Jeff Jones (activist)
Encyclopedia
Jeff Jones 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.
Company in 1954. Having a father who worked for Disney enhanced young Jones’ popularity among his peers; with home screenings of the latest Mickey Mouse cartoons, a featured event at his birthday parties.
During World War II, his father, a pacifist and conscientious objector
, was assigned for the duration of the war, to a civilian work camp in the Sierra Mountains of California. When his church abandoned him for not serving in the military, the Quakers in the camp embraced him, and he later immersed his family in their traditional ways. Uniforms in the Jones home (Boy Scouts, etc.) were not permitted; the YMCA would have to suffice. This minor restriction was no impediment, as young Jones (hereafter, Jones) excelled in academics, cross country, and school politics (student body president of his high school).
, U.S. ambassador to South Vietnam. Lodge’s oratory centered on the need to stop the spread of communism, and how, in doing so, the peasants of Vietnam would be saved from this menace. Lacking strong ideological beliefs, Jones placed a good chunk of his trust in what the politicians were saying. Along with his father, Jones petitioned on behalf of the peace candidate for President, Lyndon B. Johnson
. Johnson’s post-election escalation of the war cemented the young man’s belief that politicians were not to be trusted, ever.
In the fall of 1965, Jones arrived at Antioch College
in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Previous to his arrival, students at the college had been active in the civil rights movement, and in no time, Jones participated in an antiwar protest in Cincinnati. When he returned to campus after the protest, he joined SDS (Oct. 1965). He spoke at numerous colleges about Vietnam and traveled to SDS conventions where he came into contact with the stars of the organization, such as Al Haber and Todd Gitlin
. In April 1967, a year and a half into his stay at Antioch College, Jones quit school to become the regional director of the New York City SDS, and thus, a full time activist.
Shortly thereafter, Jones wrote to the Selective Service to renounce his pacifism and to have his status as a conscientious objector erased. The intensification of the war and the notion that it was immoral, led Jones to conclude that fighting back was an acceptable tactic. He just would not be fighting for the United States military, preferring jail to being compelled to serve. He participated in nearly every big protest in the years 1967-1969 including:
In the documentary The Weather Underground, Jones is featured in a clip giving this defiant response to the police brutality: “The power belongs to the young people and the black people in this country. Come on! We gotta build a strong base and someday we gotta knock those motherfuckers who control this thing right on their ass.”
Jones’ activism was not limited to the streets of America. In Nov. 1967, Jones and Cathlyn Platt Wilkerson
traveled to Cambodia for what they hoped was an eventual journey to Hanoi. They were on a fact-finding mission that stalled in Phnom Penh because of heavy bombing in North Vietnam. Instead they met there with representatives from the North Vietnamese embassy and members of the National Liberation Front and gathered as much information on the war as they could. Their excursion is part of the Weather Underground FBI file.
within, and outside the country. Emerging from the fractious convention, Jeff Jones, Bill Ayers
, and Mark Rudd
, all signatories to what came to be known as the Weatherman statement, constituted the organization’s new leadership group.
Jones worked throughout the rest of the summer following the convention to promote and organize a demonstration in Oct. 1969 to coincide with the Chicago Seven
trial and the second anniversary of the death of Che Guevara
. “Bring the War Home” was the slogan for the Chicago march, and despite far fewer demonstrators than anticipated, Jones “figured they were the right ones, the vanguard.” Jones evoked the memory of Marion Delgado, a five-year-old boy who put a slab of concrete on a railroad track and derailed a passenger train, reinforcing the potential damage that the small can inflict on the powerful. Proclaiming himself to be the embodiment of Marion Delgado, Jones announced to the crowd the as yet stated target of their wrath, and the small army filed out of the park where they were staged and embarked on a violent rampage that came to be known as the Days of Rage
. (The violence amounted to smashing windows, damaging cars, and clashes with police.)
leader Fred Hampton
, who had a mostly friendly relationship with Weatherman, denounced the group's action, fearing that it would alienate potential allies and invite an escalation of police oppression. Ironically, it was the killing of Hampton by the Chicago police less than two months after the "Days of Rage," that cemented in the mind of Weatherman that it was time to move underground and take up armed struggle.
Jones and other Weathermen failed to appear for their March 1970 court date to face charges of “crossing state lines to foment a riot and conspiring to do so.” “Unlawful flight to avoid prosecution” charges were added when they failed to show up. The Greenwich Village townhouse explosion
earlier in the month claimed the lives of Weather members Ted Gold
, Diana Oughton
, and Terry Robbins
. With the destructive capacity of Weatherman fully realized, the FBI launched an intensive manhunt to round up the members of the organization, including Jeff Jones.
In the aftermath of the townhouse explosion, members of the Weatherman leadership gathered on the coast of California
to discuss the incident and its implications. Initially, the bomb was intended for a military dance at Fort Dix, New Jersey
, 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 Bernadine 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. In this time, at least one bombing claimed by Weatherman went off in their locale (Presidio
Army base). Although the aforementioned bombing, nor any claimed by Weatherman, can be attributed to any one member of the group, Jones’ name is listed on a roster of issuers of communiqués that were customary before or after one of the organization's major actions.
Jones left California for the East Coast
in 1971, with a 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 the Bronx, New York Because of the secretive nature of the group, by now known as the Weather Underground Organization (WUO), specifics of what members did and where they were at all times are extremely hard to come by.
However, in his time underground, Jones was part of a collaborative WUO effort that wrote and published a book entitled Prairie Fire, of which 40,000 copies were printed and distributed. The book was a way in which the WUO could reach out and forge unity with progressive activists aboveground, and also advocate, with its doctrinal content, for the creation of a communist party. Inspired by reading Prairie Fire, radical filmmaker Emile de Antonio
, made a documentary about the WUO called "Underground." Made in secrecy with Jones and four other members of the organization, the Underground (documentary film)
was another vehicle for the WUO to communicate with potential supporters of their causes. In an effort to gather information on the group, the director was harassed relentlessly by the FBI, which subsided only when Hollywood celebrities and prominent lawyers intervened on his behalf.
team arrested Jones and Eleanor Raskin, and allowed a friend to take custody of their four-year-old son. In Dec. 1981, a week before the couples’ sentencing, they were married legally. At sentencing Jones received probation and community service, while the charges against his wife were dismissed.
In the years after he gained his full freedom, Jones has worked as a reporter and editor covering New York State politics and policy. He was a communications director for ten years at Environmental Advocates of New York. He now heads up his own consulting firm called Jeff Jones Strategies that specializes in media expertise, writing and campaign strategies that help grassroots and progressive groups to achieve their goals. 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.
He is a member of the Apollo Alliance
.
Upstate New York
Upstate New York is the region of the U.S. state of New York that is located north of the core of the New York metropolitan area.-Definition:There is no clear or official boundary between Upstate New York and Downstate New York...
. He was a national officer in Students for a Democratic Society
Students for a Democratic Society (1960 organization)
Students for a Democratic Society was a student activist movement in the United States that was one of the main iconic representations of the country's New Left. The organization developed and expanded rapidly in the mid-1960s before dissolving at its last convention in 1969...
, a founding member of Weatherman
Weatherman (organization)
Weatherman, known colloquially as the Weathermen and later the Weather Underground Organization , was an American radical left organization. It originated in 1969 as a faction of Students for a Democratic Society composed for the most part of the national office leadership of SDS and their...
, and a leader of the Weather Underground.
Early life and background
Jeffrey Carl Jones (Jeff), 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 California’s San Fernando Valley, and his father eventually settled into a career at the Walt DisneyWalt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
Company in 1954. Having a father who worked for Disney enhanced young Jones’ popularity among his peers; with home screenings of the latest Mickey Mouse cartoons, a featured event at his birthday parties.
During World War II, his father, a pacifist and conscientious objector
Conscientious objector
A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, and/or religion....
, was assigned for the duration of the war, to a civilian work camp in the Sierra Mountains of California. When his church abandoned him for not serving in the military, the Quakers in the camp embraced him, and he later immersed his family in their traditional ways. Uniforms in the Jones home (Boy Scouts, etc.) were not permitted; the YMCA would have to suffice. This minor restriction was no impediment, as young Jones (hereafter, Jones) excelled in academics, cross country, and school politics (student body president of his high school).
Early activism and SDS
In 1964, with the Vietnam War rising in his consciousness, Jones went to hear a speech by Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.
Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. was a Republican United States Senator from Massachusetts and a U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, South Vietnam, West Germany, and the Holy See . He was the Republican nominee for Vice President in the 1960 Presidential election.-Early life:Lodge was born in Nahant,...
, U.S. ambassador to South Vietnam. Lodge’s oratory centered on the need to stop the spread of communism, and how, in doing so, the peasants of Vietnam would be saved from this menace. Lacking strong ideological beliefs, Jones placed a good chunk of his trust in what the politicians were saying. Along with his father, Jones petitioned on behalf of the peace candidate for President, Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
. Johnson’s post-election escalation of the war cemented the young man’s belief that politicians were not to be trusted, ever.
In the fall of 1965, Jones arrived at Antioch College
Antioch College
Antioch College is a private, independent liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio, United States. It was the founder and the flagship institution of the six-campus Antioch University system. Founded in 1852 by the Christian Connection, the college began operating in 1853 with politician and...
in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Previous to his arrival, students at the college had been active in the civil rights movement, and in no time, Jones participated in an antiwar protest in Cincinnati. When he returned to campus after the protest, he joined SDS (Oct. 1965). He spoke at numerous colleges about Vietnam and traveled to SDS conventions where he came into contact with the stars of the organization, such as Al Haber and Todd Gitlin
Todd Gitlin
Todd Gitlin is an American sociologist, political writer, novelist, and cultural commentator. He has written widely on the mass media, politics, intellectual life and the arts, for both popular and scholarly publications.-New Left activist:...
. In April 1967, a year and a half into his stay at Antioch College, Jones quit school to become the regional director of the New York City SDS, and thus, a full time activist.
Shortly thereafter, Jones wrote to the Selective Service to renounce his pacifism and to have his status as a conscientious objector erased. The intensification of the war and the notion that it was immoral, led Jones to conclude that fighting back was an acceptable tactic. He just would not be fighting for the United States military, preferring jail to being compelled to serve. He participated in nearly every big protest in the years 1967-1969 including:
- Oct. 1967 antiwar protest at the Pentagon that had upwards of 100,000 people.
- The Apr. 1968 Columbia University protests of 1968Columbia University protests of 1968The Columbia University protests of 1968 were among the many student demonstrations that occurred around the world in that year. The Columbia protests erupted over the spring of that year after students discovered links between the university and the institutional apparatus supporting the United...
(note picture of future Weatherman Mark RuddMark RuddMark William Rudd is a political organizer, mathematics instructor, and anti-war activist, most well known for his involvement with the Weather Underground. Rudd became a member of the Columbia University chapter of Students for a Democratic Society in 1963. By 1968, he had emerged as a leader...
on cover of magazine w/plaid shirt). - The Aug. 1968 Democratic National Convention1968 Democratic National ConventionThe 1968 Democratic National Convention of the U.S. Democratic Party was held at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois, from August 26 to August 29, 1968. Because Democratic President Lyndon Johnson had announced he would not seek a second term, the purpose of the convention was to...
where riots raged in the streets and the brutality of the Chicago police was televised nationwide to a shocked and appalled American public.
In the documentary The Weather Underground, Jones is featured in a clip giving this defiant response to the police brutality: “The power belongs to the young people and the black people in this country. Come on! We gotta build a strong base and someday we gotta knock those motherfuckers who control this thing right on their ass.”
Jones’ activism was not limited to the streets of America. In Nov. 1967, Jones and Cathlyn Platt Wilkerson
Cathlyn Platt Wilkerson
Cathlyn Platt Wilkerson , known as Cathy Wilkerson, is an American radical who was a member of the 1970s radical group called the Weather Underground . She came to the attention of the police when she was leaving the townhouse belonging to her father after it was destroyed by an explosion on March...
traveled to Cambodia for what they hoped was an eventual journey to Hanoi. They were on a fact-finding mission that stalled in Phnom Penh because of heavy bombing in North Vietnam. Instead they met there with representatives from the North Vietnamese embassy and members of the National Liberation Front and gathered as much information on the war as they could. Their excursion is part of the Weather Underground FBI file.
From SDS to Weatherman
By mid-June 1969, SDS held what would turn out to be its final convention. Previous efforts/tactics to bring the war to an end and factional disputes over the organization’s goals and direction allowed an influential and militant bloc of SDS’ hierarchy to seize control of the body. 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. imperialismImperialism
Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
within, and outside the country. Emerging from the fractious convention, Jeff Jones, Bill Ayers
Bill Ayers
William Charles "Bill" Ayers is an American elementary education theorist and a former leader in the movement that opposed U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. He is known for his 1960s activism as well as his current work in education reform, curriculum, and instruction...
, and Mark Rudd
Mark Rudd
Mark William Rudd is a political organizer, mathematics instructor, and anti-war activist, most well known for his involvement with the Weather Underground. Rudd became a member of the Columbia University chapter of Students for a Democratic Society in 1963. By 1968, he had emerged as a leader...
, all signatories to what came to be known as the Weatherman statement, constituted the organization’s new leadership group.
Jones worked throughout the rest of the summer following the convention to promote and organize a demonstration in Oct. 1969 to coincide with the Chicago Seven
Chicago Seven
The Chicago Seven were seven defendants—Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, and Lee Weiner—charged with conspiracy, inciting to riot, and other charges related to protests that took place in Chicago, Illinois on the occasion of the 1968...
trial and the second anniversary of the death of Che Guevara
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
. “Bring the War Home” was the slogan for the Chicago march, and despite far fewer demonstrators than anticipated, Jones “figured they were the right ones, the vanguard.” Jones evoked the memory of Marion Delgado, a five-year-old boy who put a slab of concrete on a railroad track and derailed a passenger train, reinforcing the potential damage that the small can inflict on the powerful. Proclaiming himself to be the embodiment of Marion Delgado, Jones announced to the crowd the as yet stated target of their wrath, and the small army filed out of the park where they were staged and embarked on a violent rampage that came to be known as the Days of Rage
Days of Rage
The Days of Rage demonstrations were a series of direct actions taken over a course of three days in October 1969 in Chicago organized by the Weatherman faction of the Students for a Democratic Society...
. (The violence amounted to smashing windows, damaging cars, and clashes with police.)
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 PartyBlack Panther Party
The Black Panther Party wasan African-American revolutionary leftist organization. It was active in the United States from 1966 until 1982....
leader Fred Hampton
Fred Hampton
Fred Hampton was an African-American activist and deputy chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party...
, who had a mostly friendly relationship with Weatherman, denounced the group's action, fearing that it would alienate potential allies and invite an escalation of police oppression. Ironically, it was the killing of Hampton by the Chicago police less than two months after the "Days of Rage," that cemented in the mind of Weatherman that it was time to move underground and take up armed struggle.
Jones and other Weathermen failed to appear for their March 1970 court date to face charges of “crossing state lines to foment a riot and conspiring to do so.” “Unlawful flight to avoid prosecution” charges were added when they failed to show up. The Greenwich Village townhouse explosion
Greenwich Village townhouse explosion
The Greenwich Village townhouse explosion was the premature detonation of a bomb as it was being assembled by members of the American radical left group, Weatherman – later renamed the Weather Underground – in the basement of a townhouse at 18 West 11th Street between Fifth Avenue and...
earlier in the month claimed the lives of Weather members Ted Gold
Ted Gold
Theodore "Ted" Gold was a member of Weatherman.-Early years and education:Gold was a red diaper baby. He was the son of Hyman Gold, a prominent Jewish physician and a mathematics instructor at Columbia University who had both been part of the Old Left. His mother was a statistician who taught at...
, Diana Oughton
Diana Oughton
Diana Oughton was a member of the Students for a Democratic Society Michigan Chapter and later, a member of the 1960s radical group Weatherman. Oughton received her B.A. from Bryn Mawr College. After graduation, Oughton went to Guatemala with the VISA program to teach the young and older...
, and Terry Robbins
Terry Robbins
Terry Robbins was a U.S. leftist radical activist. A key member of the Students for a Democratic Society Ohio chapter, he led Kent State into its first militant student uprising in 1968. Robbins was credited for drawing inspiration from Bob Dylan’s song Subterranean Homesick Blues which later...
. With the destructive capacity of Weatherman fully realized, the FBI launched an intensive manhunt to round up the members of the organization, including Jeff Jones.
In the aftermath of the townhouse explosion, members of the Weatherman leadership gathered on the coast of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
to discuss the incident and its implications. Initially, the bomb was intended for a military dance at Fort Dix, New Jersey
Fort Dix, New Jersey
JB MDL Dix , better known as Fort Dix, is a United States Army base located approximately south-southeast of Trenton, New Jersey. Dix is under the jurisdiction of the United States Army Reserve Command...
, 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 Bernadine Dohrn moved the organization away from attacking civilian targets and toward symbols of American power
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(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. In this time, at least one bombing claimed by Weatherman went off in their locale (Presidio
Presidio of San Francisco
The Presidio of San Francisco is a park on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula in San Francisco, California, within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area...
Army base). Although the aforementioned bombing, nor any claimed by Weatherman, can be attributed to any one member of the group, Jones’ name is listed on a roster of issuers of communiqués that were customary before or after one of the organization's major actions.
Jones left California for the East Coast
East Coast of the United States
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...
in 1971, with a passenger and fellow Weatherman, Eleanor Raskin
Eleanor Raskin
Eleanor E. Raskin née Stein; was a member of Weatherman. She is currently an associate professor at Albany Law School, teaching transnational environmental law with a focus on catastrophic climate change.- Early life :Eleanor E...
. Over a time they became a couple and settled down in the Catskill Mountains
Catskill Mountains
The Catskill Mountains, an area in New York State northwest of New York City and southwest of Albany, are a mature dissected plateau, an uplifted region that was subsequently eroded into sharp relief. They are an eastward continuation, and the highest representation, of the Allegheny Plateau...
to establish a new network there. In the years to come, they lived in New Jersey and the Bronx, New York Because of the secretive nature of the group, by now known as the Weather Underground Organization (WUO), specifics of what members did and where they were at all times are extremely hard to come by.
However, in his time underground, Jones was part of a collaborative WUO effort that wrote and published a book entitled Prairie Fire, of which 40,000 copies were printed and distributed. The book was a way in which the WUO could reach out and forge unity with progressive activists aboveground, and also advocate, with its doctrinal content, for the creation of a communist party. Inspired by reading Prairie Fire, radical filmmaker Emile de Antonio
Emile de Antonio
Emile de Antonio was a director and producer of documentary films, usually detailing political or social events circa 1960s–1980s...
, made a documentary about the WUO called "Underground." Made in secrecy with Jones and four other members of the organization, the Underground (documentary film)
Underground (documentary film)
Underground is a 1976 documentary film about the Weathermen, founded as a militant faction of the Students for a Democratic Society , who fought to overthrow the U.S. government during the 1960s and 1970’s. The film consists of interviews with members of the group after they went underground and...
was another vehicle for the WUO to communicate with potential supporters of their causes. In an effort to gather information on the group, the director was harassed relentlessly by the FBI, which subsided only when Hollywood celebrities and prominent lawyers intervened on his behalf.
Arrest and life since
Jeff Jones had felt as early as 1975 that the underground had run its course and that it was time to consider surfacing, but supported those who chose to remain there. He essentially believed that the time for armed acts was over. However, Jones would not surface until late Oct. 1981 when he was unexpectedly caught up in a police sweep of individuals suspected of participating in the deadly robbery of an armored truck. A SWATSWAT
A SWAT team is an elite tactical unit in various national law enforcement departments. They are trained to perform high-risk operations that fall outside of the abilities of regular officers...
team arrested Jones and Eleanor Raskin, and allowed a friend to take custody of their four-year-old son. In Dec. 1981, a week before the couples’ sentencing, they were married legally. At sentencing Jones received probation and community service, while the charges against his wife were dismissed.
In the years after he gained his full freedom, Jones has worked as a reporter and editor covering New York State politics and policy. He was a communications director for ten years at Environmental Advocates of New York. He now heads up his own consulting firm called Jeff Jones Strategies that specializes in media expertise, writing and campaign strategies that help grassroots and progressive groups to achieve their goals. 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
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
with his wife and has two sons.
He is a member of the Apollo Alliance
Apollo Alliance
The Apollo Alliance is a project organized by the Institute for America's Future and the Center on Wisconsin Strategy. The Alliance is a project of the Tides Center....
.
Further Reading/Viewing
- Dohrn, Bernadine, William Ayers, and Jeff Jones. Sing a Battle Song: The Revolutionary Poetry, Statements, and Communiqués of the Weather Underground, 1970-1974. Seven Stories Press: New York, 2006. This book contains an introduction by Jones that elaborates on his revolutionary anti-imperialist ideology and commitment to environmentalism. The book also contains the collaborative writings of the Weather Underground that Jones participated in crafting.
- Jones, Thai. A Radical Line: From the Labor Movement to the Weather Underground, One Family’s Century of Conscience. Free Press: New York, New York, 2004. The author of this book is the now grownup four-year-old that was present at the 1981 arrest of his parents, Weather Underground Organization members Jeff Jones and Eleanor Raskin. Born into the underground without knowledge of his real name, Thai Jones the author and adult, invites his readers through a well sourced window into the activism and ideological leanings of his historically significant family.
- Morrison, Joan and Robert K. Morrison. From Camelot to Kent State: The Sixties Experience in the Words of Those Who Lived It. Times Books: New York, New York, 1987. As the title suggests, the book focuses on the volatile 1960s and has a chapter dedicated to Jeff Jones in it. Jones describes his evolution as an activist.
- Rebels with a Cause. Dir. Helen Garvy. Zeitgeist Films, 2000. Because Jones was a member of the Students for a Democratic Society, this documentary will introduce viewers to the growth of the organization and its eventual demise.
- The Weather Underground. Dirs. Sam Green and Bill Siegel. The Free History Project, 2002. This documentary features interviews with members of the Weather Underground Organization (WUO) spliced with news footage of the Vietnam War, demonstrations, WUO actions, and the authorities attempt to suppress dissent and capture fugitive members of the group. It also includes the voices of those who supported the WUO, as well as some harsh criticism of the group. Archival video footage of Jeff Jones is featured in the documentary.
- Underground. Dirs. Emile De Antonio and Mary Lampson. Turin Film Corp., 1974. Jeff Jones and four fellow WUO members are featured in this documentary shot while the cast members were wanted fugitives. Shot at great risk to the filmmakers and WUO members, the documentary exposes viewers to the group’s ideology and its unique ability to deliver its message to audiences aboveground.