Statistics of Terrorism during the 60s & 70s

[ryacko]

Now, I read a few archived time magazines saying banks near universities were victims of arson, read other materials saying the SLA blew up police cars.

But has the terrorism of the 60s and 70s been quantified? It would help with internet arguments I have on occasion, sometimes dealing with whether the US rarely experienced terrorism.

[madd0ct0r]

Are you looking just at America? because you've got the opening moves of the Troubles in Belfast in that timeframe.

[Thanas]

And the RAF.

[Simon_Jester]

Or, back in the US, the left-wing radicalism of some of the student and minority groups- the violent 0.1% of the '60s counterculture. Think Weathermen.

There was enough of this to cause intense reactions among the center-right and government security organs, which was one of the things that killed a lot of the political movements of the era.

[Sidewinder]

And the RAF.

Who are you referring to? I'm assuming it's not the Royal Air Force.

[Broomstick]

I vaguely recall some bombs of Puerto Rican origin, people wanting independence for the island and thinking blowing up a car in Chicago or some such was the way to go about it. You'd have to research it, though, as my memories are far too spotty on the details to give you more than that.

[Eleas]

Who are you referring to? I'm assuming it's not the Royal Air Force.

Rote Armee Fraktion, I think.

[Spoonist]

http://iis-db.stanford.edu/pubs/22662/C ... rorism.pdf

Has the Number of Anti-U.S. Attacks and Fatalities Increased Over Time?
It seems that no comprehensive analyses of long-term trends in terrorist attacks have been published that include domestic incidents. Figure 1 shows total attacks and total fatal attacks against U.S. targets attributed to the groups that are the subject of this study. Total attacks were of course far more common than fatal attacks: Fatal attacks (n = 111) represent 19.5% of all attacks shown. Total attacks against the United States by these groups were considerably higher in the 1970s and 1980s and declined in the 1990s—a likely consequence of the decline of Marxist-Leninist-oriented terrorist groups after the collapse of the Soviet Union and developments
in the Middle East after the first Gulf War. After reaching a high point of 38 attacks in 1974, total attacks against the United States declined to a low of 5 attacks in 1980. They then increased steeply before reaching the series high point of 41 attacks in 1990 and then again declined steeply. From 1998 to the end of the series, attacks on U.S. targets increased somewhat but remained far below the totals found for much of the 1970s and 1980s.12 As with total attacks, total fatal attacks against the United States during this period were relatively high in the 1970s and 1980s and then declined throughout the 1990s. However, the major difference in the two trend lines is that fatal attacks against the United States increased strongly in the late 1990s and reached their highest level (i.e., 9 attacks) in the last year of the
series. Apart from the peak in 2004, 6 fatal attacks against the United States occurred in the following 7 years in the series (1973, 1979, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1991, and 2002).
In response to the question that motivated this section, total terrorist attacks against the United States from these groups actually declined since 1990. In fact, they were at a 35-year low just before the 9/11 attacks. The 2 years in the series with the fewest anti-U.S. attacks were1995 and 1997. Similarly, fatal attacks were generally more common in the 1970s and 1980s and reached a series low in the decade before 9/11. However, fatal attacks directed at the United States increased since the end of the 1990s. Although low in absolute terms, they reached their peak during 2004, which is the last year included in the analysis. But as we shall observe below, most of these fatal attacks involved U.S. citizen targets in other countries.

More at the source.

[ryacko]

Actually I thought I mentioned attacks on US soil versus attacks on other soils (just recently read something saying that the US was free from terrorism until some major attacks in the 90s and Aughts, unlike France, which is an unfair characterization). Apparently I did not, but that was what I was looking for.

That link is very good, thanks. Out of curiosity, what did you search for and where did you search it?

[Spoonist]

That link is very good, thanks. Out of curiosity, what did you search for and where did you search it?

I searched my old posts since I had linked to it in another discussion.

But if I were to search for something like that then I'd do it two ways.
1) Lazy skim, go to google images plunk in some terms and check if I get a nice diagram, then check the source for that.
2) More seriuos, go to google scholar and search articles since last year.