Talk about a major-league flashback.
Later this month, Howard Mechanic and Nina Gilden Seavey — STL's most famous Vietnam-era fugitive and the filmmaker who documented his flight — will take part, virtually, in a seminar in St. Louis that will look back on the turbulent times.
On May 21, Mechanic and Seavey will participate in one of three seminars that will be presented under the banner of "Our Movements of 1970.”
The event is part of the pandemic-delayed 50th reunion of Washington University's Class of 1970. The seminars are free and at the Emerson Theatre on the school's campus.
People are also reading…
Mechanic's legal trouble began on the night of May 4, 1970 — the same day the Ohio National Guard shot four students at Kent State University — when the ROTC building at Washington U. was burned down.
Mechanic was accused of violating the federal anti-riot law for allegedly throwing a cherry bomb at police and firefighters during the violence that accompanied the fire. He was convicted in October 1970.
While appealing his conviction, Mechanic fled St. Louis. He lived under an assumed name until 2000, when his past was discovered while he was campaigning for a city council seat in Arizona. He was pardoned by President Bill Clinton in 2001.
Mechanic said he and Seavey will both attend through Zoom connection — but he is not avoiding St. Louis for any purpose other than convenience.
"My feelings toward St. Louis are pretty positive," Mechanic said in a telephone interview from his home in Arizona.
"Things were rough back then, sure, the way I was treated. But that was from law enforcement; I really like the community."
Mechanic, who was 22 during his time in the spotlight, was represented in court by Seavey's father, local civil rights lawyer Louis Gilden, who died in 2000.
Seavey made the documentary "My Fugitive" about those events and it was released as a podcast in 2021. She is a research professor of history, media and public affairs at George Washington University.
The trio of one-hour seminars will begin at 1 p.m. with "Our WU Movements of 1970 — and Lessons We Learned."
The moderator is Gail Pellet, an author and documentarian. The panelists are Terry Koch, a lawyer and former member of the Students for a Democratic Society; and former St. Louis municipal judge Kayla Vaughn, an anti-war and feminist activist.
Wrapping up the afternoon, after the Mechanic/Seavey stint, will be "The Vietnam Era Revisited," moderated by former Washington U. professor Carl Boggs. The panelists are trial lawyer Jim Mallios, who was expelled from the university; and former protester Harold Karabell.