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I believe he was lamenting the fact that someone he considered brilliant and passionate were so wrong in their tactics. He said that although they lost their lives when the bombs exploded "prematurely" that the greater tragedy would have been the planned conclusion of their mission. Their deaths were the turning point in his life. He left the Weathermen at that point.

On March 6, 1970, the Weather Underground's bombs, assembled in a New York townhouse, exploded prematurely. Ted Gold, Diana Oughton and Terry Robbins - three brilliant and passionate young people who had decided that they must become terrorists - were killed. Only by their deaths was the greater tragedy we were plotting avoided. Emotionally shattered, I dropped out of the Weather Underground but remained a fugitive until 1977.

After I turned myself in, I spent the next 25 years trying to figure out why I had made so many disastrous decisions as a young man. One of my conclusions was to pursue only nonviolent action - righteous action still, but without anger or brutality.