Domestic Terrorism †The Bombing of Oklahoma City :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

Domestic Terrorism The Bombing of okay city On April 19, 1995, at 902 a.m., the United States of America was reminded that the worst plague often comes from within. Within a matter of days Americans were forced to see that this terrible tragedy may have been caused by citizens who call themselves patriots. Until the Oklahoma City bombing, Americans generally though of terrorism as a international problem that could not invade the walls of this nation. Many Americans had given little image to what these patriots sought to do. Militia and patriot groups were considered to be fairly harmless groups who enjoyed inspiration people up. The vast majority of Americans did not realize how serious or how chancy these groups actually were. Very few people could understand why a fellow countryman would wreak such havoc on them. When it was learned that the accused suspects in the Oklahoma City bombing allegedly had ties to political extremist groups, citizens started to give these groups a second, closer look. Very slowly, and oer several decades, these fundamental extremist groups and backyard political patriots have evolved into the most dangerous enemy this country has ever faced. Transnational terrorism, which is almost always committed to political terrorism, has gone through a slow evolution since the thirties (Lutke). For example, according to Philip Jenkins, the forefather to todays extremists was an organization called the Christian Front, which flourished in the late thirties and early 1940s. Jenkins states that the Christian Front was founded by Father Charles E. Coughlin, host of a weekly radio show. He contends they were anti-Semitic, anti-commie, and anti-government. Jenkins suggests the Christian Front recruited easily from citizens who had been brutalized by the depression. He also believes that the Christian Front was able to convince many another(prenominal) people that the government had caused the depression in order to orchestrate Roosevelts c ommunist New Deal (38-39). During the 1960s and 1970s, extremist groups fed on the Vietnam struggle and racism. Accordingly, extremist groups like the Weathermen and Students for a Democratic Society were responsible for a number of small bombings at the Pentagon, The United States Capitol, and several State segment buildings. Most of the people involved in these groups were young idealists who believed in the casualty of a peaceful world. When asked if todays extremist groups could be compared to those of the 1960s, Tom Hayden, once a member of the Weathermen, said To us, revolution was like birth blood is inevitable, scarce the purpose of the act is to create life, not to glorify blood (Marks 56).