The 1970s was labeled the golden age of terrorism due to hundreds of politically motivated and notorious acts of terrorism from “New Left” groups such as the Weather Underground.
The Weather Underground was one of several activist groups that were part of the New Left, composed of young baby boomers who believed in new social and political ideals amid the Cold War. The group used their acts of domestic terrorism to express their anti-war, anti-government, and revolutionist ideals. According to Prairie Fire, which was the manifesto for the Weather Underground, each act of violence had the intent to
“disrupt the [American] empire[:]… to incapacitate it,… to expose every weakness,…[and] to provoke leaps in confidence and consciousness [within the people].”1
Their mission statement highlights the main objective of the Weather Underground, which was to disrupt and weaken the American government's hold on power. The group believed violence was necessary to achieve their goals since they saw the existing political and social structures as inherently oppressive and corrupt, aligning with the New Left. The group believed that carrying out violent attacks could expose the government's
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Their bombings not only caused significant damage but also garnered international attention due to their high-profile targets. Furthermore, their ability to carry out such attacks without getting caught for years added to the overall perceived power of radical New-Left groups. The high number of bombings by the Weather Underground targeting government buildings, combined with their ability to evade capture, directly contributes to the perception that the 1970s was a time of increased terrorist activity, solidifying the era's label as the golden age of terrorism. One specific attack claimed by the group was the bombing of Capitol Hill. As described by What Violent Acts Get Defined As Terrorism by Peter Feurher, although the Capitol Hill bombing