The Assassination Of Timothy Mcveigh - 1509 Words

Ever since its creation America has always been seen as the icon for peace and prosperity; however, just like every other nation in the world, America has encountered some exceedingly dark and sinister incidents of the past years. Like David Berkowitz’s killing spree in New York City during the summer of 1976, the Virginia Tech shooting that took place on the college campus in 2007, and even the horrific Oklahoma City Bombing that Timothy McVeigh orchestrated in 1995. But there is one event in particular that was even more heinous and stranger than any of those – the Jonestown Massacre. It was a mass suicide that occurred on November 18, 1978, in Guyana that took the lives of over 900 innocent people (The Stigmatized Deaths in Jonestown†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦show more content†¦It was after several moves starting in the Midwest and ending in the Westcoast that Jones decided that the Peoples Temple needed to emigrate from San Francisco to Guyana in order to escape what he bel ieved to be creeping fascism in the United States. Jones was a Marxist after all so there was always that need to rebel against America and its capitalistic ideas (Russell 39). And the communist utopia that Jones and the Peoples Temple had created (Jonestown) began to flourish. It had seemed that the utopia Jones had always envisioned was now reality. The members of the Peoples Temple began to feel at home because it was a place where anyone no matter what race, gender, or even age could live in perfect harmony with one another. In fact during its first phase of existence it could actually be considered a proper socialist community from the point of view of a true political scientist (Latson). And it was not until the late 1970s that Jim Jones and Jonestown began to crumble which could only be explained by Jones’ unusual metamorphosis. Nobody really knows for sure what happened to him when he and the Peoples Temple had left the United States to build their community in Guyana , but it would be something that would end up destroying not only himself but everything he and the Peoples Temple had created. In 1978 it had become evident that theShow MoreRelatedTerrorism : The United States1530 Words   |  7 Pagesviolate federal and state law; appear to be intended to (i) intimidate or coerce a civilian population, (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and occur primarily outside the territorial jurisdiction of the U.S.; or transcend national boundaries in terms of the means by which they are accomplished, the persons they appear intended to intimidate or coerce, or the localeRead MoreThe Assassination Of Abraham Lincoln Essay1317 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"Sic Semper tyrannis† or â€Å"Thus always I bring death to tyrants† were the famous words of Confederate actor John Wilkes Booth after he shot President Linc oln at Ford’s Theatre. The assassination of Abraham Lincoln was a tragic event that will be forever remembered in the hearts of all American citizens. On April 20, 1999 in Littleton, Colorado, Booth’s words would make a comeback during another American tragedy; Columbine high school was the setting for arguably one of the most notorious school shootingsRead MoreThe Assassination Of Abraham Lincoln Essay1342 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"Sic Semper Tyrannis† or â€Å"Thus always I bring death to tyrants† were the famous words of Confederate actor John Wilkes Booth after he shot President Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre. The assassination of Abraham Lincoln was a devastating event that will be forever remembered in the hearts of all American citizens. On April 20, 1999 in Littleton, Colorado, Booth’s words became a part of another American tragedy; Columbine high school was the setting for arguably one of the most infamous school shootingsRead MoreCap ital Punishment Of The United States1495 Words   |  6 PagesCity during 2001. Timothy McVeigh was white American who were condemned to decease in June 1997 for the bombarding of the Oklahoma central office block in 1995.The America federal Court denied examination on March 1999. McVeigh was planned for execution on May 2001 but was allowed a thirty day break by Attorney General Ashcroft later it was revealed that the FBI didn’t reveal over three thousand pages of article to McVeigh s protection team. McVeigh was killed on June 2001. McVeigh s perpetrator,Read MoreDomestic And International Terroristic Acts1473 Words   |  6 Pagesthe United States, if the act appears to be intended to: (i) intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination or kidnapping. Additionally, the acts have to occur primarily within the territorial ju risdiction of the United States and if they do not, may be regarded as international terrorism† (ACLU, n.d.). Domestic terrorism may have its roots in far-rightRead MoreEssay on My Generation 1640 Words   |  7 Pagesworld. In 1981 the year of my birth, Pope John Paul II and President Reagan, are both shot in assassination attempts. He was the first non-Italian pope in 450 years and the first Polish pope. John Paul traveled widely early in his reign, e.g., to Poland and the U.S. in 1979. Following a trip to E Asia (1981), he was shot at the Vatican on May 13, 1981, by a Turkish terrorist (Zpub). The assassination attempts on John Paul II and President Reagan have lifted a dilemma and gun control. Gun controlRead More Motivations Of Terrorists Essays710 Words   |  3 Pagesare not taking extreme measures for personal gain (Deleon). An individual terrorist is more likely to be predisposed to acts of violence without any apparent political assignment. An example of an individual terrorist is Lee Harvey Oswald or Timothy McVeigh. These are the people that are only trying to make a statement for their personal higher cause. More often than not, you will find that the terrorist acting alone is a mentally unstable person that is seeking approval for his idea(s). The nextRead MoreEssay on Capital Punishment - An Appropriate Form of Punishment888 Words   |  4 PagesJuly 7, 1865 on the site of the current Fort McNair in Washington, D.C., four people including the first female to be executed, Mary Surratt, were hanged for co-conspiring with John Wilkes Booth in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln (Swanson; Weinberg, 2006). More recently, Timothy McVeigh was executed on June 11, 2001 for the April, 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, that killed 168 people including 19 children and injuring hundreds more (2004)Read MoreEssay about The NRA Killed Gun Control Legislation1464 Words   |  6 Pagesdemonstrated that when guns and kids mix, tragedy results. Yet gun control legislation remains at a standstill. The battle for stricter gun-control laws has not been without victories. In 1968, Congress passed the Gun Control Act in the wake of the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., President John F. Kennedy, and Senator Robert Kennedy. The law mandated stricter licensing requirements, prohibited the sale of handguns to out-of-state residents, and banned mail-order gun sales and the import of gunsRead More Biological Terrorism Essay5064 Words   |  21 Pagesprecipitating the apocalypse through extremely violent acts. In another recent incident of apocalyptic terrorism, Timothy McVeigh detonated a 4,000 lb. fertilizer bomb in front of the Oklahoma City Federal building. Although conventional in composition, the bomb was determined to be a WMD due to its destructive power and target. Some suspect that McVeigh was motivated by the desire to provoke a second civil war. If this was truly McVeighs motivation, is unlikely that he would have