Oklahoma City Bombing Research Paper

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Oklahoma City Bombing, The Biggest Terrorist Attack until 9/11 The Oklahoma City bombing was the biggest terrorist attack until 9/11. The bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building killed almost a thousand people including women and children. “ The bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building (also known as the Oklahoma City bombing) in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on April 19, 1995, was a major act of domestic terrorism that killed 168 people, including women and children in the daycare on the first floor, and injured over 500 more.” (Netzley 1) The morning of April 19th, 1995, was a normal day for many people, kids were going to school, and adults were going to work. Many people were looking forward to the day because it was a day of many …show more content…

Police arrested him for possessing a weapon and held him until Friday in Perry. McVeigh whose appearance approximates that of a composite sketch released on Thursday ( day after bombing) and identified him” as a suspect.( Whiteley and Roth 23) Terry Nichols, a second suspect, and a friend of McVeigh’s “turned himself in the police three days after the blast.”(Whiteley and Roth 23) “Sylvia Niemczyk, manager of the Texaco Food Mart in Junction City, said the two men often entered the business to buy gas, snack food, cokes, and other items sold at the convenience store. Ronald Moore told the associated press that he recalled seeing a man resembling one of the suspects pictured on the composite sketches released by the FBI at a Junction City convenience store on Monday or Tuesday. He said the man was standing on the passenger side of a yellow rental truck.” (Whiteley and Roth 30) When trial came, “ Nichols avoided the death penalty” because he had turned himself in, “ but was convicted of conspiracy and eight counts of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to life in prison.” ( “Oklahoma City bombing” …show more content…

A blue collar worker refers to the fact that most manual laborers at the turn of the century wore blue shirts, which could hold a little dirt around the collar without standing out.) “in rural New York state, and he expressed an interest of guns from an early age. He graduated from high school in June 1986 and spent a short period at a local business college. Around this time he first read The Turner Diaries (1978), an antigovernment, neo-Nazi tract written by William Pierce. The book, which details the truck-bombing of the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), fueled McVeigh’s paranoia about a government plot to repeal the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees the right “to keep and bear arms.” (“Timothy McVeigh” 1). “ He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1988 and proved to be a model soldier, earning a Bronze Star for bravery in the Persian Gulf War (1990–91). He was a candidate for the Special Forces but dropped out of the program after only two days. The experience soured him on the military, and he took an early discharge and left the army in late 1991.”( “Timothy McVeigh” 1) McVeigh wanted to punish the government for taking away his rights, he wanted them to receive a good message so he planned the bombing. “ In September 1994 McVeigh began actively plotting

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