Terrorism, well at least we didn't have to worry about this in the past. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Terrorism has been with us for an awful long time, but people in this country tend to think of it as a relatively recent development. It all started on May 1, 1886 when workers were demonstrating for an eight hour day. These demonstrations were nation wide. A couple of days later on May 3, 1886, strikes took place at the McCormick Reaper factory. The workers were unarmed and the police came in to crush the strike. On May 4, 1886, workmen held a meeting in Haymarket Square in Chicago. It is a peaceful meeting but police come in to break it up. Someone then throws a bomb in the police ranks. The police open fire and some workmen return the fire. A number of workmen are killed, but no one ever finds out who threw the bomb. It is deemed that anarchists are involved and one of them may have thrown the bomb getting the police to attack the workers so that the workers would turn against the government.

Things accelerate and on May 5th and May 6th of 1886 the police begin their arrests across the country. Both anarchists and labor activists get arrested. The trials finish and sentencing take place on October 7th, 8th and 9th of 1886. One defendant kills himself and four others receive the death sentence and are executed. Ironically three other defendants are sent to prison but are pardoned on June 26, 1893 by the governor of Illinois, John Peter Altgeld. The Haymarket Affair is said to be the first act of terrorism in the U.S.

If one considers barbaric acts during war time as terrorism and I do, then we can go back even further in history to the Civil War. The south was losing the war and decided, in 1864, that it would terrorize the north. Groups of southern sympathizers in the north called themselves the Knights of the Golden Circle, The Order of American Knights, The Sons of Liberty and the Northern Copperheads. Their plan was to set New York City on fire and seize federal offices along with municipal ones. The plan didn't end there. They were also going to take over the police departments and capture the northern army commander and throw him into jail. A type of device to set fires was developed and it was left in several hotels but it never worked correctly. Their plans failed and nothing more was done. If we go back even further to the War of 1812, the British burned Washington D.C. that has to be considered an act of terrorism.

Poor New York City, it always seems to be the target when heinous acts are carried out, yet this is the city that had its terrorism funds cut recently.

In 1920 New York City was again the target of terrorists. It was September 16, 1920. A horse and wagon pulled up on Wall Street near 23 Wall, the home of J.P. Morgan & Co. Right near the area was the U.S. sub treasury and around the corner the stock exchange. The streets in the area were crowded with people then just as they are today, at lunch hour. The wagon erupted into a terrible explosion that was so powerful that it raked everything within a half mile radius. The bomb had dealt a death blow to many in the street. One example of the terrible carnage the bomb caused, was a woman's head wearing a hat that was stuck to the wall of a building. Thirty people were blown to bits instantly The chief clerk at J.P. Morgan died at his desk. Over three hundred more people were injured by the explosion. I don't have a count on the ones who died later. Previously letter bombs had been sent to Jack Morgan. The FBI was called in and immediately began looking for clues. No one was ever caught or charged with the crime.

When you look around and see the different things that have happened in this country, you have to wonder if there were more terrorist plots that just fizzled out. Sure we know about 9/11 where planes took down the world trade center and hit the pentagon but what about that anthrax powder that was showing up in the mail in several places? Was that a terrorist plot or just someone that decided to stop sending this stuff after awhile? Could there have been other plots that we weren't even aware of? The Oklahoma City bombing of 1995 will never be forgotten or even the first attempt on the world trade center with bombs in 1993.

This country has had its share of terrorism throughout the years, when you really think about it. New York City seems to have received the bulk of the attacks but other localities have also been hurt. I haven't even discussed the attacks on U.S. holdings in other countries, or on the U.S. military. An example would be the USS Cole attack. I won't go into to that now. All I can say is that the U.S. certainly is involved in a war on terrorism, but it isn't the first time as history shows us. I guess we can't be too comfortable in such a volatile world. I know that I never would have believed that anyone could take down the twin towers or even got close enough to a navy ship, with a small speed boat, to blow a hole in it. I now realize that anything is possible and that we have to try and protect ourselves with much tighter security, but I also know that terrorism or the threat of such, should not be used for political gain.