Hoffman, Abbie (Abbot) (1936–1989)

Photograph of Abbie Hoffman, US political activist, speaking at a press conference in 1981. Hoffman was the founder of the Yippies (Youth International Party), a political offshoot of the Hippie movement.

Photograph (taken in 1981) of Abbie Hoffman, US political activist, with his arm around his wife, Johanna Laurenson.

US left-wing political activist, founder of the Yippies (Youth International Party), a political offshoot of the hippies. He was a member of the Chicago Seven, a radical group tried for attempting to disrupt the 1968 Democratic Convention.

Hoffman was arrested 52 times and was a fugitive from justice 1973–80. He specialized in imaginative political gestures to gain media attention, for example throwing dollar bills to the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in 1967. His books include Revolution for the Hell of It (1969). He campaigned against the Vietnam War and, later, for the environment. He committed suicide.