Jeff Jones

Jeff Jones (born February 23, 1947) is an environmental activist and consultant in Upstate New York. He was a national officer in Students for a Democratic Society, a founding member of Weatherman, and a leader of the Weather Underground.

Early life and background Jeffrey Carl "Jeff" Jones, the first child of Albert and Millie Jones, was born February 23, 1947, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Four years later, the expanding Jones family moved to the Los Angeles San Fernando Valley, and his father eventually settled into a career at the Walt Disney Company in 1954. Having a father who worked for Disney enhanced young Jones's popularity among his peers; with home screenings of the latest Mickey Mouse cartoons, a featured event at his birthday parties. Building on their earlier support for the Black Liberation Movement in the United States and the Vietnamese, the Weatherman faction at the convention issued a statement calling for a revolution in this nation to fight and defeat U.S. imperialism within, and outside the country.

Underground Jones and about a hundred others were arrested for their roles in an event that caused considerable damage to not only the city, but also to Weatherman's image among some previous sympathizers on the left. Chicago Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton, who had a mostly friendly relationship with Weatherman, denounced the group's action, fearing it would alienate potential allies and invite an escalation of police oppression. but the catastrophic outcome apparently forced the leaders to reassess the wisdom of targeting humans. After a lot of heated debate, the considerable influence of Jones and Bernardine Dohrn moved the organization away from attacking civilian targets and toward symbols of American power (buildings, etc.).

In the early stages of his life on the lam, Jones lived for over a year in San Francisco with fellow-fugitive Dohrn.

Jones left California for the East Coast in 1971, with passenger and fellow Weatherman, Eleanor Raskin. Over a time they became a couple and settled down in the Catskill Mountains to establish a new network there. In the years to come, they lived in New Jersey and in the Bronx, New York. Jones is also working on the board of the financial arm of Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS), a group that works closely with the new SDS. He lives in Albany, New York with his wife and has two sons.