Essay About Terrorism in the 1950

The Bath School Bombing would be classified as terrorism because Andrew Kehoe used violence to kill innocent people with the goal of pursuing ideological objectives and vengeance 

Terrorism is the use of violence as a threat and it plays a key role in American history. Terrorists have motives that differ from ordinary criminals, and it mainly revolves around money. Just like every other terrorist, Andrew Kehoe, a school board treasurer, engineered the deadliest act of mass murder in a school due to revenge madden by financial worries. According to INSERT AUTHOR NAME Andrew Kehoe “mapped out his plan months ago.

He was notified last June that the mortgages on his farm would be foreclosed” (CITE HERE). When Kehoe first came to realize what was happening to his possession, he was concerned and wanted to fix it right away. Kehoe wanted everything to go his way and when there was an issue, he wanted it solved immediately. He put himself above everyone else and immediately resorted to violence when things didn't go his way. This is a key concept of terrorist, and it is the main reason why attacks happen so often. People will fear an individual once they start becoming violent, and terrorists believe that violence is the most efficient tactic to use. They feel the need to take immediate action about the issue instead of solving it out, which might lead to them losing their argument. 

The main reason for the attack being executed was to get vengeance that Kehoe had desired. INSERT AUTHOR NAME writes that “Kehoe, a farmer who had struggled to pay his mortgage, was angry about taxes that had been raised to pay for the school and INSERT AUTHOR NAME backs up the argument by claiming “It is believed Kehoe’s mad act was caused by desire for revenge on the School Board”. Since Kehoe was struggling financially and he was desperate to decrease the taxes that were going to the schools, he had the motive to get revenge on the school board.

Essentially, Kehoe joined the school board so he could introduce his thoughts to others so they would understand and make a change. The other members had elected him because of his knowledge of financial management. Once he started to talk about decreasing taxes for the high school, the other board members would vote against them because they believed that the children were more important and they should get the taxes. Kehoe had blamed the taxes for his financial hardships and it lead to the foreclosure on his farm. This created a grudge in Kehoe’s heart and was the main reason to initiate the attack. Kehoe felt disenfranchised and believed that he was not successful in getting others to see his viewpoint about how he was suffering and going to lose everything he had because of the taxes. The neighborhood had also started to take note on how Kehoe was acting strangely and seemed as if he was creating murderous plans. Kehoe did not hesitate to start making the plans about the attacks once he replied that he was not going to get his way. 

No one wakes up with the intention to harm people, there is always something driving them to resort to violence to get their issue solved. Mr.Kehoe demonstrates this with his sign to indicate that the bombing was caused by their decision to not listen to Mr.Kehoe. Terrorist want their problem solved and instead of talking it out, they believe that violence and terrorism is the quickest and easiest way to get people to listen to them. 

INSERT AUTHOR NAME claims that authorities found a sign that displays “Criminals are made, not born” Mr. Kehoe was angered by the decisions his town was making and how they were not benefiting him. In his time at the school board, he had made numerous attempts to lower the taxes but the other board members opposed and voted against his idea. This grudge is what is displayed on the sign. Kehoe believed that if everyone had gone his way and accepted his ideas, the bombing would have never occurred.

The line “criminals are made” shows how Kehoe was elected by his town and he never had the intention to hurt anyone until no one listened to his ideas. His town has always said that Kehoe was a strict, tempered man. So when he was not able to get people to listen to him and understand his ideas, he came to the conclusion that violence was the only way people would listen. Like all terrorists, he wanted ocelot to hear him and since that did not work out he jumped to violence so that would make people fear him instead. His ideological objective was concerned with economics and how the town was doing. Since a major portion of their taxes was going toward the school, he wanted to stop that and make the taxes benefit his farm and property.