Former President Bill Clinton urged Americans to “do better” in his remarks at an event commemorating the 30th anniversary of the 1995 bombing of Oklahoma City. He said it was “what we owe to those who made the ultimate sacrifice 30 years later.”
The bombing of the Alfred P. Muller Federal Building on April 19, 1995 was the most deadly homemade attack in US history. The truck bomb exploded in front of a federal building at 9:02 a.m., claimed 168 lives, including 19 children. Nearly 700 other people were injured in the attack.
Former US President Bill Clinton will address attendees in the first church on April 19, 2025, on celebrating the 30th anniversary of the bombing of the Alfred P. Muller Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on Ceremony Day. (Reuters/Nick Oxford)
Oklahoma City bombing survivors were “ready to die” after being trapped in a 10-foot tiled bleed.
Clinton was nearing the end of his first term when the attack occurred. At the 30th anniversary event, he recalled the day of tragedy.
“When I woke up 30 years ago, I thought I would have a very different day,” Clinton told attendees at Saturday’s event. “I jogged with the winner of the Boston Marathon and gave them fantasies and fantasies, and somehow I was pretty healthy. And then I got back to the White House and the devastating news.”
Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building is ready for an explosion in Oklahoma City on May 21, 1995. This view comes from the fact that it was a parking lot north of the building. (Reuters)
Timothy McVay’s defense attorney recalls meeting the Oklahoma City bomber
The former president also spoke about the beauty and importance of the “Oklahoma Standard,” a spirit of resilience and unity that emerged in response to the bombing. Clinton said he hopes “All Americans will get a copy of the Oklahoma standard tomorrow by mail or by phone. That will have a great impact.”
He told Oklahomans he took the spirit of the “Oklahoma Standard” and spread it all over the country and thanked them for the existence of the standard.
On the morning of April 19, 1995, former Army soldier and security guard Timothy McVay parked a rental rider truck in front of the Alfred P. Muller Federal Building before generating a bomb.
Visitors saw the faces of some of the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing at the Oklahoma National Memorial Museum in Oklahoma City on June 12, 2001, one day after Timothy McBay’s execution. (Getty Images)
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“The bombing in Oklahoma City was an attack on innocent children and vulnerable citizens. It was co-ill and evil. The United States does not tolerate it. And I will not allow the people of this country to be threatened by evil co-ill,” Clinton said on April 19, 1995. DOJ transcript.
McVay and his conspirators were eventually captured and convicted. On August 14th, 1997, more than two years after the bombing, McVeigh was sentenced to death. He was executed on June 11, 2001, three months before America was shaken by the 9/11 attack. The Oklahoma City bombing was the worst terrorist attack on US soil until 9/11.
