Theodore Roosevelt: The Original War on Terror by Michael Wolraich, The History Reader
Some years ago, an unstable young man committed one of the most notorious terrorist acts in U.S. history. He was American-born, but his parents were immigrants, and his allegiance to a radical ideology with foreign origins terrified the public. “They and those like them should be kept out of this country,” railed Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States, “and if found here they should be promptly deported to the country whence they came.”
The young man was Leon Czolgosz, a Polish-American anarchist. On August 31, 1901, he fatally shot President William McKinley in the abdomen with .32 caliber revolver. The nation reacted with shock and outrage. McKinley’s successor, President Theodore Roosevelt, denounced anarchy as “a crime against the whole human race” and demanded legislation to restrict immigration and deport suspected anarchists. Congress answered the call with the Anarchist Exclusion Act, which barred anyone “who disbelieves in or who is opposed to all organized government” from becoming citizens.
Today, history is repeating itself. We have our own Leon Czolgosz—an unstable young man named Omar Mateen who pledged allegiance to ISIS as he murdered 49 innocent people. Like Czolgosz, Mateen is an American-born son of immigrants, and his crime has provoked calls to bar Muslim immigrants. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is naturally leading the charge. “If we don’t get tough, and we don’t get smart and fast, we’re not going to have our country anymore,” he warned. “There will be nothing, absolutely nothing left.”…