Ayers's "great relationship" mainly revolve around two aspects: one is that Ailes helped Obama's early campaign, and the other is that the two were colleagues.
On February 2, 2008, the British Daily Mail published an article titled "Black Kennedy: But Does Anyone Know the Real Barack Obama?" (The Black Kennedy: But does anyone know the real Barack Obama) review article. Peter Hitchens points out that Obama's list of donations shows that a certain William Ayers contributed $200 to Obama's campaign for the Illinois Senate, and that Ayers was likely to be Bill Ayers, a professor at the University of Illinois. This claim was later confirmed by several mainstream media outlets such as The New York Times.
The Daily Mail reported the headline
In September of the same year, an article in The Wall Street Journal said Mr. Obama's first campaign for the Illinois Senate was held at Ayers' home.
The Wall Street Journal report headlined: "Obama and Ailes Advance Radicalism in School"
A week after the 2008 presidential election, Ailes admitted in a media interview that he had been "entrusted by a friend" to hold a coffee tasting at his home, and that Mr. Obama had made his official public appearance as the successor to then-Senator Alice Palmer of Illinois. But Ayers said it was the first time he "really" met Obama.
Another oft-criticized connection is the Annenberg Challenge. In 1995, philanthropist Walter M. Walter H. Annenberg spent $500 million to push for school reform across the Country, and Mr. Obama chaired the board from 1995 to 1999. The Wall Street Journal article claims, "He almost certainly took over at the request of Bill Ayers." ”
But soon after, Deborah Leff, then president of the Joyce Foundation, confirmed to the fact-checking agency Factcheck.org that Mr. Obama had taken over as chair on her own recommendation and that Mr. Ayres was not included on the board that nominated Mr. Obama at the time. Although Obama's tenure coincided with Ailes's, there is no evidence that the two had connections and interactions that went beyond the work itself.
In a 2013 interview with the Daily Beast, asked about his relationship with Obama, Ayers said, "It's true that David Axelrod said we were friendly; we served on several boards together, and it was true; he ran a fundraiser in our living room, which was true; Michelle and Bernardine (Note: Ayers's wife) were at the law firm together, and that's true." Hyde Park in Chicago is a tiny neighborhood, so when he says I'm 'a nearby guy,' it's true. Today, I wish I could get to know him better while he was listening to me. Obama is not a militant. I wish he was, but he wasn't. ”
The Daily Beast report headlined: "Exclusive: Bill Ayers on Underground Weathermen, Obama's Trash Jobs, and More"
In fact, if you read "Obama and the Bombers of the '60s," which was used as a weapon by Palin as a weapon to attack Obama during the campaign, it does not present any evidence that Obama maintained a special relationship with Ailes. On the contrary, in the author's narrative, "the two do not seem to be intimate." "Mr. Obama has not expressed sympathy for radical views and Mr. Ayers' actions."
Screenshot of the Obama and the Bombers of the '60s report
Indeed, while Obama has acknowledged that Ayers is a "man who lives near me," he has never publicly shown his appreciation for Ayers. When asked about his views on Ayers, Obama's attitude was negative. Obama spokesman Bill Burton noted in a 2008 statement that "Senator Obama strongly condemns the violence of the 'Underground WeatherMen' organization ... But when Ailes and the 'Underground Weatherman' were active, he was an 8-year-old, and any attempt to link Obama to events nearly forty years ago would be absurd. ”
To sum up, Bill Ayres is the founder of the Underground Weathermen. The group declared itself responsible for multiple bombings in the 1970s and was classified as a "terrorist organization" by the FBI. Ailes had donated $200 to Obama's campaign, and the two had worked in the same organization, but there was no evidence that Obama had a special connection with Ailes of a "political mentor" nature.
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