This list includes historical attacks on the highest institutions of the U.S. federal government: attacks on the President (or White House), Congress members (or the Capitol), and the Supreme Court. It includes attacks/incidents causing fatalities or injuries and significant thwarted attacks. Incidents meeting a working definition of terrorism as well as criminal acts and acts of warfare are included.
Type codes indicate category of attacks/incidents and (if clear) political nature of organization/individual behind the attack:
Target codes indicate which branch of government was attacked: P = presidency, C = Congress, S = Supreme Court; C* = attacks by one member of Congress against another.
For related listings, see these pages:
| date | location | total casualties | casualties apart from attackers | type | description | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| killed | injured | killed | injured | type | target | |||
| 24 Aug 1814 | Washington, DC | 2 | 6 | WAR | P C | British forces invade Washington City, burning the White House and Capitol building | ||
| 29 Oct 1827 | Desha County, Arkansas | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | CRI-duel | C | Representative Henry Conway shot by Robert Crittenden during duel and died 9 Nov |
| 28 Aug 1831 | Bloody Island, Illinois | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | CRI-duel | C | Representative Spencer Pettis and Thomas Biddle engaged in duel, both were killed |
| 13 Apr 1832 | Washington, DC | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | CRI-pol | C* | Representative Sam Houston beat Representative William Stanbery during encounter on Pennsylvania Avenue |
| 30 Jan 1835 | Washington, DC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | THW | P | attempted assassination of President Andrew Jackson at Capitol failed when guns misfired |
| 24 Feb 1838 | Marlboro Pike, Maryland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | CRI-duel | C | Representative Jonathan Cilley shot and killed during duel with William Graves |
| 04 Sep 1848 | Atlanta, Georgia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | CRI-pol | C | Georgia Supreme Court Justice Francis Cone stabbed Representative Alexander Stephens outside Atlanta hotel |
| 20 Jun 1854 | Washington, DC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | THW | C | fight between Representatives William Churchwell and William Cullom on House floor; Churchwell was restrained while drawing a gun |
| 22 May 1856 | Washington, DC | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | CRI-pol | C* | Representative Preston Brooks severely injured Senator Charles Sumner in beating attack on Senate floor |
| 13 Sep 1859 | San Francisco, California | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | CRI-duel | C | Senator David Broderick shot during duel with California Supreme Court Chief Justice David Terry; Broderick died 16 Sep |
| 21 Oct 1861 | Loudoun County, Virginia | 36 | 1,038 | WAR | C | Senator Edward Baker killed while commanding troops in Battle of Ball's Bluff on Potomac River, Virginia | ||
| 11 Jul 1864 | Washington, DC | 800 | WAR | P C S | Battle of Fort Stevens occurred just north of Washington DC | |||
| 14 Apr 1865 | Washington, DC | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | TER | P | 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 |
| 14 Jun 1866 | Washington, DC | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | CRI-pol | C* | Representative Josiah Grinnell attacked and beaten by Representative Rousseau at Capitol building |
| 22 Oct 1868 | Indian Bays, Arkansas | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | TER | C | Representative James Hinds fatally shot by Ku Klux Klan member George Clark |
| 31 Jul 1869 | Courtland, Alabama | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | CRI | C | Representative Thomas Haughey shot by Collins during argument while giving a campaign speech; Haughey died 5 Aug |
| 02 Jul 1881 | Washington, DC | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | TER | P | President James Garfield shot by Charles J. Guiteau in Washington, DC, died 19 Sep |
| 28 Feb 1890 | Washington, DC | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | TER | C | Representative William Taulbee shot outside U.S. Capitol by Charles Kincaid; Taulbee died 11 March |
| 06 Sep 1901 | Buffalo, New York | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | TER-left | P | President William McKinley shot by Leon Czolgosz in Buffalo, NY, died 14 Sep |
| 07 Apr 1905 | Kentucky | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | CRI-pol | C | Representative Robert Thomas assaulted by political opponent |
| 24 Apr 1905 | Hempstead, Texas | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2 | TER | C | Representative John Pinckney among four killed at a Prohibition rally during exchange of gunfire initiated by an anti-Prohibition attorney |
| 14 Oct 1912 | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | TER-left | P | former President Theodore Roosevelt shot and injured in attempted assassination outside hotel en route to speech |
| 02 Jul 1915 | Washington, DC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | TER-left | C | bombing of Senate reception room by anti-war protestor caused no injuries, perpetrator attempted to kill J. P. Morgan Jr. the following day |
| 02 Apr 1919 | Washington, DC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | THW | C | Senator Henry Cabot Lodge punched a pacifist protestor |
| 29 Apr 1919 | Atlanta, Georgia | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | TER-left | C S | 36 mail bombs sent to prominent individuals by anarchist terrorists; one exploded at the home of former Senator Thomas Hardwick, severely injuring his housekeeper and injuring his wife; another failed to explode, 16 were intercepted by the Postal Service with insufficient postage and 12 were otherwise intercepted; other targets included Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Senators William King, Lee Overman, and Reed Smoot, and Representatives John Burnett and Albert Johnson |
| 26 Mar 1928 | Chicago, Illinois | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | TER | C | Senator Samuel Deneen uninjured when his house was bombed |
| 15 Feb 1933 | Miami, Florida | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | TER-left | P | attempted assassination of President-elect Franklin Roosevelt by anarchist Joseph Zangara; Chicago mayor Anton Cermak shot instead, dying 6 Mar |
| 22 Jun 1933 | Watchung, New Jersey | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | CRI-pol | C | bomb placed in vehicle of Representative Charles Eaton at his home but was found and disarmed |
| 19 Feb 1935 | Washington, DC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | THW | C | bomb mailed to Senator Huey Long's office but failed to explode |
| 08 Sep 1935 | Baton Rouge, Lousiana | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | CRI-pol | C | Senator Huey Long fatally shot by Carl Weiss at Louisiana State Capitol; Weiss was shot and killed by Long's bodyguards |
| 12 Jul 1947 | Washington, DC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | CRI | C | shooting attack on Senator John Bricker by former Capitol police officer, shots missed Bricker |
| 01 Nov 1950 | Washington, DC | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | TER-natl | P | in assassination attempt on President Harry Truman, two Puerto Rican nationalists try to shoot their way into Blair House; 2 killed, including 1 terrorist |
| 01 Mar 1954 | Washington, DC | 0 | 8 | 0 | 8 | TER-natl | C | four Puerto Rican nationalists fire from gallery of U.S. House of Representatives; five Representatives shot and injured: Alvin Bentley, Clifford Davis, George Fallon, Ben Jensen, and Kenneth Roberts; Representative Leslie Arends injured by shrapnel; two congressional staffers also injured |
| 22 Nov 1963 | Dallas, Texas | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | TER-left | P | President John Kennedy shot and killed by Lee Harvey Oswald, himself later fatally shot by Jack Rudy before trial |
| 05 Jun 1968 | Los Angeles, California | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | TER | C | Senator Robert Kennedy shot by Jordanian Sinhan Bishara Sirhan, died 6 Jun |
| 01 Mar 1971 | Washington, DC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | TER-left | C | Weather Underground bombing of Senate wing of U.S. Capitol |
| 22 Feb 1974 | Baltimore, Maryland | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | TER | P | gunman attempts to hijack plane in Baltimore and fly it into White House to kill President Richard Nixon; kills 2 at airport and himself, injures one |
| 05 Sep 1975 | Sacramento, California | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | THW | P | Secret Service agent prevents Lynette Fromme, a Charles Manson follower, from shooting President Gerald Ford |
| 22 Sep 1975 | San Francisco, California | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | THW | P | President Gerald Ford unharmed in assassination attempt by Sara Jane Moore, a political activist |
| 27 Jul 1976 | Washington, DC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | THW | P | gunman scales White House fence, is shot and killed by guards |
| 18 Nov 1978 | Port Kaituma, Guyana | 5 | 11 | 5 | 11 | CRI | C | shooting attack on US Representative Leo Ryan and others at Port Kaituma, killing 5 and injuring 11, followed by mass suicide of 913 members of People's Temple cult in Jonestown and Georgetown, latter including 276 children killed |
| 28 Nov 1979 | Washington, DC | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | THW | C | attempted knife attack in Senator Edward Kennedy's office at the Capitol; one arresting agent slightly injured |
| 30 Mar 1981 | Washington, DC | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | TER | P | President Ronald Reagan and 3 others injured in attempted assassination by John Hinkley |
| 07 Nov 1983 | Washington, DC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | TER-left | C | bombing at U.S. Capitol building; later linked to Revolutionary Armed Task Force in protest of U.S. invasion of Grenada |
| 25 Oct 1989 | Washington, DC | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | CRI | C | Senator John Glenn slightly injured in assault during interview |
| 13 Apr 1993 | Kuwait City, Kuwait | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | THW | P | Kuwaiti authorities thwart planned Iraqi bomb attack intended to assassinate former president George Herbert Bush during visit to Kuwait University |
| 12 Sep 1994 | Washington, DC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | TER | P | 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 | Washington, DC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | THW | P | lone gunman with semi-automatic weapon fires shots at White House from sidewalk in front on Pennsylvania Avenue |
| 01 May 1995 | Washington, DC | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | THW | P | man with unloaded gun scales White House fence; jumper and Secret Service agent shot and injured by another guard |
| 24 Jul 1998 | Washington, DC | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | TER | C | gunman enters U.S. Capitol building and kills two guards; one tourist and gunman are injured |
| 07 Feb 2001 | Washington, DC | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | THW | P | gunman fires on the White House from outside the perimeter fence; gunman is shot and injured by a guard |
| 11 Sep 2001 | Somerset County, Pennsylvania | 45 | 0 | 41 | 0 | TER-islm | P C | Following 9/11 strikes on the World Trade Center towers and Pentagon using three hijacked airliners, passengers on the fourth jetliner, United Flight 93, learned of events via cellular phones and attacked their hijackers. This aircraft crashed into a field in Somerset county, south central Pennsylvania, killing all 45 aboard (including 4 terrorists), at 10:10 AM. The hijackers of this plane are believed to have intended to strike a site in Washington, DC, most likely the Capitol Building (or possibly the White House). |
| 09 Oct 2001 | Washington, DC | 4 | 7 | 4 | 7 | TER | C | anthrax-laced letters mailed to multiple prominent individuals in Washington, DC, causing four deaths and seven injuries; letters were sent to offices of Senators Patrick Leahy and Tom Daschle but caused no injuries there |
| 10 May 2005 | Tbilisi, Georgia (Republic) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | THW | P | grenade thrown at podium during speech by President George Bush with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili nearby; grenade failed to explode; the attacker, Vladimir Arutyunian, was arrested 20 July after a gunfight in which he killed one Georgian official |
| 17 Sep 2010 | Washington, DC | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | THW | C | attempted shooting at Capitol Hill; gunman shot and injured by guards |
| 08 Jan 2011 | Tucson, Arizona | 6 | 13 | 6 | 13 | TER | C | shooting attack at political event at a supermarket; U.S. District Judge John Roll among 6 killed, Representative Gabrielle Giffords among 13 injured |
| 11 Nov 2011 | Washington, DC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | THW | P | shots fired at White House by individual protesting government control, no injuries |
| 17 Apr 2013 | Washington, DC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | THW | P C | two letters testing positive for ricin mailed to Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker and President Barack Obama are found at mail screening facilities; a third letter to an official in Mississippi was awaiting testing; an individual in Mississippi is arrested and charged in the case |
| 03 Oct 2013 | Washington, DC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | THW | C | Miriam Carey shot and killed near Capitol after ramming White House security barrier |
| 14 Jun 2017 | Alexandria, Virginia | 1 | 4 | 0 | 4 | TER-left | C | shooting attack by James Hodgkinson on annual Congressional baseball game in attempted assassination of Republican congressmen; Rep Steve Scalise among 4 shot and injured, attacker was shot and killed |
| 06 Sep 2017 | Mandan, North Dakota | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | THW | P | individual arrested after attempting to attack President Donald Trump's motorcade with a forklift |
| 06 Jan 2021 | Washington, DC | 5 | 143 | 0 | 138 | TER? | C | January 6, 2021, Capitol riot |
| 02 Apr 2021 | Washington, DC | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | TER-islm | C | Noah Green drove car into capitol police officers at barricade, killing one and injuring another; attacker was shot and killed |
| 08 Jun 2022 | Chevy Chase, MD | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | THW | S | armed man arrested near home of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh; individual stated his intent was to assassinate Kavanaugh in protest of potential Supreme Court rulings |
| 28 Oct 2022 | San Francisco, CA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | TER-right? | C | attacker assaulted husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in their home; attacker stated his intent was to target the Speaker who was not home at the time |
| date | location | total casualties | casualties apart from attackers | type | description | |||
| killed | injured | killed | injured | type | target | |||
Sources: (incomplete--list under construction)