Oklahoma City bombing

Prior to September 11, 2001, the Oklahoma City bombing was the worst act of terrorism ever committed on American soil, and it remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism. On April 19, 1995, a truck loaded with explosives made from fertilizer and diesel fuel ingredients exploded

Protective covering drapes part of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma where a terrorist bomb killed 168 people.

(Carter/Liaison)

In front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The blast killed 169 people and injured more than 500, in addition to destroying the building and damaging more than 300 nearby businesses.

Federal agents arrested two men, Timothy J. McVeigh and Terry L. Nichols, and charged them with the crime. Both men had connections with the “Patriot movement,” a loose alliance of extremist groups advocating resistance to national laws and political institutions. McVeigh, a U. S. Army veteran of the Persian Gulf War, expressed solidarity with Randy Weaver, whose wife and son were killed during a shoot-out with federal agents in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and with the Branch Davidians who died in a confrontation with federal agents in Waco, Texas. Both McVeigh and Nichols identified with the militia movement, especially with its fear that federal gun control legislation was oppressive. In 1997 McVeigh was convicted of murder in the bombing and sentenced to death. At 8:14 A. M. (EDT), Monday, June 11, 2001, McVeigh was executed by lethal injection at the age of 33. Nichols was convicted in a separate trial of manslaughter and conspiracy, and was sentenced to life in prison in June 1998.

The ruins of the Murrah building were razed to make room for a memorial to those who died. The Oklahoma City National Memorial opened on February 19, 2001, with a dedication ceremony presided over by President George W. Bush. The central element of the memorial is a 30,000-square-foot museum filled with photographs, testimonials, and interactive exhibits that tell the story of the bombing and its aftermath, and pay tribute to those who lost their lives in the tragedy. It also has 169 empty stone chairs to represent the dead.

—William L. Glankler