Political violence in the United States during the Cold War

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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[a] US Organization Black Liberation Army[b] Black Guerrilla Family Republic of New Afrika[b] Black Revolutionary Assault Team[b] 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[c] Boricua Popular Army Almighty Latin King Nation Young Lords[a] Armed Forces of National Liberation[c] Supported by DGI (alleged)[citation needed] Other left-wing organizations Weather Underground[d] May 19th Communist Organization[b] Symbionese Liberation Army[b] Venceremos[a] Young Patriots Organization[c] George Jackson Brigade[a] Brown Berets John Brown Anti-Klan Committee[b] United Freedom Front[b] Chicano Liberation Front[a] New World Liberation Front[b] 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 Students for a Democratic Society Southern Christian Leadership Conference Knights of the Flaming Circle[1] 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[a][2][3] Other white supremacists American Nazi Party National States' Rights Party[c] Aryan Brotherhood Aryan Nations National Renaissance Party The Order The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord Manson Family[b] Posse Comitatus Anti-communist organizations Minutemen[e] Secret Army Organization[a] VOECRN[f] Supported by FBI (alleged) Cuban dissident movement Alpha 66 Omega 7[b] 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 †[g] Lyndon B. Johnson Richard Nixon Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan Robert F. Kennedy †[h] J. Edgar Hoover Allen Dulles	Huey P. Newton †[i] Fred Hampton †[j] Assata Shakur Eldridge Cleaver Sah Ankh Sa Ma’at John Africa †[k] 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 Bernardine Dohrn Bill Ayers Elizabeth Ann Duke[l] Donald DeFreeze †[m] William Harris Aaron Manganiello Jim Jones †	Robert Shelton David Duke George Lincoln Rockwell †[n] J. B. Stoner Edward Reed Fields Charles Manson Richard Butler Louis Beam Robert Jay Mathews †[m] Robert DePugh Howard B. Godfrey Jerry Lynn Davis Andrés Nazario Sargen Meir Kahane † Irv Rubin Mordechai Levy
~236 killed and 336 injured (1970–1989)[4]

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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,^[5] 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[edit]

Aftermath[edit]

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.^[6]

See also[edit]

• 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[edit]

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

Notes[edit]

References[edit]