Oklahoma City Bombing

The 1995 truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. At the time, the Oklahoma City bombing was the most deadly terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

The Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial, which commemorates the 168 people who were killed when a bomb planted by domestic terrorist Timothy McVeigh and his accomplices destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on the morning of April 19, 1995. Construction of the memorial began in September 1998, and it was dedicated by President Bill Clinton on the fifth anniversary of the bombing, on April 19, 2000. This picture was taken just five days before the June 11, 2001, execution of McVeigh.

Corbis.

Shortly before 9 a.m. on April 19, 1995, a rented truck packed with 5,000 pounds of explosive material was parked in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, which housed several federal law-enforcement agencies. The bomb inside the truck consisted of ammonium nitrate fertilizer and nitromethane racing fuel. At 9:05, the bomb exploded, [Page 552]destroying the north face of the nine-story building. After several weeks of search-and-rescue efforts, the final death toll was 168, including 19 children.

Initial reports indicated that the main suspects were individuals of Middle Eastern origin. However, attention turned quickly to Timothy McVeigh, a U.S. citizen known to have far-right antigovernment views. Within 90 minutes of the bombing, an Oklahoma highway patrolman pulled McVeigh over for lack of a license plate and arrested him for possession of an unregistered gun. McVeigh was in police custody when his connection to the attack became known days later. He left a mostly complete paper trail of purchases and rental agreements that tied him to the bombing.

At McVeigh's trial, the U.S. government alleged that McVeigh had sought the help of his friend Terry Nichols. According to the government, McVeigh, Nichols, and other conspirators made preparations in Kansas and headed to Oklahoma with their bomb. Their alleged motive was revenge for a 1993 assault by federal agents on the compound of a religious fringe group called the Branch Davidians near Waco, Texas. April 19 was the anniversary of the raid, which had resulted in the deaths of 80 Branch Davidians. One of the tenants of the Murrah building was the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), which McVeigh regarded as complicit in the Waco attack.

McVeigh was found guilty of the bombing and received the death penalty for the murder of eight federal law-enforcement officials. He died by lethal injection at the federal penitentiary at Terre Haute, Indiana, on June 11, 2001. An accomplice, Michael Fortier, received a fine of $200,000 and 12 years in prison for failing to notify authorities when he learned of McVeigh's intended attack. Terry Nichols received a life sentence on a manslaughter conviction. He also stood trial in state court at McAlester, Oklahoma, and received a life sentence for 160 murders. A jury deadlock prevented him from receiving the death penalty. The half-destroyed Murrah building was demolished in May 1995, replaced by a memorial and terrorism research center. A museum was dedicated in 2001.

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