Timothy Mcveigh: The Oklahoma City Bombing

The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon hosted by several cities in Greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts. It is always held on Patriot’s Day, the third Monday in April. Begun in 1897, the Boston Marathon is the world’s oldest annual marathons and ranks as the world’s best-known road-racing events (“Boston Bombing,” n.d.). But on April 15, 2013, the marathon made history for something else. At approximately 2:49 EST, two pressure cooker bombs struck near the finish line of the marathon, leaving three dead and one hundred and forty one injured. Among the injured, twelve were reported in critical condition. The victims, who were treated in eight different hospitals, were as young as two (Lev, 2013).

It was April 19, 1995 at 9:03 that the lives of thousands were affected by one single

If he was not eventually stopped there would be no telling what he could do. Due to the day in age he was sentenced to death. However he should have received help and been admitted to a mental facility so he could be treated as a patient and hopefully one day recover from his illness. For this reason he is responsible for the actions that took place however, his actions were not entirely his fault.

On April 19th, 1995 a homemade bomb made of a concoction of agricultural fertilizer, fuel, and other dangerous chemicals was left in a truck parked outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City. At 9:02 in the morning, it’s blast damaged over 300 buildings surrounding the vehicle and even flattened a third of the federal building. (Strom, 2015) The bomb took the lives of 168 people, including 19 children. It was found that two men, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Lynn Nichols were the ones who planted the device. Both men were found to be associated with a radical militia movement that sought revenge for a siege in Waco, Texas two years prior. The siege killed 82 Branch Davidians, of whom, multiple were related to the militia movement.

On April 19, 1995, a man by the name of Timothy McVeigh carried out an attack that would leave the United States, along with other countries, devastated. At 9:02 A.M, a truck bomb explosion outside of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, left 168 people dead and hundreds more injured. Many people apprehend that McVeigh carried out this attack because he was mentally unstable. He was actually thinking logically. McVeigh planned out the attack based on his life experiences and by what he read in books. He retaliated against the government because of his personal beliefs and he wanted to be recognized for the bombing.

“This is it”, Will said softly as the he is in tower was collapsing. The jet fuel in an inferno about 20 feet away, scorching the concrete. There are dismembered limbs, scorched around him. He remembers the moments before the plane hit the 1st tower. He was terrified when he saw the plane collide. There were objects and debris flying everywhere. The people around him were terrified, wondering if the people in the other tower were alright. The tower was shook from the impact. He knew that he had to run, or else he would die. He sprinted as fast as he could to the stairs, when he was younger he had a similar experience, the Oklahoma City bombing.

Timothy Mcveigh’s personality can be explained sociologically as being both ritualism and rebellion. Timothy McVeigh was part of what can be seen as the pinnacle of conformism during the years before the bombing, the military. McVeigh, by all accounts, was a soldier who won praise by taking orders very well and following all the rules, his medals won during the Gulf War prove this. However, like many other people who join the military (gang-members, racial nationalists, survivalists) Timothy McVeigh had perhaps not-so “patriotic” motives for joining. Nowadays people join the military for reasons other than because they believe in a countries value system, people like McVeigh join for the military training and knowledge of things like explosives, survival, discipline, etc. They in a way use the system against itself. At face value Timothy McVeigh did follow the means towards achieving societies goals, but he wanted nothing to do with the ends. He saw himself as a freedom fighter whose destiny was to overthrow the US Government.

Following the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing, Rescorla invited Hill to New York, where he hired him as a security consultant in order to assess the building 's security. Although no arrests had yet been made, Rescorla believed that the bomb had been planted by Muslims. Hill went undercover in several mosques throughout New Jersey, showing up for morning prayers at dawn. He took on the character of an anti-American Muslim, in order to interview the other visitors to the mosques. He concluded that the attack was likely planned by a radical imam at a mosque in New York or New Jersey. Followers of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, a radical Muslim cleric based in Brooklyn, were subsequently convicted of the bombing.

The Government's Response to the Oklahoma City Bombing The Oklahoma City Bombing affected many Americans, including the President of the United States. From the start the White House immediately dispatched the FBI. The initial reaction was to close the airports, but that would infringe on civil liberties. Government intervention with this tragedy would help many victims' family members cope with the loss of their loved ones.

On April 19th 1995 the worst terrorist attack on US soil took place in the heartland of America. The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma was targeted and almost completely blown to pieces by one enormous homemade bomb. The unthinkable had happened at the beginning of an average day at the office. This day would be remembered for the rest of America's history, unlike any other day, as a blatant attack on the United States government.

A truck bomb explosion occurred on April 19, 1995. Prior to 9/11, this event was the worst attack on American soil in our history because it killed or injured approximately 700 civilians. By analyzing the historical, social, and cultural perspectives, one can better understand the significance of the Oklahoma City Bombing in American history.

The main reason that Timothy McVeigh was investigated for his involvement into the Oklahoma City Bombing was because he had been arrested for possessing and transporting a loaded handgun that was found being stopped for no license plate on his vehicle. This happened only within 90 minutes of the explosion after he had left the Murrah Federal Building. Evidence linked McVeigh and Terry Nichols to the attack and Nichols was arrested later. Nichols was linked to assisting in the stealing and purchasing of the bomb materials along with McVeigh that they stored in storage lockers. McVeigh rented the Ryder truck under an alias and drove it to the Murrah Federal Building on the day of the bombing. Terry Nichols parked a getaway car several blocks

Timothy McVeigh was quoted the famous poem, Invictus, saying “I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul”. McVeigh believed in many things; one being that government was planning to strip it’s citizens of their rights. As McVeigh hatred for the government grew so did the outcome of his actions. After the Waco Siege massacre, which involved the accidental burning of an isolated compound that took the lives of seventy-six members of a religious cult in Texas, McVeigh wrath against the government was boiling. It was at this time that McVeigh planned to carry out one of the worst terrorist attacks ever on US soil. It is often told that in the last moments of someone’s life remorse and shame are visibly expressed on an individual 's face; however, in the execution of domestic terrorist, Timothy McVeigh, that was not the case.

On the covers of newspapers and on the screens of many, the story of the Boston marathon hits the ground. Twenty six thousand eight hundred thirty nine people from all over the world came to run in this awe-inspiring marathon. Until the tragedy strikes right in their faces. The explosions, injuring scores of people, effected the lives of innocent civilians. Cheers were replaced with screams, sirens, and the first responders providing aide to the citizens. This was a brutal event just like the one on September 11, 2001. Instead of using seclusion towards political and economical reasons for events, the mass medias perceptive towards incidents involving the religion Islam has created the stereotypical thought in society in which we live in today.

When most people think of Domestic terrorism one name comes to mind. Timothy McVeigh, who is a well known name and most people, can identify him as the Oklahoma City bomber. He is the man behind the second biggest terrorist attack on American soil to date. The bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma killed 168 people and injured hundreds more. History.com Staff. (2009). Which at the time was the biggest terrorist attack before September 11th 2001. Timothy McVeigh lived a rather normal childhood, where he acted just like other kids in his rural town of