The follow listing has not been updated since 2000, but is included here for historical reference. For related listings more thoroughly vetted, see these pages:
| May 1856 | Representative Preston Brooks beat Charles Sumner, Massachusetts senator, in the Senate chamber, causing him serious injury. |
| 14 Apr 1865 | President Abraham Lincoln shot by John Wilkes Booth in Washington DC; secretary of state William H. Seward injured separately by accomplice Lewis Powell; Lincoln died 15 April. |
| 2 Jul 1881 | President James Garfield shot by Charles J. Guiteau in Washington, DC, died 19 Sept. |
| 4 May 1886 | bomb thrown during labor rally at Haymarket Square, Chicago, IL, kills 7 policemen, many injured; police fire into crowd, killing 4; 8 anarchists accused. |
| Feb 1890 | Kentucky Representative William Taulbee shot outside U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, by Charles Kincaid; Taulbee died several days later. |
| 6 Sep 1901 | President William McKinley shot by Leon Czolgosz in Buffalo, NY, died 14 Sept. |
| 30 Dec 1905 | Frank Steunenberg, former Idaho governor, killed by bomb. |
| 1 Oct 1910 | bombing by labor activists at The Los Angeles Times building, Los Angeles; 21 killed. |
| 14 Oct 1912 | former President Theodore Roosevelt shot and injured in attempted assassination in Milwaukee, WI. |
| Jul 1915 | bomb explodes in U.S. Capitol; no injuries. |
| 23 Jul 1916 | bomb in suitcase explodes at preparedness parade in San Francisco; 10 killed, 40 injured. |
| 31 Jan 1919 | T. Wong, head of Chinese Educational Mission to the United States, is killed along with two Chinese students in Washington, DC. |
| 16 Sep 1920 | bomb in horse-drawn wagon exploded near Morgan bank in lower Manhattan, New York, NY; 34 killed, 200 injured. |
| 15 Feb 1933 | attempted assassination of President-elect Franklin Roosevelt by anarchist Joseph Zangara; Chicago mayor Anton Cermak shot instead, dying 6 March. |
| 8 Sep 1935 | Senator Huey Long shot in Baton Rouge, LA, by Carl Weiss who was shot and killed by bodyguards; Long died 10 Sept. |
| 21 Sep 1935 | plane hijacked from Brooklyn and flown across Atlantic, crashing in Irish Free State; 1 injured. |
| 23 Feb 1936 | retired U.S. Army colonel shot and killed in San Juan, both assassins killed; police chief killed in Utuado, shortly afterward. |
| 21 Jan 1938 | peace advocate drowned trying to bomb Japanese steamer in Seattle, WA. |
| 22 Jul 1948 | Stephen J. Supona dropped homemade bomb from airplane over United Nations building in New York; no damage caused. |
| 1 Nov 1950 | in assassination attempt on President Harry Truman, two Puerto Rican nationalists try to shoot their way into Blair House; 2 killed, including 1 terrorist. |
| 1 Mar 1954 | Puerto Rican nationalists fire from gallery of U.S. House of Representatives; 5 Congressman injured. |
| 1 Nov 1955 | United Air Lines DC-8 exploded and crashed near Longmont, CO, destroyed by bomb planted by John Graham in insurance plot to kill his mother, a passenger; 44 killed. |
| 1 Nov 1958 | Cubana Airlines flight hijacked from Miami by members of 26th of July Movement; plane crashed near Punta Tabaio, Cuba, killing 17 of 20 aboard. |
| 6 Jan 1960 | National Airlines flight bombed in insurance plot, crashing near Boliva, NC; 34 killed. |
| 22 May 1962 | Continental flight bombed near Unionville, MO; 44 killed. |
| 12 Jun 1963 | Medgar Evers, NAACP Mississippi field secretary, killed in Jackson, MS. |
| Sep 1963 | bombing of black Baptist church in Birmingham, AL, kills 4 children; in subsequent rioting 2 blacks are killed. |
| 22 Nov 1963 | President John Kennedy shot in Dallas, TX, by Lee Harvey Oswald, himself later shot by Jack Rudy before trial. |
| May 1964 | Frank Gonzalez, intending to commit suicide, shot pilot of Pacific Air Lines flight, causing plane to crash; 44 killed. |
| 22 Jun 1964 | three civil rights workers kidnapped in Mississippi, bodies found 4 Aug, 7 whites convicted of murders. |
| 16 Feb 1965 | three individuals, including members of Black Liberation Front and Montreal Separatist Party, arrested plotting to bomb Liberty Bell, Statue of Liberty, and Washington Monument. |
| 21 Feb 1965 | Malcolm X fatally shot in New York City. |
| 11-16 Aug 1965 | Watts riots in Los Angeles by blacks kill 34, injure 1,000, cause $20 million in damage. |
| 15 Mar 1966 | young blacks riot in Watts, Los Angeles; 2 killed, 25 injured. |
| 7 Jan 1967 | R. Parks commits suicide in bombing of Las Vegas motel; 6 killed, 12 injured. |
| 29 Jan 1967 | simultaneous bombing of Yugoslav missions in Washington, DC, Chicago, IL, San Francisco, CA, New York City, NY, Ottawa, Canada, and Toronto, Canada. |
| 2 May 1967 | 26 Black Panthers walk into California State Legislature in Sacramento carrying loaded guns to read a political statement. |
| 12-17 Jul 1967 | black riots in Newark, NJ, kill 26, injure 1,500. |
| 23-30 Jul 1967 | black riots in Detroit, MI, kill 43, injure 2,000. |
| 4 Apr 1968 | Martin Luther King Jr. shot and killed by James Earl Ray in Memphis, TN. |
| 5 Jun 1968 | Robert Kennedy shot by Jordanian Sinhan Bishara Sirhan in Los Angeles, CA, died 6 Jun. |
| Jun 1969 | gunfight at Black Panther Party headquarters in Sacramento, CA, injures 13 policemen. |
| 6 Mar 1970 | three killed in New York City, apparently while building bombs for Weathermen. |
| 17 Mar 1970 | Eastern Airlines flight hijacked; copilot shot and killed. |
| Nov 1970 | U.S. Army learns of Weathermen plot to blackmail homosexual officer at Fort Detrick, MD, to steal a biological weapon for use in the water supply of a major city. |
| 1 Mar 1971 | Weather Underground bombing of Senate wing of U.S. Capitol. |
| 20 Oct 1971 | JDL members fire into apartment occupied by members of Soviet UN delegation in New York. |
| 1972 | gunman attempts to hijack plane in Baltimore and fly it into White House to kill President Nixon; kills 2 at airport and himself, injures one. |
| Jan 1972 | two teenagers, members of RISE, arrested for plotting to introduce typhoid bacteria into Chicago water supply. |
| 26 Jan 1972 | Jewish Defense League firebombs two Sol Hurok offices in New York, NY; one killed at each location, with 13 total additional injuries. |
| 7 Mar 1972 | caller threatens to bomb four TWA airliners, one every 6 hours, unless a $2,000,000 ransom was paid; one bomb exploded in emptied airliner, at least one additional bomb defused on another airliner. |
| 15 May 1972 | Alabama governor George Wallace and 3 others injured, shot by Arthur Bremer. |
| 27 Jan 1972 | Black Liberation Army kills 2 police officers. |
| 1 Jul 1973 | Israeli military attache Colonel Yosef Alon shot outside his home in Washington, DC, claimed by PFLP. |
| 6 Nov 1973 | SLA kills Marcus Foster, black school superintendent. |
| 1974 | "Alphabet Bomber", having threatened to kill the President with nerve gas, arrested with all but one of necessary components. |
| Jan 1974 | SLA shows interest in biological weapons. |
| 17 May 1974 | 6 SLA suspects in Hearst kidnapping killed in gun battle with police. |
| 6 Aug 1974 | bomb explodes in locker at airport in Los Angeles, CA; 3 killed, 35 injured. |
| 24 Jan 1975 | FALN bombing of Fraunces Tavern in Wall Street, New York City; 4 killed, 63 injured. |
| 29 Jan 1975 | Weather Underground bombing of U.S. State Department in Washington, DC. |
| 5 Sep 1975 | Secret Service agent prevents Lynette Fromme, a Charles Manson follower, from shooting President Gerald Ford in Sacramento. |
| 22 Sep 1975 | President Gerald Ford unharmed in assassination attempt by Sara Jane Moore, a political activist. |
| Nov 1975 | NEST deployed to Los Angeles, CA, after threatened detonation of nuclear device at a Union Oil Company facility; no device found. |
| 29 Dec 1975 | bomb explodes in locker at La Guardia Airport, New York City; Croatian nationalists suspected; 11 killed, 75 injured. |
| Jun 1976 | "B. A. Fox" threatens to use mail to disperse ticks carrying pathogens. |
| 10 Sep 1976 | Croatian terrorists hijack TWA jet and have it flown to France; 1 policeman killed by bomb at Grand Central Terminal in New York City. |
| 9 Mar 1977 | Hanafi Muslim gunmen seize 3 buildings in Washington, DC, and hold 134 hostages for 39 hours before surrendering. |
| 22 Mar 1977 | bombing attributed to Chicano activist kills one in Denver, CO. |
| 23 Apr 1977 | bomb explodes in locker at airport in Washington, DC; 1 killed. |
| 3 Aug 1977 | FALN bombs two office buildings in New York; 1 killed at Mobil headquarters, 7 injured. |
| 10 Oct 1977 | Bomb exploded next to visitor center at Trojan NPS, with Environmental Assault Unit of the New World Liberation Front claiming responsibility. |
| Jan 1979 | individual with two 5-gallon containers of uranium dioxide threatens to disperse it in a U.S. city unless $100,000 ransom received; man arrested in Wilmington, NC. |
| Dec 1979 | Macheteros members ambush Navy bus in Puerto Rico, killing 2 sailors and injuring 10. |
| 1980 | Omega 7 member places bomb under car of Cuban ambassador to the UN. |
| Jun 1980 | Croatian bombing of museum at Statue of Liberty, no injuries. |
| 22 Jul 1980 | Ali Akbar Tabataba'i, former senior officer in Iranian Shah's SAVAK, shot at home by Daoud Salahuddin, a radical black Muslim under instructions from Iran. |
| 29 May 1980 | Vernon Jordan Jr., civil rights leader, shot and injured in Fort Wayne, IN. |
| 1981 | UFF members murder New Jersey State Police officer. |
| 12 Jan 1981 | Macheteros terrorists bomb 9 Air National Guard jets at Muniz ANGB in Puerto Rico, causing $40 million in damage. |
| 30 Mar 1981 | President Reagan and 3 others injured in attempted assassination by Hinkley in Washington, DC. |
| 16 May 1981 | bomb explodes in airport terminal in New York, NY, killing one. |
| 20 Oct 1981 | Weather Underground member Kathy Boudin captured after killing 3 in New York. |
| 28 Jan 1982 | Kemal Arikan, Turkish Consul-General in Los Angeles, assassinated by Armenian terrorists. |
| 4 May 1982 | Orhan Gunduz, honorary Turkish Consul in Boston, assassinated by Armenian terrorists. |
| 1983 | total of 8 killed in politically motivated murders. |
| 1983 | two men arrested in Springfield, MA, manufacturing ricin, a nerve agent. |
| 15 Jul 1983 | bomb in car kills Armenian Victor Galustian in Los Angeles, CA. |
| Aug 1983 | Ahmadiyya Moverment in Islam secretary killed in Detroit by members of Fuqra, a black Islamic sect; 2 members killed setting fire in AMI temple. |
| 7 Nov 1983 | bombing at U.S. Capitol building in Washington, DC; later linked to Revolutionary Armed Task Force. |
| Dec 1983 | authorities prevent attempt by pro-Khomeini students to set fire to theater where 500 anti-Khomeini Iranians were meeting. |
| 31 Dec 1983 | FALN bombings at federal and city buildings in New York City; 1 policeman injured. |
| 1984 | white supremacists alledged were preparing to poison water supplies of Chicago and Washington, DC, prior to their arrest. |
| ~Apr 1984 | two Canadians arrested in NY attempting to purchase large amounts of pathogenic bacteria (tetanus and botulinal toxin) from a Rockville, MD, firm. |
| 15 Jun 1984 | Alan Berg killed by white supremacists. |
| Aug 1984 | followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh fail in attempt to spread salmonella in The Dalles, OR. |
| 29 Aug 1984 | followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh use water to infect two officials with salmonella in The Dalles, OR; both sickened, one hospitalized. |
| 15 Sep 1984 | salmonella poisoning outbreak in Antelope, OR, produces 60 clinical cases and 751 total known illnesses; followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh implicated. |
| 7 Dec 1984 | Robert Matthews, leader of The Order, a right-wing group, killed in raid by federal agents on Whidbey Island, WA. |
| 25 Dec 1984 | three abortion clinics bombed in Pensacola, FL. |
| 1985 | members of Libyan-linked street gang El Rukn arrested attempting to obtain SAM to attack an aircraft at O'Hare IAP, Chicago. |
| 15 Aug 1985 | Tscherim Soobzokov, alleged Nazi war criminal, injured in Paterson, NJ, by bombing possibly linked to JDL; died 6 Sept. |
| Oct 1985 | Alex Odah, officer of American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, killed by bombing possibly linked to JDL. |
| 19 Feb 1986 | Unabomber bomb kills Hugh Scrutton, a computer store owner, in Sacramento, CA, with bomb in paper bag behind store. |
| 13 May 1985 | police assault on headquarters of radical black group Move in Philadephia starts fire, killing 11. |
| 1 Apr 1985 | letter writer threatens to contaminate New York City's water reservoirs with plutonium unless charges against Bernhard Goetz are dropped; testing was announced to have detected femtocurie levels of plutonium in the water on 26 July. |
| 1986 | total of 3 killed in politically motivated murders. |
| 16 May 1986 | two Aryan Nation members seize elementary school in Cokeville, WY, holding teachers and 150 students hostage, demanding $2 million per child; bomb accidentally explodes, killing one terrorist and injuring 70 students; second terrorist commits suicide. |
| 5 Sep 1986 | tear-gas bomb set off 5 minutes before end of Russian dance troupe performance at New York City's Metropolitan Opera House by Jewish extremists; 30 injured. |
| 29 Sep 1986 | four bombs explode in Coeur d'Alene, ID, at department store, restaurant, federal building, and armed forces recruiting station, set by Bruder Scheigen Strike Force II. |
| 28 Oct 1986 | Macheteros bombings at military facilities Puerto Rico injure one. |
| Dec 1986 | 6 members of Arizona Patriots indicted for planned bombings of federal and Jewish buildings. |
| 14 Dec 1986 | Dennis Malvasi sets bomb in Planned Parenthood building in Manhattan, leaving rental agent handcuffed nearby; bomb fizzles. |
| 31 Dec 1986 | three employees set fire in Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, PR, killing 96. |
| Apr 1987 | apparent Islamic terrorist plot to bomb Atlantic City casinos called off due to alerted authorities. |
| 23 Oct 1987 | Lebanese national and two others, all members of Syrain Socialist National Party, arrested attempting to enter Vermont from Canada with bomb components. |
| 28 Nov 1987 | bomb exploded in parking lot of Sandia National Laboratories. |
| 12 Apr 1988 | Yu Kikumura, member of Japanese Red Army, arrested in New Jersey with bombs to be detonated in Manhattan 3 days later. |
| Nov 1988 | animal rights activist arrested leaving pipe bomb at U.S. Surgical Corporation in Norwalk, CT. |
| 10 Mar 1989 | pipe-bomb exploded in van of Sharon Lee Rogers, wife of U.S.S. Vincennes captain, planted by pro-Iranian terrorists. |
| 13 Mar 1989 | U.S. FDA inspectors in Philadelphia discover two grapes laced with minimal amounts of cyanide in shipment from Chile following warning telephoned to U.S. embassy in Santiago. |
| 18 Apr 1989 | child maimed by bomb in toothpaste tube in K-Mart store in Indianapolis, IN; apparently teenage perpetrator commits suicide 20 April. |
| 19 Apr 1989 | explosion in gun turrent of battleship U.S.S. Iowa off Puerto Rico kills 47; Navy cites some evidence of sabotage. |
| 21 Aug 1989 | gas canister in parcel explodes at NAACP regional office in Atlanta; 15 injured. |
| 17 Dec 1989 | Judge Robert Vance killed by mail bomb, wife injured, in Mountain Brook, AL. |
| 18 Dec 1989 | black civil rights lawyer Robert Robinson killed by mail bomb in Savannah, GA. |
| 25 Mar 1990 | arson fire kills 87 in New York City social club. |
| 24 May 1990 | two Earth First! members injured while transporting bomb in car. |
| 5 Nov 1990 | Rabbi Meir Kahane assassinated in New York by Al-Sayyid Abdulazziz Nossair. |
| 1992 | Mustafa Shalabi killed in Brooklyn by Islamic group members. |
| Mar 1992 | Minnesota Patriots Council plots to assassinate law enforcement officials using ricin. |
| 26 Mar 1992 | Parivash Rafizadeh, wife of former senior officer in Iranian Shah's SAVAK, shot in Franklin Lakes, NJ, near her home. |
| 19 Apr 1992 | federal marshals in shootout with white supremacist Randy Weaver in Idaho kill his wife and son. |
| 27 Apr-2 May 1992 | black riots in Los Angeles, CA, following not guilty verdict in trial of four policemen for beating black offender; 58 killed. |
| 25 Jan 1993 | Mir Amail Kansi, an Afghan Islamist, shot several CIA employees in cars in front of CIA headquarters in Langley, VA; 2 killed and 3 injured. |
| 26 Feb 1993 | bombing at World Trade Center, New York City, NY; truck bomb in basement parking garage started fire; 5 Islamic suspects arrested in March; 6 killed, 1,040 injured; damages estimated at $550 million to $1.1 billion. |
| 28 Feb 1993 | Branch Davidian cult members kill 4 ATF agents, injure 16, when agents raided their compound in Waco, TX; 10 cult members killed; compound was seiged until 19 Apr when cult leader David Koresh burned the compound following another attempted raid; total 76 killed. |
| 10 Mar 1993 | Abortionist David Gunn shot and killed in Pensacola, FL, by abortion opponent. |
| Jul 1993 | FBI arrests skinheads planning to machine gun worshippers at First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles in hopes of starting a race war. |
| 25 Aug 1993 | Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman indicted for conspiracy in the World Trade Center bombing and for plotting to bomb the United Nations building, a tunnel, and other New York targets. |
| 14 Dec 1993 | Colin Ferguson shot and killed 6, injured 17 on Long Island, NY, train, professing hatred of whites. |
| 26 Apr 1994 | mail bomb kills man in Colorado Springs, CO, and injures his wife. |
| 29 Jul 1994 | abortion opponent shot and killed abortionist and his bodyguard and injured abortionist's wife in Pensacola, FL. |
| 12 Sep 1994 | Frank Corder flew Cessna from MD into White House, striking tree near President's bedroom, killing himself and causing damage to White House. |
| 29 Oct 1994 | lone gunman with semi-automatic weapon fires shots at White House from sidewalk in front on Pennsylvania Avenue. |
| 30 Dec 1994 | gunman kills 2 abortion clinic workers in MA, then drives to Norfolk, VA, and fires on clinic before arrest. |
| 10 Dec 1994 | Unabomber mail bomb kills New York advertising executive Thomas Mosser in North Caldwell, NJ. |
| 1995 | members of right-wing group arrested with biological agents. |
| 19 Apr 1995 | truck bombing partially destroys federal building in Oklahoma City, OK; 168 killed, 432 injured; prime suspect believed motivated by anti-federal government views; possibility of bombs emplaced in building alleged by some. |
| 24 Apr 1995 | Unabomber mail bomb kills Gilbert Murray, president of California Forestry Assn., at office. |
| May 1995 | man with unloaded gun scales White House fence; jumper and Secret Service agent shot and injured by another guard. |
| 29 Jun 1995 | Unabomber threatens to blow up an airliner. |
| 12 Sep 1995 | car bomb kills 5 at shopping mall in Essex, MD, in apparent murder plot. |
| 10 Oct 1995 | Amtrak train derailed near Hyder, AZ, by sabotage to tracks with nearby note claiming responsibility by Sons of Gestapo, later attributed to railroad employee; 1 killed, 100 injured. |
| 23 Dec 1995 | Thomas Lewis Lavy arrested in Arkansas for possession of ricin, a biotoxin; Lavy commits suicide the next day. |
| Jun 1996 | several individuals arrested in New York planning to kill Republican officials; seized weapons included radioactive materials. |
| 27 Jul 1996 | pipe bomb explodes in park at night concert at Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, GA; 1 killed, 1 died nearby of heart attack, 110 injured. |
| 2 Jan 1997 | letter bombs received at Egyptian newspaper offices in Washington, DC, New York City, and a prison in Leavenworth Kansas; similar device exploded at Egyptian newspaper office in London, UK, injuring 2 guards. |
| Feb 1997 | James Dalton Bell allegedly investigates toxins for use in assassinating government officials. |
| 22 Feb 1997 | bomb explodes in Atlanta, GA, nightclub frequented by homosexuals; 4 injured. |
| 23 Feb 1997 | Lone Palestinian gunman fired on tourists on observation deck of Empire State Building, New York City; Danish national was killed and other tourists injured before gunman killed himself. |
| 26 Mar 1997 | discovery of mass suicide by 39 members of Heaven's Gate cult in Rancho Santa Fe, CA, tied by cult members to Comet Hale-Bopp. |
| Apr 1997 | Counter Holocaust Lobbyists of Zion mails package falsely claiming to contain anthrax. |
| 1998 | several abortion clinics contaminated with foul-smelling chemicals. |
| 29 Jan 1998 | bombing at abortion clinic in Birmingham, AL, kills one guard and injures a nurse; Eric Rudolph suspected in case. |
| Jul 1998 | three indivduals arrested in or near Olmito, TX, allegedly plotting to assassinate government officials with biotoxins. |
| 24 Jul 1998 | gunman enters U.S. Capitol building in Washington, DC, and kills two guards; one tourist and the gunman are injured. |
Summary:
total listed terrorist acts in the United States resulting in fatalities through September 2000: 66
total fatalities in these incidents: 415
SOURCES:
© 2000, 2008 by Wm. Robert Johnston.
Last modified 25 January 2008.
Return to Home. Return to Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Unconventional Warfare.