David Koresh's Rise To Power

Ashley Lane

Mr.Dahlstrom

Composition II

5 May 2017

David Koresh’s Rise to Power David Koresh came to power in 1985 and he developed the Waco compound.

David Koresh tried to persuade many of his followers to believe and follow in whatever he did. He used plenty of intimidation tactics to try and gain as much power as possible. Koresh became apart of the Branch of Davidian and eventually took over and became the leader of that group. The influence and power he had over his group was enormous to Koresh. David Koresh’s background, his intimidation and rise to power, and his acts of violence led to his rise of the the Branch Davidians.

David Koresh’s background,

The article called “David Koresh |Waco - The Inside Story” which aired on Frontline

Rifkind and Loretta F. Harper. "The Branch Davidians and the Politics of Power and Intimidation" which appeared in the Journal of American Culture discussed what power meant to David Koresh. It stated, “ The influence of the politics of power and intimidation as strategies for gaining dominance and eventual absolute control over cult members and the outside world was a key ingredient of the leadership style exhibited by the self-appointed messiah of the Branch Davidian Church, David Koresh.”

According to the same article, Koresh thought, “He could further suggest that power represses sex and that the logic of power exerted on sex is the paradoxical logic of law that might be expressed as an injunction of nonexistence, non manifestation, and silence. This means rhetorically, sexuality is power and power is sex simply because they share the essential feature of being hidden when they work best.” He craved power and it really meant a lot to him and he would do anything to get it. Power and intimidation can really take over a person 's life and affect the people around

News & World Report in which it described the violence that occurred due to David Koresh and his followers. According to this article, “The Final Days of David Koresh,”, it stated “ But not before some Koreshians may have committed the most unforgivable sin. U.S. News has learned that top-ranking FBI official now believe virtually all the children at Ranch Apocalypse, 17 of them under age 10, almost certainly were killed before the first flames from the Davidians’ compound were spotted.” The Davidians even killed children, their violence really had no limit. According to the article, it stated, “One top official says the theory is that the shooting was directed at the children because they were easy to round up: Getting the adults in such short time would have been much more difficult.” This statement is really upsetting knowing that the Branch of Davidians would even kill the innocent children. The violence that occurred went to an