Law in Popular Culture

Unabomber Protests Museum Display of his Cabin in Appeals Court Letter

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Convicted Unabomber Ted Kaczynski has written a letter to a federal appeals court protesting the display of his cabin in a news museum exhibit called “G-Men and Journalists.”

The FBI had loaned the 10-by-12-foot cabin to the Newseum in Washington, D.C., the Washington Post reports. A video tour on the Newseum’s website invites Web users to “get a closer look at the life of a mad hermit.” Users can click on displayed items to learn how they tied in to the mail bombings that killed three people.

Susan Bennett, the museum’s vice president for marketing and deputy director, told the Post that “the cabin had a definite media hook” and the Newseum does not plan to change the exhibit. The Washington Post published the Unabomber manifesto that led Kaczynski’s brother to suspect he was the mail bomber being sought by the FBI.

The Smoking Gun website published Kaczynski’s letter to the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. “This has obvious relevance to the victims’ objection to publicity connected with the Unabom case,” Kaczynski wrote.

The Newseum press release about the development says the exhibit explores the role of the media in shaping the FBI’s image.

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