Political violence in the United States during the Cold War

Political violence in the United States during the Cold War
Part of the Cold War
Clockwise from top left: Soldiers stand near ruined buildings in Washington, D.C., 1968 Locals look at the bombed home of Arthur Shores in Birmingham, 1963 Aftermath of the 1983 United States Senate bombing, 1983 Aftermath of the San Juan Nationalist revolt, 1950 Black Panther demonstration, 1967 Protests following the Greensboro massacre, 1979
Date c. 1947–1989 Location United States Result Many militant organizations dismantled or dissolved Desegregation
Belligerents
United States government FBI CIA ATF USSS USMS National Guard United States Army Local law enforcement agencies Red Squads GOON American Mafia (covertly)	Black power movement Black Panther Party US Organization Black Liberation Army Black Guerrilla Family Republic of New Afrika Black Revolutionary Assault Team MOVE Revolutionary Action Movement Conservative Vice Lords Black Peace Stones Nation American Indian Movement Independent Oglala Nation Leech Lake Puerto Rican nationalists Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico Boricua Popular Army Almighty Latin King Nation Young Lords Armed Forces of National Liberation Supported by DGI (alleged) Chicano Movement Venceremos Brown Berets Chicano Liberation Front Other left-wing organizations Red Guard Party Weather Underground May 19th Communist Organization Symbionese Liberation Army Young Patriots Organization George Jackson Brigade John Brown Anti-Klan Committee United Freedom Front New World Liberation Front Seattle Liberation Front Supported by KGB (alleged) Other groups Nation of Islam Revolutionary Youth Movement Red Guard Party Young Patriots Organization Peoples Temple Youth International Party National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam New American Movement Students for a Democratic Society Southern Christian Leadership Conference Knights of the Flaming Circle Supported by NAACP	Ku Klux Klan U.S. Klans Original Ku Klux Klan of the Confederacy United Klans of America National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Silver Dollar Group Supported by Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission Other white supremacists American Nazi Party National States' Rights Party Aryan Brotherhood Aryan Nations National Renaissance Party The Order The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord Manson Family Posse Comitatus Anti-communist organizations Minutemen Secret Army Organization VOECRN Supported by FBI (alleged) Cuban dissident movement Alpha 66 Omega 7 Cuban Power Coordination of United Revolutionary Organizations Supported by CIA DINA Zionists Jewish Defense League Jewish Defense Organization Supported by Kach Italian-American Civil Rights League American Mafia
Commanders and leaders
Harry S. Truman Dwight D. Eisenhower John F. Kennedy † Lyndon B. Johnson Richard Nixon Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan Robert F. Kennedy † J. Edgar Hoover Allen Dulles	Huey P. Newton † Fred Hampton † Assata Shakur Eldridge Cleaver Sah Ankh Sa Ma’at John Africa † Dennis Banks Russell Means Frank Fools Crow Richard Oakes John Trudell LaNada Means Pedro Albizu Campos Filiberto Ojeda Ríos Juan Enrique Segarra-Palmer José Jiménez Aaron Manganiello Bernardine Dohrn Bill Ayers Elizabeth Ann Duke Donald DeFreeze † William Harris Jim Jones †	Robert Shelton David Duke George Lincoln Rockwell † J. B. Stoner Edward Reed Fields Charles Manson Richard Butler Louis Beam Robert Jay Mathews † Robert DePugh Howard B. Godfrey Jerry Lynn Davis Andrés Nazario Sargen Meir Kahane † Irv Rubin Mordechai Levy
~236 killed and 336 injured (1970–1989)

This article is part of a series on the
History of the United States
Timeline and periods Prehistoric and Pre-colonial until 1607 Colonial period 1607–1765 1776–1789     American Revolution 1765–1783     Confederation Period 1783–1788 1789–1849     Federalist Era 1788–1801     Jeffersonian Era 1801–1817     Era of Good Feelings 1817–1825     Jacksonian Era 1825–1849 1849–1865     Civil War Era 1850–1865 1865–1918     Reconstruction Era 1865–1877     Gilded Age 1877–1895     Progressive Era 1896–1916 1918–1945     World War I 1917–1919     Roaring Twenties 1920–1929     Great Depression 1929–1941     World War II 1941–1945 1945–1964     Post-war Era 1945–1964 1964–1980     Civil Rights Era 1965–1980 1980–1991     Reagan Era 1981–1991 1991–2008     Post-Cold War Era 1991–2008 2008–present     Modern day 2008–present
Topics Antisemitism Civil rights Cinema Culture Demographics Direct democracy Economics Foreign policy Founding Immigration Labor Medicine Military Army Marine Corps Navy Air Force Space Force Coast Guard Music Religion Socialism Sports Southern Technology and industry Territory Unfree labor
By group African American Asian American Chinese American Filipino American Japanese American Hispanic and Latino Americans Mexican American Irish American Jewish American Native Americans Cherokee Comanche Polish American Women LGBT Gay men Lesbians Transgender
See also Historiography List of years in the United States

The United States faced multiple waves of political violence during the Cold War. The first would occur as a result of the reemergence of the Ku Klux Klan in 1950, in opposition to the growing civil rights movement, which sought an end to racial segregation and other forms of institutional racism. The new Klan also gained a new anti-communist and neo-fascist element, in response to the rise of anti-communist ideas in American society as a result of the Red Scare. Other white supremacist organizations would arise at the same time, such as the American Nazi Party. In Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party would launch a series of revolts throughout the 50s, including an attempted assassination of Harry S. Truman. In the early 60s, standoffs between federal and state governments would result in events such as the Little Rock Crisis and the Ole Miss riot of 1962.

Political violence in the United States would increase throughout the 60s and 70s, which included the rise of many left-wing militant groups such as Weather Underground, the Black Panther Party, the Symbionese Liberation Army, and the May 19th Communist Organization. Some of which (chiefly the WUO and M19), would launch a series of bombings against various targets, mainly those associated with the federal government. Clashes between demonstrators and the police would be a major aspect of the protests against the US' involvement in the Vietnam War, culminating in the Kent State shootings and the Jackson State killings, both perpetrated by the National Guard. Events dubbed the "Ghetto riots" would occur throughout the 60s as a backlash against racial discrimination in impoverished mostly-African American neighborhoods.

Racist backlash against the civil rights movement and the Black power movement would continue in the form of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing by four members of the KKK and the later Greensboro massacre in 1979. 1968 is often highlighted as a particularly chaotic year in American history, which included an escalation of the Vietnam War, the widely televised 1968 Democratic National Convention protests, and the assassinations of both Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.

The federal government would commit acts of illegal surveillance against movements considered subversive as part of its COINTELPRO operation from 1956 to 1971, which allegedly backed militant anti-communist organizations, such as Secret Army Organization. Clashes between police and organizations associated with the Black Power movement would culminate in the 1985 MOVE bombing, committed by the Philadelphia Police Department, resulting in the deaths of 11 and the partial destruction of the neighborhood of Cobbs Creek. Attacks committed by left-wing organizations would largely end the same year, with the dissolution of M19. The rise of white supremacist and Neo-Nazi prison gangs throughout the 70s and 80s would result in multiple murders motivated by antisemitism including the murder of the Goldmark family and of Alan Berg.

Leftist political violence mostly died down by the end of the 20th-century. Some far-right organizations founded in the late 20th century would continue to operate.

This period is often known for the number of assassinations that occurred, including those of Medgar Evers, John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, George Lincoln Rockwell, Martin Luther King Jr., Robert F. Kennedy, Fred Hampton, Huey P. Newton, and Alan Berg.

Events and incidents

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

• Jayuya uprising (1950)
• San Juan Nationalist revolt (1950)
• Utuado uprising (1950)
• Attempted assassination of Harry S. Truman (1950)
• Assassination of Harry T. Moore (1951)
• 1954 United States Capitol shooting (1954)
• Mansfield school desegregation incident (1956)
• Little Rock Crisis (1957)
• Hebrew Benevolent Congregation Temple bombing (1958)
• Battle of Hayes Pond (1958)
• Ax Handle Saturday (1960)
• University of Georgia desegregation riot (1961)
• Birmingham bus attack (1961)
• Ole Miss riot of 1962 (1962)
• Assassination of Medgar Evers (1963)
• 16th Street Baptist Church bombing (1963)
• Assassination of John F. Kennedy (1963)
• Cambridge riot of 1963 (1963)
• Murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner (1964)
• Murder of Frank Morris (1964)
• Murder of Lemuel Penn (1964)
• Harlem riot of 1964 (1964)
• 1964 Rochester race riot (1964)
• Dixmoor race riot (1964)
• 1964 Philadelphia race riot (1964)
• Assassination of Malcolm X (1965)
• Watts riots (1965)
• March Against Fear (1966)
• 1966 Chicago West Side riots (1966)
• Hough riots (1966)
• Waukegan riot of 1966 (1966)
• 1966 Dayton race riot (1966)
• Hunters Point social uprising (1966)
• Assassination of George Lincoln Rockwell (1967)
• Long, hot summer of 1967 (1967)
• March on the Pentagon (1967)
• Orangeburg Massacre (1968)
• Glenville shootout and riots (1968)
• 1968 Democratic National Convention protests (1968)
• Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy (1968)
• Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (1968)
• King assassination riots (1968)
• 1968 Chicago riots (1968)
• 1968 Columbia University protests (1968)
• 1969 York race riot (1969)
• Weather High School Jailbreaks (1969)
• Tate–LaBianca murders (1969)
• Days of Rage (1969)
• Assassination of Fred Hampton (1969)
• Greensboro uprising (1969)
• Southern University shootings (1969)
• Occupation of Alcatraz (1969–1971)
• Stonewall riots (1969)
• Flint War Council (1969)
• San Francisco Police Department Park Station bombing (1970)
• Greenwich Village townhouse explosion (1970)
• Kent State shootings (1970)
• Jackson State killings (1970)
• Sterling Hall bombing (1970)
• Marin County Civic Center attacks (1970)
• New Haven Black Panther trials (1971)
• Attica Prison riot (1971)
• Delta Air Lines Flight 841 hijacking (1972)
• Mark Essex shootings (1973)
• Wounded Knee Occupation (1973)
• Murder of Marcus Foster (1973)
• Kidnapping of Patty Hearst (1974)
• SLA Shootout (1974)
• Crocker National Bank robbery (1975)
• Attempted assassination of Gerald Ford in Sacramento (1975)
• Attempted assassination of Gerald Ford in San Francisco (1975)
• Murder of Leo Ryan (1978)
• Jonestown massacre (1978)
• Greensboro massacre (1979)
• Fort Chaffee crisis (1980)
• 1981 Brink's robbery (1981)
• 1981 Muñiz Air National Guard Base attack (1981)
• Miracle Valley shootout (1982)
• 1983 United States Senate bombing (1983)
• Murder of the Goldmark family (1984)
• Murder of Alan Berg (1984)
• Murder of Alex Odeh (1985)
• MOVE bombing (1985)
• Assassination of Tscherim Soobzokov (1985)
• Fort Smith sedition trial (1988)
• Murder of Huey P. Newton (1989)
• Castro Sweep (1989)
• Assassination of Meir Kahane (1990)

Aftermath

The Greensboro massacre has been credited by some as having resulted in the convergence of disparate white supremacist ideologies in the United States and forming the precursor of modern far-right movements, such as the alt-right.

See also

• Terrorism in the United States
• List of incidents of civil unrest in the United States
• Mass racial violence in the United States
• COINTELPRO
• Operation Gladio

Similar conflicts

• Years of Lead (Italy)
• The Troubles
• Basque conflict
• Political violence in Turkey (1976–1980)

References

Template:Riots in the United States (1964–1980) Template:1968 protests

This article "Political violence in the United States during the Cold War" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Political violence in the United States during the Cold War. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

---