Terrorism on American Soil

A Concise History of Plots and Perpetrators from the Famous to the Forgotten

Joseph T. McCann

• Publisher: Sentient Publications
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781591810490
• eBook ISBN: 9781591812234
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

From the assassination of Abraham Lincoln to 9/11 and beyond, this riveting case study examines the history of American terror attacks.

To many Americans, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, seemed to usher in a new era in which we faced a new kind of threat. But in truth, terrorist attacks had always been a part of American life. This book chronicles thirty-seven such assaults on American soil from the end of the Civil War into the twenty-first century. Author Joseph T. McCann covers the most infamous attacks as well as obscure yet important events.

Using a narrative case-study format, Terrorism on American Soil provides detailed accounts of the perpetrators, their motives, and the social and political context in which the events took place. Taken together, these accounts reveal important lessons about the changing nature of terrorism in America; our evolving methods for coping with it; and the psychological, political, and legal principles that help us understand it.

ENDNOTES

INTRODUCTION

1. “Bin Laden’s Message,” BBC News, November 12, 2002, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/world/middle_east/2455845.stm (accessed December 13, 2013).

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.

4. The reference to Hulegu Khan and the historical significance of the reference was provided by terrorist researcher and expert Brian Michael Jenkins. I am grateful to Mr. Jenkins for providing these details; see also “Hulagu Kahn,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulegu_Khan, (accessed December 13, 2013).

5. John Horgan, The Psychology of Terrorism (New York: Routledge, 2005), 30.

6. A translation of the al-Qaeda training manual can be found on the website for the PBS show Frontline at www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/network/alqaeda/manual.html (accessed December 13, 2013).

7. Bernard Lewis, The Assassins: A Radical Sect in Islam (New York: Basic Books, 1967), 11–12.

8. Ibid., 12.

9. Some assassinations are not included in this book because they either have motives that were clearly not political (e.g., the assassination of President James Garfield who was killed by a mentally ill individual with a personal, and possibly delusional grudge), unknown (e.g., the assassination of John F. Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald), or atypical or bizarre (e.g., the assassination attempt on presidential candidate George Wallace or the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan).

10. J. Reid Meloy and James E. McEllistrem, “Bombing and Psychopathy: An Integrative Review,” Journal of Forensic Sciences 43 (1998): 556–562.

11. Horgan, The Psychology of Terrorism, 116.

12. One kidnapping case that is not included in this book that is often cited among examples of terrorist violence in the United States is the abduction of Patty Hearst. This case was not included because it was discussed elsewhere in one of my other publications. See Charles P. Ewing and Joseph T. McCann, Minds on Trial: Great Cases in Law and Psychology (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006).

13. William Langewiesche, “The Crash of Egypt Air 990,” The Atlantic Monthly, November, 2001, http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/2001/11/langewiesche.htm (accessed December 13, 2013).

14. Alex P. Schmid and Albert J. Jongman, Political Terrorism: A New Guide to Actors, Authors, Concepts, Data Bases, Theories, and Literature (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2005), 5.

15. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Terrorism 2000/2001 (Washington, DC: Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2000/2001), iii.

LOST CAUSE TERRORISM

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

1. Elizabeth Frost-Knappman and David S. Shrager, A Concise Encycloped...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Dedication
• Introduction
• Lost-Cause Terrorism: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
• Beginning the Dynamite Era: The Haymarket Bombing
• A False Sense of Community: The Assassination of William McKinley
• Stop the Presses: The Los Angeles Times Bombing of 1910
• An Eclectic Criminal: The Case of Erich Muenter
• A Question of Innocence: The San Francisco Preparedness Day Bombing
• Outrage: The Anarchist Bombings of 1919
• Propaganda by the Deed: The Wall Street Bombing of 1920
• Rush to Justice: The Case of Giuseppe Zangara
• Doomed from the Start: The Nazi Sabotage Plot of 1942
• Drawing Attention to a Cause: The Assassination Attempt on Harry S. Truman
• A Second Wave of Foreign Policy Protests: The 1954 Attack on the House of Representatives
• First in Flight: America’s First Airline Hijacking
• Justice Delayed: Bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church
• An Unshakeable Obsession: The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
• A Year of Living Dangerously: The Bombing Attacks of 1975
• Fake Bombs: The Hijacking of TWA Flight 355
• Spillover Effect: The Assassination of Orlando Letelier
• Backlash: An Alleged Plot to Kidnap the Governor of Minnesota
• Group Remnants: The U.S. Capitol Bombing of 1983
• Influencing an Election: America’s First Modern Bioterrorist Attack
• A Meeting of the Terrorist Minds: The Case of Yu Kikumura
• Flashpoint: The Assassination of Rabbi Meir Kahane
• International Manhunt: The Case of Mir Aimal Kasi
• A Needle in a Haystack: Investigating the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing
• Overzealousness: The Case of the Sheik and His Lawyer
• Thou Shalt Kill: The Paradox of Religiously Motivated Assassination
• Reverberations: The Political Context of a New York City Homicide
• Conspiracy Theories: The Oklahoma City Bombing
• Compulsory Nonsuit?: The Case of the Unabomber
• Regional Manhunt: The Case of Eric Rudolph
• A Finger on the Trigger: America’s First Suicide Terrorist Bombers
• Out of the Blue: Shooting Attack at the Empire State Building
• Leaderless Resistance: The Arson Fires of Vail Ski Resort
• Opportunities Lost and Found: The Attempted Millennial Bombing
• Connecting the Dots: September 11, 2001
• Are You Afraid?: The Anthrax Letters
• Epilogue
• Endnotes
• About the Author