the defendant’s wish that his lawyer claim the bomb-
ing was meant to protect future incidents such as
Ruby Ridge and Waco, Jones attempted to create
reasonable doubt by arguing that McVeigh could
not have acted alone. Dr. Frederic Whitehurst, a wit-
ness for the defense, was highly critical of the FBI’s
poor handling of evidence. Traces of explosives on
the shirt that McVeigh wore on April 19, however,
were particularly damning.
On June 2, 1997, McVeigh was found guilty on
eleven counts of murder and conspiracy; he was
later sentenced to death by lethal injection. On June
11, 2001, he was executed at the U.S. penitentiary in
Terre Haute, Indiana, exactly three months before
the September 11, 2001, attacks. On August 9, 2004,
Nichols was sentenced to life in prison without the
possibility of parole. Michael Fortier was given a
twelve-year sentence and a fine of $200,000 for fail-
ing to warn the U.S. government.
The Motive Immediately after the Oklahoma City
bombing occurrred, Americans expected to find that
foreign terrorists were responsible and were deeply
shocked when pictures of Midwestern Americans
McVeigh and Nichols flashed across television
screens. How, they wondered, could such seemingly
everyday Americans, indeed U.S. Army veterans, be
responsible for such a heinous crime? Soon it became
apparent that McVeigh and Nichols were members
of an antigovernment militia group and intent on at-
tacking the U.S. government in retribution for the
deaths in Waco, Texas, and Ruby Ridge, Idaho.
Many Americans were surprised to discover that
various militia groups existed throughout the
United States and regularly practiced military exer-
cises. While some groups advocated white suprem-
acy, others believed that the federal government
conspired to deprive them of their rights as Ameri-
cans. Another group, The New World Order, was
highly suspicious of the United Nations, which
they believed wanted to take over America. The
militia groups shared the opinion, however, that
they had the right to bear firearms, a right granted
by the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment.
Thus, they considered any form of gun control legis-
lation to be anti-American. Many militia group
members viewed the raid by the government at
Waco against the Branch Davidian religious cult and
the 1992 raid at Ruby Ridge against white suprema-
cist Randy Weaver and his family as acts of murder.
Impact The Oklahoma City bombing shook Amer-
ica to its core and deeply affected the country’s sense
of security. As a result of the bombing of the Alfred P.
Murrah Federal Building, the government took leg-
islative measures, notably the Antiterrorism and Ef-
fective Death Penalty Act of 1996 and the Victim
Allocution Clarification Act of 1997, in an effort to
prevent future terrorist attacks. In 1995, Clinton,
who criticized promoting hatred of the government
and violence against authority, signed a bill increas-
ing the number of federal antiterrorist agents, mak-
ing the planning of a terrorist act a crime, lessening
restrictions on information gathering on terrorist
groups, and increasing funds for counterterrorism
efforts. In addition, all federal buildings were sur-
rounded with protective barriers and engineering
improvements were made to construct safer build-
ings.
Until the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Okla-
homa City bombing was the deadliest act of terror
against the United States on American soil. Al-
though the bombing brought Americans together
in expressions of grief, the revelations about militia
movements divided the country. Some argued that
militia members were simply obeying the law and
strongly believing in the constitutional right to bear
firearms. Others saw militia members as traitors, ter-
rorists, and fanatics intent on destroying the U.S.
government.Further Reading
Davis, Jayna.The Third Terrorist: The Middle East Con-
nection to the Oklahoma City Bombing. Nashville:
WND Books, 2004. Suggests that McVeigh and
Nichols were not alone in the Oklahoma City
bombing but were part of a greater conspiracy in-
volving Islamic terrorists.
Kight, Marsha, comp.Forever Changed: Remembering
Oklahoma City, April 19, 1995. Amherst, N.Y.: Pro-
metheus Books, 1998. A compilation of seventy-
nine essays, including testimonies from survi-
vors.
Serrano, Richard A.One of Ours: Timothy McVeigh and
the Oklahoma City Bombing. New York: W. W.
Norton, 1998. Provides a compelling profile of
McVeigh in an attempt to understand how and
why an American man became a terrorist.
Wright, Stuart A.Patriots, Politics, and the Oklahoma
City Bombing. New York: Cambridge University
Press, 2007. Demonstrates the rise of domestic634 Oklahoma City bombing The Nineties in America