In the context of the history of the United States, political violence is defined as violence which the state or a non-state actor perpetrates in order to achieve political goals. Political violence has occurred throughout American history—from the assassinations of four presidents to civil unrest and terrorist attacks. Experts report that incidents have increased significantly since 2016, reaching levels not seen since the 1970s. 21st-century data indicates that the highest incidence of deadly political violence in the United States has come from right-wing extremists, with left-wing extremists and Islamists being the other main ideological categories. Contributing factors toward political violence include dehumanizing political rhetoric and partisan division, authoritarian personality traits, hostile sexist beliefs, online radicalization, and a sense of threat or increased fear.
Although widely discussed, realized acts of political violence in the United States are rare and constitute about 1% of all hate crimes.
Definition Reuters defined political violence thusly: "Incidents linked to an election or a partisan political dispute, or premeditated acts driven by an identifiable ideology. Random hate crimes and violence involving police such as officer-involved killings or aggressive crowd-control tactics at protests were not included." The violence-prevention organization Over Zero defines it thusly: "Physical harm or intimidation that affects who benefits from or can participate fully in political, economic, or sociocultural life."
Chronology 18th century
Politically motivated violence was common during the American Revolution. In the late 1760s, Sons of Liberty militants would often attack suspected British loyalists, tarring and feathering them, a practice brought from Europe which resulted in lacerations and scarring. Hangings, raids, and executions became more frequent in the 1770s.
Henry Brockholst Livingston, who had survived an assassination attempt in 1785, killed a man in a 1798 gun duel. Livingston's reputation was unharmed by the incident and he later became a Supreme Court justice. Another duel took place between former Georgia governor and Declaration of Independence signatory Button Gwinnett and his opponent Lachlan McIntosh in 1777; Gwinnett died after the shooting. A number of other pistol duels took place in the 18th century.
19th century
Violence continued after the Revolution. In 1804, vice president Aaron Burr killed Founding Father Alexander Hamilton in a gun duel. The Know Nothing party was responsible for a number of attacks against Catholics and immigrants in the early 1800s. In 1844, Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism and the Latter-Day Saint movement, announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States. He became the first assassinated presidential candidate in U.S. history when he was shot and killed by a mob on June 27.
The topic of slavery also ignited several episodes of violence near Kansas during the 1850s. The lead-up to the American Civil War saw regional violence like the conflict over the expansion of slavery known as Bleeding Kansas and local protests against the Fugitive Slave Law including the Christiana Riot and the assemblies organized by the Boston Vigilance Committee, as well as incidents at the U.S. Capitol such as the caning of Charles Sumner and the 1858 Congressional brawl.*
In 1856, abolitionist John Brown with like-minded settlers killed five pro-slavery settlers north of Pottawatomie Creek in Franklin County, Kansas. In 1859, Brown led a raid on the United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia in an effort to initiate a slave revolt in Southern states. It has been called the "dress rehearsal" for the American Civil War.
President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, and he had suffered two assassination attempts before that. The first president to be assassinated, Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth while watching a theatre production. One motive attributed to his killing was his support for Black rights. The Reconstruction era was also a period of considerable violence, including multiple Freedmen massacres and assassinations of federal appointees and locally elected officials. In 1881, president James A. Garfield was killed six months after taking office.
20th century
1900–1920 President William McKinley was assassinated in 1901 by anarchist activist Leon Czolgosz, who was opposed to "the Republican form of government". Eleven years later, former president Theodore Roosevelt survived a gunshot in 1912 while campaigning to return to office. President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt survived a shooting during a rally in 1933, but Chicago mayor Anton Cermak was killed.
Bomb attacks were relatively common in the early 20th century. A terrorist bomb exploded prematurely inside an apartment of the Anarchist Black Cross in 1914. The bomb was intended to kill business magnate John D. Rockefeller, who had been blamed for the Ludlow Massacre. Another bomb set up by labor leaders exploded in San Francisco during a Preparedness Day parade in 1916, killing 10 people. The Sacramento Governor's Mansion was bombed in 1917 during an attempt to assassinate governor William Stephens. About 30 bombs were sent to political leaders in the country, including U.S. attorney general A. Mitchell Palmer, in 1919.
Tensions over housing and labor following World War I led to the Red Summer of 1919, which involved racial terrorism and riots across the United States. The death of a Black child at a segregated swimming area, combined with labor tensions between White and Black workers, led to riots that killed thirty-eight people. Black workers negotiating for better pay in Elaine, Arkansas, led to one of the most violent riots in U.S. history.
1920–1940
Political radicals detonated a bomb in Wall Street in 1920, killing 38 people. In 1921, the Black community of Tulsa, Oklahoma, known for their wealth and prosperity, was destroyed by a violent White mob. In 1932, the Bonus Army was cleared. In 1935, former Louisiana Governor and senator Huey Long was assassinated during a legislative session. Long had been considering a presidential bid at the time. In 1937, the Ponce massacre was perpetrated.
1940–1960
Following World War II, Black veterans were attacked by White Americans who now had more competition for jobs and housing. President Harry S. Truman was the target of an assassination attempt in 1950. He escaped uninjured, but two White House police officers were killed, in addition to one of the assailants. In 1951, civil rights activists Harry and Harriette Moore were murdered. On March 1, 1954, four Puerto Rican nationalists perpetrated the 1954 United States Capitol shooting, seeking to promote Puerto Rican independence from the United States. Five members of Congress were injured.
1960–1980 The 1960s have been called a "time of great upheaval and discord and division", which saw several major assassinations. Civil rights leader Medgar Evers was killed in 1963, hours after John F. Kennedy gave a televised civil rights address.Bates, Karen Grigsby. "Trials & Transformation: Myrlie Evers' 30-Year Fight to Convict Medgar's Accused Killer", Emerge 02 1994: 35. ProQuest. Web. May 27, 2017 Rushed to a hospital, he was initially refused entry due to being Black. Later that year, President Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald; Oswald was killed two days later while being transported. Activist Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965 by Thomas Hagan. Civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Robert F. Kennedy were both assassinated in 1968. King's assassination led to riots in more than 100 cities, and historian Mark K. Updegrove stated that his death hindered the civil rights movement since King was such an effective leader. Robert F. Kennedy was seeking the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party when he was killed, and had recently won the California primary. A large-scale riot at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968 involved 10,000 protesters against the war in Vietnam and 3,000 police officers, and was broadcast on live television. In 1968, protesters were shot in the Orangeburg Massacre. Two years later, protesters were shot in the Kent State shootings.
In 1969, Black Panther Party deputy chairman Fred Hampton was drugged, then shot and killed in his bed during a predawn raid at his Chicago apartment by a tactical unit of the Cook County State's Attorney's Office, who received aid from the Chicago Police Department and the FBI leading up to the attack. Law enforcement sprayed more than 100 gunshots throughout the apartment; the occupants fired once. During the raid, Panther Mark Clark was also killed and several others were seriously wounded. Presidential candidate George Wallace was shot at a campaign stop in Maryland, in 1972 while seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, which left him paraplegic. President Gerald Ford was the target of two assassination attempts within a matter of weeks in 1975, and escaped both incidents uninjured. In 1976, Orlando Letelier was assassinated.
During the 1960s and 1970s, many extremists joined left-wing groups, often spurred by the civil rights movement or the Vietnam War. "Underground movement" radicals associated with groups like the Weather Underground, the New World Liberation Front, Chicano Liberation Front, and the Symbionese Liberation Army claimed responsibility for hundreds of small-scale bombings in the 1970s. In an eighteen-month period between 1971 and 1972, the FBI recorded 2,500 bombings in the U.S.—nearly five per day. They were usually detonated with prior warning or at night, resulting in few casualties and limited public outcry. The bombings were usually intended to destroy property such as government buildings, with the goal of affecting decision-making rather than taking lives. The deadliest such attack in the 1970s, targeting a Wall Street restaurant in 1975, killed just four people. Public acceptance of the bombings was so pervasive that when a small bomb was detonated in a Bronx cinema, the audience refused to leave so they could keep watching the film.
1980–2000
A 1986 Central Missouri State University comparative analysis between left-wing and right-wing extremist groups commissioned by the Department of Justice found that both left-wing and right-wing extremist groups pose dangers to the U.S., but right-wing groups were assessed as having greater potential impact due to their alignment with traditional American values. By the 1990s, more extremists were joining right-wing organizations, including militias and white supremacist groups.
President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981 after giving a speech in Washington, D.C. His press secretary, James Brady, was shot in the attack, leaving him paralyzed. An assassination attempt of President Bill Clinton was carried out in 1994, which involved gunfire towards the White House; the perpetrator was sentenced to 40 years in prison. In 1984, writer and journalist Henry Liu was assassinated. Another example of political violence was 1985 MOVE bombing by the Philadelphia Police Department during an armed battle with MOVE, a Black liberation organization. A bomb in Oklahoma City killed 168 individuals in 1995, which the FBI described as the country's worst act of domestic terrorism. The bomb was set up by Timothy McVeigh, who held antigovernment views. Tennessee Democratic state senator Tommy Burks was assassinated by a Republican rival in 1998, when he was running for reelection.
21st century
2000–2020