Bomb explodes in Capitol on Nov. 7, 1983

On this day in 1983, at 10:58 p.m., a thunderous explosion tore through the second floor of the Capitol’s Senate wing. Since the area was virtually deserted at the time, there were no casualties.

Minutes before the bomb went off, a caller claiming to represent the “Armed Resistance Unit” warned a Capitol switchboard operator that a bomb had been placed near the chamber — supposedly in retaliation for the recent U.S. military actions in Grenada and Lebanon.


The force of the device, hidden under a bench outside the Senate chamber, blew the hinges off the door to the office of Minority Leader Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.). It also damaged five paintings, particularly a stately portrait of Daniel Webster.

It punched a hole in a partition that sent a shower of pulverized brick, plaster and glass into the Republican cloakroom. Although the explosion caused no structural damage to the Capitol, it shattered mirrors, chandeliers and furniture. Officials placed the damage at $250,000.

After a five-year investigation, the FBI arrested six members of the Resistance Conspiracy in May 1988. They were charged with executing the Capitol bombing as well as other blasts at Fort McNair and the Washington Navy Yard.

In 1990, U.S. District Judge Harold Greene sentenced Marilyn Buck, Laura Whitehorn and Linda Sue Evans to lengthy prison terms for conspiracy and malicious destruction of government property. Greene dropped charges against the three other defendants, who were already serving extended prison sentences for related crimes.

The 1983 bombing marked the start of much tighter security measures throughout the Capitol. The area outside the Senate chamber, previously open to the public, was closed.

Officials adopted color-coded staff identification cards and added metal detectors to building entrances to supplement those placed at chamber gallery doors following a 1971 bombing of the Capitol.