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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhen the Left Attacked the Capitol
Fifty years ago, extremists bombed the seat of American democracy to end a war and start a revolution. It did neither, but it may have helped bring down a president.
By LAWRENCE ROBERTS
02/28/2021 07:00 AM EST
In the winter of 1971, you could still find vestiges of an age of innocence in Washington. The previous decade had been one of the most unstable in the countrys history, rocked by political assassinations, racial violence and explosions at public buildings. But at the U.S. Capitol, it was still easy to stroll through without having to empty your pockets or show a drivers license. No metal detectors or security cameras. You didnt need to join a tour. Which is why two young people who melted into the crowd of sightseers were free to scour the building for a safe spot to set their bomb.
They were members of the Weather Underground. Since 1969, the radical left group had already bombed several police targets, banks and courthouses around the country, acts they hoped would instigate an uprising against the government. Now two of these self-described revolutionaries wandered the halls with sticks of dynamite strapped under their clothing. They slipped into an unmarked marble-lined mens bathroom one floor below the Senate chamber. They hooked up a fuse attached to a stopwatch and stuffed the device behind a 5-foot-high wall.
Shortly before 1 a.m. on March 1, the phone call came into the Capitol switchboard. The overnight operator remembered it as a mans voice, low and hard: This is real. Evacuate the building immediately.
It exploded at 1:32 a.m. No one was hurt, but damage was extensive. The blast tore the bathroom wall apart, shattering sinks into shrapnel. Shock waves blew the swinging doors off the entrance to the Senate barbershop. The doors crashed through a window and sailed into a courtyard. Along the corridor, light fixtures, plaster and tile cracked. In the Senate dining room, panes fell from a stained-glass window depicting George Washington greeting two Revolutionary War heroes, the Marquis de Lafayette and Baron von Steuben. Both Europeans lost their heads.
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https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/02/28/when-the-left-attacked-the-capitol-471270
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When the Left Attacked the Capitol (Original Post)
DonViejo
Feb 2021
OP
padfun
(1,780 posts)1. This author wants to blame the entire left?
It was just a small left group, not "The Left."
this kind of BS belongs in the trash.
DonViejo
(60,536 posts)2. Didn't read the article, let alone the excerpt above, huh? eom
padfun
(1,780 posts)3. I read the excerpt, wasn't going to go to the site.
Wouldnt dare give them another click.
And the excerpt did blame the left.
DonViejo
(60,536 posts)4. Your loss. Nice chatting with you. eom
padfun
(1,780 posts)5. No loss at all
have a nice day
enough
(13,235 posts)6. Fascinating long detailed article. I remember at the time thinking these violent actions
were horribly self defeating.