I was at work at a nuclear facility on the East Coast. It was a typical day for our part of the plant; up early and working by 7:30 in the morning. We had the news on at my counting station as I was processing radioactive samples.

Suddenly, my assistant made a shocked noise. I turned around to see the replay of an aircraft slam into the North Tower at 8:45 am. That was the beginning of Sept 11th, 2001 for me.

Most adults remember where they were when they got the news. The attacks in New York, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania are the most vivid memory of terrorism in the modern era.

But these are hardly the only acts of terror on American soil.

TERRORISM is "the use of violence or threats to coerce a government or civilian population for religious, political or ideological purposes." DOD definition.

The Boston Tea Party might be considered the first significant act of terrorism in the New World. That was less about violence and more about political protest.

There were some acts of sabotage during the American Civil War but most were directed at military targets. But the war featured the largest single act of state-sponsored terrorism the federal government ever committed.

Sherman's March to the Sea was not even intended to be a military operation. From its beginning the plan was directed at the civilian population of the Confederate States of America. The plan called for destruction of crops, businesses, plantations and railroads.

There have been a variety of terror attacks on American soil. Most have occurred after the end of the Civil War, during the Industrial Revolution when America became an international power and a center of capitalism.

Assassinations:

- John Wilkes Booth, a Southern sympathizer, shoots President Lincoln in Ford's theatre April 15th, 1865for political reasons.

- Would-be anarchist Leon Czoglosz shoots President McKinley (September 1901) hoping to start an American Bolshevik revolution.

- Communist Lee Harvey Oswald (supposedly) shoots President Kennedy (November 22, 1963) to strike a blow at the government.

- Racist James Earl Ray shoots Martin Luther King (April 1968) in an effort to stop the Civil Rights movement.

Bombings:

- A group calling themselves the American Anarchist Fighters blew up a car bomb on Wall Street (September 1920) trying to shut down the center of capitalist power in the West.

- Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombed in August 1963 by Klansmen killing four young

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

---

Add your voice

Know something about Terrorism in the United States?
We want to hear your view. Write now!