By Lee H. Hamilton
I was in Congress for 34 years. During that time, I attended scores, possibly hundreds of public events. They were held in all kinds of places, in nearly every circumstance that you can imagine. I can recall only one incident of potential violence.
There were sometimes heated disagreements, but almost never did people reject the tradition of free speech and nonviolent discourse that our Constitution established. I think that record is a tribute to the people of Indiana, which I represented and where many of the events took place.
But that one threatening incident left an impression. Political violence is a problem in our country, and it is growing worse. Americans are deeply polarized and increasingly prone to see their political opponents as the enemy. Threats are becoming more common.
The incident that I refer to took place during a parade in a small Indiana town. I was riding in the back of a convertible, often jumping out to shake hands with voters as the car inched along the street. Suddenly, a middle-aged man emerged from the crowd and headed toward me. I could clearly see that he was carrying a knife. He was waving his hands and walking in a determined way toward the car in which I was riding. He had an angry look on his face and was shouting, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying.
As it happened, a police officer was right behind me in the parade. He saw the man and moved to intercept him and bring him to the ground. Other officers arrived promptly, and the parade went on without further incident. I never saw the assailant again. I thanked the police officer profusely, and I’m still grateful for what he did.
We have always had political violence in this country, of course. Four U.S. presidents were assassinated while in office. John F. Kennedy was killed shortly before I was first elected to Congress. Less than five years later, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. were assassinated. President Ronald Reagan was wounded by a gunman in 1981. But those incidents were rare during my time in office. They didn’t change how you did the job.
Today, elected officials are often the targets of hateful messages on social media, which can escalate into violence. Town halls and public meetings can turn angry and chaotic. Researchers have documented a large increase in the frequency of attacks on politicians.
We can’t overlook Jan. 6, 2021, when supporters of Donald Trump stormed the Capitol to try to prevent Joe Biden from being certified as president; some of them chanted, “Hang Mike Pence.” In 2017, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and three other people were wounded when a gunman fired at a group practicing for a congressional baseball game. In 2022, a man broke into the home of then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and attacked her husband with a hammer. Trump faced two assassination attempts in 2024. Most recently, the conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed during a speaking engagement on a college campus in Utah. Three months earlier, a man stalked and killed Minnesota legislator Melissa Hortman and her husband and targeted other lawmakers and advocates.
This violence is changing how elected officials behave. Some are fearful of attending events and mingling with the public. As a result, they are less likely to hear input and have less understanding of how issues affect their constituents. The quality of their representation suffers.
This problem deserves our focused attention, but many of our elected leaders are too busy pointing fingers to address it. Discussion of political violence devolves into debates over which side, the left or the right, is to blame.
It should go without saying that political violence is wrong, no matter who is responsible. It is wrong, and it is doing grave damage to our democracy.