Karl Armstrong Reflects and the Role of Underground Media in UW-Madison Bombing

Karl Armstrong peered in the window, searching for a sign of life throughout the only lit room in Sterling Hall. Behind him sat a van packed with makeshift explosives ready to be detonated. The week of surveillance that the New Year’s gang had conducted in preparation for the attack told them that the building would be empty by now, and that all of the lights should be off. 

In his hand, he held a large marble key fob, which he would use to smash the window and warn any occupants of the impending explosion. After walking the length of the room, Armstrong determined that the room was empty, and decided against making any warnings. The van was detonated, killing Robert Fassnacht and injuring four others. The details are contained in the court file.

Today, Armstrong says they wouldn’t have gone through with it if they knew Fassnacht was there.

“If we had known someone was in the building,” Armstrong said in a December 2023 interview with Media Milwaukee, “it would have been hard to do, but we would have taken the van and blown it up in the countryside.” 

As the group fled to Canada, they stopped at a local gas station to celebrate the bombing with some Cokes before getting back on the road again. This celebratory mood came crashing to a low when the group received the news of Fassnacht’s death. A silence fell on the car, which was only broken by the sound of crying coming from David Fine. 

According to Armstrong, shortly after hearing of Fassnacht’s death the group came upon a sharp turn overlooking a steep drop off. Dwight Armstrong, Karleton’s brother and the driver of the getaway vehicle, nearly veered off the road out of distress until Karl grabbed the wheel from him and steered them around the turn. 

“You don’t really get over it,” Karleton Armstrong said, describing the emotional toll of Fassnacht’s death. 

The tragedy of Fassnacht’s death was also a strategic loss for the anti-war movement, according to Karleton Armstrong (Dwight passed away years ago). The premise of the bombing was to inspire more militant action on campus, which he thought was more likely to occur if the damage was to property only, and not people. The injuries and loss of life added a new dimension to the attack, and made it much harder to justify. 

Karl Armstrong became radicalized into a militant activist after attending the 1968 democratic convention protests. Twenty-three thousand police and national guardsmen violently confronted the 10,000 student protesters on live T.V. with baton beatings and tear gas. Armstrong watched as police beat a group of activists lying on the ground and attempting to be peacefully arrested. 

“At that point I decided if they are going to make war on us, we are going to make war on them,” ARmstrong told Media Milwaukee. 

It was not entirely unreasonable for Karl to believe that the attack could inspire copycats.  Violence had become a normal fact of life for many in the anti-war movement who faced police beatings and suppression. In response, some activists began committing their own violence against government institutions and Universities.

In the two years before the Sterling Hall bombing, students and anti-war activists had engaged in numerous fire bombings and riots to protest the war and the police response. They had also used underground newspapers to begin calling for violence against the war.

It was in Kaleidoscope, an underground newspaper circulated on campus, and the Daily Cardinal, UW-Madison’s official student newspaper, that information was first published revealing links between the military and some of the work being done in Sterling Hall. In the month before the bombing of Sterling Hall, Kaleidoscope published a piece titled “Bomb Sterling Hall” arguing for a bombing of Sterling Hall. Although Armstrong claimed he had decided to bomb Sterling Hall after the National Guard opened fire during a student protest at Kent State University, not after reading the Kaleidoscope piece. 

Kaleidoscope was instrumental in spreading messaging for the militant faction of the anti-war movement. It framed the police response and militant response from activists as part of a war. Being at war was the same language Karl would use to describe his radicalization in his interview with Media Milwaukee. 

Armstrong became radicalized into a militant activist after attending the 1968 democratic convention protests. 23,000 police and national guardsmen violently confronted the 10,000 student protesters on live T.V. with baton beatings and tear gas. Karl watched as police beat a group of activists lying on the ground attempting to be peacefully arrested. 

Getting caught and going on trial was always part of the plan according to Karl. He wanted to have a high profile trial that would give him a platform to argue against the war. So it came as no surprise to him when he was finally tracked down and arrested in Canada in 1972.

This recounting is slightly contradicted by Karl’s actions after he was arrested. Karl fought to stay in Canada and avoid trial in the United States, arguing that the bombing was a political act and therefore not subject to extradition laws. 

When he finally went before a jury, Karl’s defense was to put the U.S. Government and the Vietnam war on trial. 

Kaleidoscope covered the trial closely, rallying the anti-war movement behind him. They ran headlines that proclaimed “Karl Innocent, War Guilty!” and published lengthy opinion pieces supporting Armstrong’ defense. In one joking piece published in Kaleidoscope, the ghost of Robert Fassnacht is interviewed in a seance where he forgives the New Year’s gang for killing him and supports Armstrong’s defense. 

Their most notable support came in the form of a parody campaign they ran to make Karl the D.A.. They printed shirts and posters, made buttons and stickers, and held rallies to encourage people to write in Karl’s name for the D.A. race. 

Karl Armstrong was convicted and sentenced to 23 years in prison, but was released after only serving seven of those years.

Fifty-three years later, Karl reflects on the bombing as both a success and a tragedy. While he expressed deep regret for the death of Fassnacht, he also believes the bombing, along with other violence carried out by anti-war activists, helped influence Washington to end the war and potentially prevented more deaths in Vietnam. 

In looking forward, Armstrong warns other activists who seek to use violence as a political tool to make sure the consequences are thoroughly thought through, but he could see why some might be driven to consider it. 

“When our democracy is gone, what’s left?” Armstrong says.