April 19

Terrorists have been known to time their attacks to coincide with the anniversary of a particular historical event or the birthday of someone special to them. The date can even be the anniversary of a past terrorist or terrorist-related event. One example is October 16, the annual “Worldwide Day of Action Against McDonald's,” which was started in 1984 to coincide with United Nations’ World Food Day. On that date, activists target McDonald's restaurants as a protest against animal cruelty, the exploitation of workers, and the global domination of corporations. However, the most infamous of these terror anniversaries by far is April 19.

On April 19, 1993, the 51-day siege at David Koresh's Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, ended, when Koresh and 75 followers, including 21 children, perished in a fire. Known as the Mount Carmel Center, the compound was occupied by members of an apocalyptic religious cult led by Koresh. It was rumored that the compound contained an arsenal of explosives and weapons. After the siege ended in tragedy, April 19 became known as the “Date of Doom” or “Militia Day.” The militia movement, made up of armed paramilitary groups, exploded on the scene in the mid-1990s, sparked by a belief that the American public needed [Page 57]protection against a tyrannical federal government controlled by international interests.

The significance of April 19 dates back even further, however. April 19, 1775, is the date of the Battle of Lexington, which ushered in the American Revolution, while April 19, 1943, was the day Nazis turned flame-throwers on apartment buildings and gunned down Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto. Adding to the presumed significance of the date is that Adolph Hitler's birthday is the following day. These events are celebrated anniversaries within extremist camps within the United States. They have come to symbolize the beginning of a pure Aryan society within North America and an attempt to exterminate the Jews, who are viewed as something less than human by neo-Nazis and Aryan extremists of all stripes.

In addition to the events mentioned above, April 19, 1992, was the day that surveillance of the Randy Weaver family atop Ruby Ridge, Idaho, began. Weaver, a white separatist, was wanted by federal marshals for failing to appear in court on a weapons charge. The stakeout ended tragically with the deaths of Weaver's son, Sammy, his wife, Vicki, and a federal officer, William Degan. Further, on April 19, 1995, Richard Wayne Snell, a white supremacist and member of The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord (CSA), a Christian Identity paramilitary group, was executed for the 1983 murder of a Texarkana pawnshop owner.

However, the most famous event to take place on April 19 was the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, in which 168 individuals lost their lives. Many believe that Timothy McVeigh, who was executed for carrying out the bombing, selected April 19 to take revenge against the U.S. government for its role in the Waco and Ruby Ridge tragedies, as well as the upcoming execution of Snell.

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