A Patriots Peril: Love, Death and Deceit in 1968 America

In the hellish year 1968 the country was at war with North Vietnam and with itself on several fronts: black vs. white, young vs. old, left vs. right, left vs. left, Hawk vs. Dove. In this time of assassinations and urban riots, Runyon Runyon, constitutional law professor, author and veteran of special warfare operations in China during World War II, felt called to support the anti-war presidential candidacy of Senator Eugene McCarthy. As a consequence he became the target of the illegal FBI operation dubbed Cointelpro, which included the seduction and photographing of is reputedly promiscuous wife as part of a blackmail scheme. While he was advocating for an end to the war in Vietnam, the mostly invisible and undiagnosed psychic and neurological injuries he suffered during his military service increasingly influenced his behavior, causing him to commit an act that shattered his life and put him in peril of losing it to the legal system he had risked it to protect.