A Brief History
On June 3, 1980, the long history of the Statue of Liberty was threatened by a bomb that exploded at the base of the statue, although luckily no one was killed and damage was minimal.
Digging Deeper
The alleged culprits in the 1980 bomb attack were Croatian nationalists that wanted to be separated from Yugoslavia to form their own country. Directing their anger against the US during the Cold War seems a strange way to demand freedom from communism!
Completed in 1886 as a gift to the US from France, the actual name of the statue is Liberty Enlightening the World. The statue itself is 151 feet tall, or 305 feet if you include the base. Lady Liberty weighs a portly 450,000 pounds and has frequently been the site of political protests of all types.
In 1916, German agents nearly destroyed the iconic statue when they blew up a munitions train at the nearby Black Tom New Jersey rail yard.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Berenson, Edward. The Statue of Liberty: A Transatlantic Story. Yale University Press, 2012.
Moreno, Barry. The Statue of Liberty. Arcadia Publishing, 2004.
The featured image in this article, a postcard of the Statue of Liberty, is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1929.
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