Terrorism+in+America

toc A terrorist is someone who uses terrorism. Terrorism is using unjust rough action and the threat of taking such action against civilians for the purpose of political gain, to fill with fear, or to strive against government power. America has fell victim to acts of terrorism since before the 20th century. Terrorism has risen in America from 1941-2009 ranging from bombings, shootings, hostage situations and mass murders.

Table of contents 1.1940-1960 2.1960-1980  3.1980-2009 = = =1940-1960=  In the years between 1940 and 1960 there have been plenty of acts of terrorism in America. For example, the mad bomber ca. 1940-1956, the man known as the "mad bomber" was George Metesky, a former marine who at the age of 38 began his bombing rage. Exactly 10 years prior he was working at a plant near a boiler when it erupted, blowing fumes at him that gave him tuberculosis and left him without a job. He never received compensation and that created bad blood between Metesky and Edison power plant, and this lead to him leaving a bomb there on November 16th, 1940. He gained notice of the NYPD in the 1950’s when he started bombing again after 10 years of silence. He sent letters to the police and newspaper to lead them to future bombings. He was not a very successful bomber. Of the 33 bombs he planted, only 22 exploded and 15 people were injured total, with no casualties. He left bombs mainly in theatres, then phone booths, terminals and a library. Another example of an act of terrorism happened on December 7th, 1941. On that day America became a part of WWII. The Japanese Naval Fleet bombed Pearl Harbor, sinking four battleships and causing 2,402 American people to lose their lives. =1960-1980= In the years between 1960 and 1980 massive acts of terrorism were committed on American soil by American people. The assassination of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy on Friday November 22, 1963 would be the most controversial assassination to date. The Kennedy family is believed to have a curse because of the number of tragic deaths under one family name. This assassination by far was the most outrageous and most famous. JFK and his wife were in the back seat of the presidential limo headed to Trade Mart when on Elm Street the president was shot in the back through his neck and in the head. This was concluded to be by Lee Harvey Oswald, who was killed before he could be charged. Within the same decade, on April 4th, 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. King, only 39 years old with the heart of a 60 year old was standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis when he was shot in the face. Over two months later James Earl Ray was arrested and confessed to the murder in March of 1969 and received a sentence of 99 years in prison. In 1977 he did escape from prison for only three days and had a year added to his sentence. Years after this, in November of 1979 in Tehran Iran 52 American civilians were taken hostage from the American Embassy. They were held by Islamic students who supported the Iranian revolution, until January 20, 1981. No lives were taken; it was more of a scare tactic to America. =1980-2009= One of the largest acts of terrorism in America occurred before the 2000s. It was the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19th, 1995. Timothy McVeigh, Terry Nichols and Michael Fortier set off a truck bomb under the day-care center in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. It caused $652 million in damages, damage to over 300 buildings in the area and 168 fatalities. An act of terrorism at the end of the century occurred at the Columbine High school in Colorado on April 20th, 1999. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold both seniors, killed 13 people at their school. The boys had their attack planned months in advance. They got a hold of 8 guns for the attack. People involved in the distribution of those guns to minors were arrested. They shot over 100 bullets through the course of the massacre. They set off a bomb in the school’s field, they set two bombs in the cafeteria that never went off, and then began shooting students around the school. The cops arrived while the shootings continued. A little after noon they both committed suicide in the library. The shootings began at 11:24 but it took until 4:30pm for the school to get an all clear. You could say this paved the way for even bigger school shootings in the future. For example, another school shooting that took place 8 years and 4 days apart. This time the shooter acted alone and was a senior in college. He killed students and teachers, then himself just like the Columbine shooters. They all the same mindset, to get even with people they felt did wrong to them. Therefore on April 16th, 2007 the Virginia Tech Massacre took place. 23 year old Sueng-Hui Cho went on a shooting rampage and killed 32 people, two in the West Ambler Johnston Hall and 30 in the Norris Hall. The shootings began around 7:15 am, he took a brief intermission before he began his second reign of terror because he had to delete information from his computer and he mailed a package to NBC News. Meanwhile the police were over in the next dorm tending to his first victims. Two hours later he made his way over to the Norris Hall where after his second attack he shot himself in the head. The contents of the package sent to NBC were pictures of Cho, 27 videos of him talking about who he had anger towards and a long paper explaining why he shot his victims. In his letter to NBC he referred to the Columbine shooters as martyrs. The biggest and most impacting act of terrorism in America were the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The main event that happened was both world trade centers in New York City were hit by planes and thousands were killed. Later, beginning on September 18th, 2001 there was an attack against News stations and senators. Letters were sent out to Senator Daschle, Senator Leahy, The New York Post, ABC, NBC, CBS, The National Enquirer and AMI. The letters had a secret message in them that could be interpreted in multiple ways. The letters also contained anthrax, in powder form that causes respiratory failure, ulcers on the skin and death. 17 people were infected by the bacteria and it caused 5 people to die. It took until February of 2010 for the investigation to be declared closed; 2 years after the prime suspect killed himself. In Closing, there have been numerous accounts of terrorist attacks on America over the decades, so many that they could not all be fit into one paper or just one generalization. The tactics, people behind it, and the victims all vary with time, place and motive. = = =Analysis= From 1941-2009Americawas in a stage of major developments that got us where we are today, as we are still always developing. We used trial and error and learned from past experiences on how to use prevention. Once a major incident occurs we study it to find ways to better deal with a similar situation in the future, because in a lot of ways history does repeat itself. The 1940s definitely wasn’t a decade of paranoia and worry about who might be out to harm you. But as things changed in America, we got smarter and gained more caution over the next few decades.

In the case of George Metesky, the bomb investigation unit was new. So they didn’t have top notch technology to nab him right away. Finding out who the mystery mad bomber was became such a big deal that promotions and a cash reward was offered. In the end he was arrested after a long search through the company’s files for someone who’d fit the description of a mad bomber. He was committed to a hospital for the criminally insane for 21 years. America in the 1940s was a part of World War II. It obviously had a big influence on people’s lives and the terrorism against America. Japan’s motive to the pearl harbor attack was to prevent American interference of Japan gaining control of southeast Asia and to gain more time for building their own ships and to terrorize America into not wanting to go to war. The attack had the opposite effect and we did wage war withJapan.Americashowed what a triumphant country it could be by coming out of previous wars on top. America had a high and mighty ego because we were the best and would continue to be the best. When the others saw a country doing well, they wanted to shut us up with terrorism. By killing American people and destroying what we spent a lot of time and money on,Japantook a shot at our country’s strength.

America depends on their president as the man who will lead the country to greatness. So what happens when that man is media type="youtube" key="j6mxL2cqxrA" height="234" width="431" align="right" murdered? The Kennedy assassination was more than one man's death, it left an everlasting imprint on the country and changed the American sense of "security." When the president's wife finally saw her husband in his casket she took her wedding ring off and put it on his hand to symbolize that all she had was now gone. She even wore the same suit she had on when he died the whole day and when the new president took office to make a statement to the man who killed her husband. She was not afraid to show her devastation about what happened, but she did keep out of the public eye because it was a time of mourning. Kennedy felt as though his children should go on to love and respect the country, and when a man with that much love for his country is murdered it’s like shooting a hole in the American dream. Now in comparison to the murder of Martin Luther king Jr., it would be almost as big of an impact; at least on the African American community and those who supported civil rights and his dream. Immediately following his death Robert Kennedy gave a speech on MLK though he was advised it would put him in danger, he did it anyway. He had directly related to the way the crowd reacted because of his own brother. MLK’s death lead to riots all over the country causing millions of dollars worth of damage and lives lost. So as you can see this act of terrorism had a domino effect that lead to chaos. The hostage takers at Tehran were influenced by their new leader who had lots of hatred towards America. America stepped in with our over-authoritative attitude and chose the leader for Iran. The hostage crisis big impact on America was that we are as vulnerable as any other country. Also that we come together as a country and our pride shows when our people are in need of rescue. The actual hostages experienced captivity in a mansion. But they were actually beat, bound for weeks, threatened and not allowed to talk to each other. Imagine living that way for so long and eventually giving up hope on ever returning home. The American hostages cheered in joy once they were flown out ofIran.

The mastermind behind theOklahoma Citybombing was Timothy McVeigh. McVeigh specifically targeted the FBI, DEA and ATF. All of the men involved were against limitations on gun possession and were angry with the Government because of the way they killed Randy Weaver's son in a shootout to take Randy into custody. They were also angry about the Siege atWacowhere 76 people were shot down by the FBI. They concluded that they were going to bomb a building that had government offices inside to avenge their reasons of rage. In the case of school shooters, they show warning signs years in advance that should not be ignored. But in the Virginia Tech and Columbine Cases, there were no serious forms of preventive action taken. TheColumbineHigh schoolshooters met three years before they committed their crimes. They started off high school being bullied, but they eventually turned into bullies. Eric made a site where he created levels for the popular video game "Doom." It turned into a site where Dylan and Eric posted things that were negative, threats, and showed how they made their pipe bombs and the damage they caused. Parents of victimized kids did step up by telling the police about the site and it was looked at but the actual warrant was never filed so nothing was done. After they were caught stealing from a van and sentenced to Juvenile, they both had to take anger management classes and Eric actually began therapy and continued until his death. They made journals and videos which Cho, the shooter at Virginia Tech also did years later. They had a high interest in explosives and wanted their bombing to be compared to that ofOklahoma City. But the actual bombs that were supposed to cause massive damage by killing everyone at lunch didn’t go off. There is a lot of scrutiny towards the way authorities dealt with the situation. The dead bodies remained inside the school and unidentified until 5pm the next day. They tried to find ways to rationalize the situation. They said bullying, mental illness, video games and Goth were the influences that created two killers. Similar reasons were pasted to the Virginia Tech case by investigators. Positive effects of the killings were stricter gun laws, and the response of police to shootouts. In the 9/11 attacks the element of surprise was used.America went into a state of emergency as soon as the first World Trade Center was hit. New York City responded quickly and so did the media. On any search of 9/11 you can find a large amount of graphic pictures of the impact and people jumping off the building. There is a conspiracy theory behind 9/11 and especially the attack of the Pentagon. Terrorism in America mainly impacts people emotionally, and psychologically. New threats will be here in the years to come, but learning from the past is what America can do to prevent less damage in future attacks.

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