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1954 United States Capitol shooting incident...
1954 United States Capitol shooting incident...
Item # 725191
March 02, 1954
LEOMINSTER DAILY ENTERPRISE, Mass., March 2, 1954
* United States Capitol shooting incident
* House of Representatives chamber - Congress
* Puerto Rican nationalists - Lolita Lebron
The front page has a banner headline: "CONGRESS ADDS 30 GUARDS TO CAPITOL" with subheads and photos of the victims. More on page 4.
Complete with 8 pages, light toning and minor wear at the margins, very tiny binding holes along the spine, generally in nice condition.
background: On March 1, 1954, four Puerto Rican nationalists—Lolita Lebrón, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Irvin Flores Rodríguez, and Andrés Figueroa Cordero—opened fire from the Ladies' Gallery of the U.S. House of Representatives, turning a routine legislative debate into a scene of chaos. Shouting for Puerto Rican independence and unfurling the island's flag, the group discharged approximately 30 rounds from semi-automatic pistols onto the House floor, wounding five congressmen: Alvin Bentley, Clifford Davis, Ben Jensen, George Fallon, and Kenneth Roberts. While the attackers claimed their intent was to bring global attention to Puerto Rico’s colonial status rather than to kill, they were quickly apprehended and sentenced to decades in prison for assault and seditious conspiracy. The incident remains one of the most dramatic acts of political violence in U.S. history, ultimately concluding in 1979 when President Jimmy Carter granted the group clemency, a move that remains a point of historical debate regarding the intersection of political activism and domestic terrorism.
Category: The 20th Century
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