This timeline chronicles significant acts of domestic political violence in the U.S. from 1963 to 2025, focusing on attacks against public officials and politically-motivated acts of terror.
This project aims to provide a factual, non-partisan overview of significant acts of domestic political violence in the United States from 1963 to the present. The goal is to document these sober events for informational and historical purposes.
The "ideology" tags (e.g., "Right-leaning Target") refer to the generally perceived political alignment of the target of the violence, not the perpetrator. This methodology is used to analyze patterns of who is being targeted in the current political climate.
An interactive map showing the geographic locations of the events listed in the timeline. Click on a marker to highlight the corresponding event.
3
Major Incidents
A turbulent decade marked by the assassinations of the nation's most prominent political and civil rights leaders.
8
Major Incidents
Characterized by presidential attempts and the rise of large-scale domestic and anti-government terrorism.
14
Major Incidents
Defined by a sharp increase in politically motivated plots, attacks on officials' families, and mass-casualty events.
The events on this timeline represent the most extreme outcomes of a political climate marked by a documented increase in threats against public officials. The data below, from non-partisan government sources, illustrates the scale of this trend.
The U.S. Capitol Police tracks credible threats against lawmakers, showing a dramatic increase in cases requiring investigation.
0
cases in 2023
up from 902 in 2016
Source: U.S. Capitol Police
The U.S. Marshals Service reports thousands of threats and inappropriate communications directed at federal judges and court officials annually.
0
threats in 2021
up from 926 in 2015
Source: U.S. Marshals Service
Since its launch in 2021, a specialized task force has reviewed over 2,000 reports of harassment and threats against election officials.
0
reports reviewed (est.)
leading to multiple federal convictions
Source: DOJ Election Threats Task Force
An ideology that believes the U.S. federal government is illegitimate and tyrannical. Adherents may believe that violence is justified to resist government authority, as seen in events like the Oklahoma City bombing.
A contraction of "anti-fascist." It describes a broad, decentralized, and typically left-wing political movement of autonomous groups and individuals who oppose fascism and other forms of far-right ideology, sometimes through direct action.
The intentional release of biological agents (such as bacteria, viruses, or toxins) to cause illness or death in people, animals, or plants, as was the case in the 2001 Anthrax Attacks.
The decades-long struggle by African Americans and their allies to end institutionalized racial discrimination, disenfranchisement, and segregation in the United States. The assassinations of leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X were direct attacks on this movement.
An explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by powerful and sinister groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.
Violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups to further ideological goals stemming from domestic influences, such as those of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature.
Beliefs and actions of individuals or groups that are far outside the perceived political or social mainstream. In the context of political violence, this often involves the advocacy or use of violence to achieve ideological goals.
The act of rising in revolt, rebellion, or resistance against civil authority or an established government. It is a federal crime in the United States under 18 U.S.C. § 2383.
An individual who commits a violent act in support of a group, movement, or ideology, but who acts alone, outside of any command structure.
A movement of private, non-governmental groups who arm themselves and engage in paramilitary training. Adherents often believe the federal government is illegitimate or tyrannical, and see their groups as the modern-day equivalent of the militias mentioned in the Second Amendment.
Misinformation is false or inaccurate information that is spread, regardless of intent to deceive. Disinformation is false information that is deliberately and often covertly spread in order to influence public opinion or obscure the truth.
A disproven and discredited American far-right conspiracy theory alleging that a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles is running a global child sex-trafficking ring and plotted against President Donald Trump. It was a key motivator for the attacker of Paul Pelosi.
The process by which an individual or a group comes to adopt increasingly extreme political, social, or religious ideals and aspirations that reject or undermine the status quo.
An effort by two or more people to conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States.
A loose grouping of American litigants, commentators, and financial scheme promoters who claim to be answerable only to their particular interpretation of the common law and not subject to any government statutes or proceedings.
The public demonization of a person or group resulting in the incitement of a violent act, which is statistically probable but whose specifics cannot be predicted.
A criminal harassment tactic of deceiving an emergency service (such as a police SWAT team) into sending a response team to another person's address. This is achieved by making a false report of a serious emergency, like a bomb threat, murder, or hostage situation.
This project was created by Sergio Rodríguez to provide a clear, factual, and non-partisan resource chronicling political violence in the United States from the 1960s to the present. The primary goal is to present historical data as a tool for independent thought and analysis, free from ideological spin or partisan framing.