Politics- Dianne Feinstein survived multiple assassination attempts in the 1970s.
- Feinstein was targeted by the New World Liberation Front, a left-wing, anti-capitalist terrorist group.
California Senator Dianne Feinstein survived multiple assassination attempts during her long career in politics.
Feinstein died Thursday at age 90, decades after she was targeted in several attacks tied to the New World Liberation Front (NWLO).
The left-wing, anti-capitalist terrorist group carried out a series of bombings throughout the state over the decade in the 1970s.
In testimony given during the trial of Dan White, a colleague of hers who killed Harvey Milk, Feinstein revealed that she had received several threats from the NWLO during her time on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
On November 14, 1976, the group planted a bomb in a window flower box outside her daughter's bedroom at her home.
In the testimony, Feinstein said that a bomb containing a water-gel explosive had detonated at her house but a "fluke" in the weather prevented a potentially deadly explosion.
According to a report in Mother Jones, the night was unusually cold, which caused the explosive to freeze and pop off the detonator. Milder temperatures would have caused it to explode.
Feinstein described it as a "very large bomb" that would have "blown off the front portion" of her house and sent scaffolding and shrapnel flying into her neighbors' homes.
At the time, she was caring for her husband, Bert Feinstein, who had colon cancer.
The next year, the NWLO put "15 bulletholes" into a beach house on Monterey Bay that she and her then-husband owned, she said in the testimony.
In a 2008 interview with SFGATE, Feinstein said that the assassination attempts "helped form who I am and what I believe."
She also said that she "became mayor as a product of assassination," referring to her taking over as acting mayor after the assassination of Harvey Milk.
After that attack, Feinstein became a vocal advocate of gun-control measures for the rest of her career.
Feinstein, who was the longest-serving female senator, planned to retire at the end of this term.