# Other Instances of Congress Being Disrupted

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-instances-of-congress-being-disrupted/929981>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [January 8, 2021, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-instances-of-congress-being-disrupted/929981 "2021-01-08T00:44:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![songsearch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b77776/32.png) [@songsearch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/songsearch)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-instances-of-congress-being-disrupted/929981/1 "2021-01-08T00:44:20Z")

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Have there been other instances of Congress being disrupted by protesters in the past?

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**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-instances-of-congress-being-disrupted/929981/2 "2021-01-08T00:49:48Z")

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Way back in 1954, Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire in the House of Representatives.

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**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-instances-of-congress-being-disrupted/929981/3 "2021-01-08T01:05:28Z")

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The attempted murder of Charles Sumner by the coward Preston Brooks was probably pretty disruptive to the Congress (though they weren’t in active session at the moment of the attack)

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**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-instances-of-congress-being-disrupted/929981/4 "2021-01-08T01:22:10Z")

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[It’s happened at least a half-dozen times](https://www.politifact.com/article/2021/jan/07/history-breaches-and-violence-us-capitol/), but nothing on the scale of this time.

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**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-instances-of-congress-being-disrupted/929981/5 "2021-01-08T16:17:50Z")

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> [@Andy\_L](#):
>
> the coward Preston Brooks

I just read about the incident and background, a really interesting, though shameful tale. Prior to today I always assumed “the coward” would be followed by “Robert Ford”…

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**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-instances-of-congress-being-disrupted/929981/6 "2021-01-08T16:44:36Z")

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Yeah, that’s the traditional way to end the phrase starting with “the coward” (also associated with the phrase "that dirty little coward who shot Mr. Howard). The Seward attack is not usually described as attempted murder, but I think it’s justified.