Abbie Hoffman was born in 1936 to a Jewish family living in Worcester. His father intially worked in Abbie's uncle's pharmacy, but later went on to start a medical distribution company of his own. Through his childhood years, Abbie's parents realized that he was not destined to be a "normal" person. In his book Soon To Be A Major Motion Picture, Abbie says he used asthma in his early years as a manipulative tool to get what he wanted. He later stopped using asthma and moved onto martyrdom. When he got in trouble with his parents, he would refuse to eat until they gave into his demands, but he reveals in his autobiography that he actually ate out of a secret stash of candybars and soda in his room. Abbie was never totally a martyr, just enough to get what he wanted.
In his highschool years he became a semi-"greaser", learning the fine art of pool and card hustling. Abbie eventually made his way though highschool and entered Brandeis University, majoring in social psych. In such a liberal college as Brandeis, Abbie's rebellious core flourished. He quickly became a "bo" (bohemian), and was informed by a friend of the existence of the CIA, and their secret activities. At this point, Abbie began to get involved with the cultural and political movement called the hippies. Travelling back to Worcester from Berkeley (the second school he attended), to organize and help lead the first antiwar march in Worcester. The march was strongly opposed... in fact there were more anti-antiwar ralliers there than antiwar. This would change in time though, and at the peak of his political activist career, he was a core organizer for the Democratic National Convention which drew 600,000 people in protest. Abbie's activities declined after the trial of the Chicago 7 (8 including Bobby Seale, who was bound and gagged during the trial).
He did university speeches for awhile until the FBI forced him underground with a trumped up, illegally operated cocaine bust. He travelled abroad with such exiled heavywheights as Timothy Leary but was unable to find political asylum. He lived underground for 6 years in and around the American continent, fighting against Nuclear Power and other post 60's causes. He supposedly died in 1990 by his own hand, but I've been unable to confirm that, due to the fact he was living underground.