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Timothy
McVeigh (1968-2001) Timothy
McVeigh, convicted and executed for the
worst act of domestic terrorism in
United States history, became a
radicalized member of the far
right-wing in the early 1990s. With
fellow army veteran Terry Nichols,
McVeigh conspired to destroy the Alfred
P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma
City as a blow to a federal government
that they saw as an evil force.
Their
blow against the government they
despised killed 168 people, eight of
whom were federal agents, 19 were
children, mostly at a daycare facility
in the building, and the rest were
ordinary office workers and citizens
attending to normal
business. McVeigh
grew up in Pendleton, New York, the son
of an auto worker. McVeigh began to
delve into right-wing and racist ideas
and books, a tendency which grew over
the next few years. He joined the U.S.
Army in 1988 after holding a series of
dead-end jobs. He served in the First
Gulf War as a machine gunner on a
Bradley Fighting Vehicle, earning a
Bronze Star for his service during that
conflict. Timothy
McVeigh After
discharging from the Army in 1991,
McVeigh became radicalized by what he
saw as the actions of an oppressive
government. In 1992, the FBI laid siege
to the compound of white separatist and
Aryan Nations sympathizer, Randy Weaver
at Ruby Ridge in Idaho. The next year,
federal law enforcement agencies ended
the siege at the Branch Davidian cult
compound with an assault ending in a
catastrophic fire. Prior to the assault
which ended the standoff, McVeigh
traveled to Waco to act as an
anti-government demonstrator and to
show support for cult-leader David
Koresh. McVeigh purposely chose the
second anniversary of the Waco assault
for his terrorist act as a message to
the government. In a
letter he wrote to Fox News
correspondent Rita Cosby, McVeigh
attempted to justify his attack on a
federal building as no different from a
U.S. military air or missile strike on
a government building in an enemy
nation such as Serbia or Iraq. This is
the statement of a person who is so
alienated from his own country that he
no longer recognizes his victims as
anything other than an enemy
target. McVeigh
read many extreme right-wing
publications, including the Turner
Diaries, a novel written by a
Neo-Nazi named William Pierce (writing
under the alias "Andrew Macdonald"),
which is full of violent racist and
anti-Semitic fantasies. In the book,
the main character, Turner, heads a
group which explodes a rented truck at
FBI headquarters. McVeigh's actions on
April 19, 1995 makes the Turner
Diaries into a blue print for his
plans. With
his mind full of politicized hate,
McVeigh drove a rented Ryder truck full
of a fertilizer-based explosive toward
the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building
in downtown Oklahoma City. In the
subsequent blast, 168 people died, and
hundreds more (at least 800), recieved
wounds. As he
fled the scene of the bombing, Oklahoma
Highway Patrolman Charles Hanger pulled
McVeigh over and arrested him for
driving without a license and carrying
a concealed weapon. Within days, the
connection was made between McVeigh and
the man seen running from the Ryder
truck prior to the bombing. He was
convicted in federal court on June 2,
1997 for the murder of eight federal
agents. McVeigh was executed by lethal
injection on June 11, 2001 at the
federal prison in Terre Haute,
Indiana. Timothy
McVeigh represented a culmination of
the growth and potential terror of
right-wing groups such as the Aryan
Nations, The Order, and other racist,
anti-Semitic anti-government groups
commonly lumped together under the
heading "The Militia Movement." The
ideas and events which helped
radicalize McVeigh; the talk of a "New
World Order," the Turner
Diaries, the Ruby Ridge incident,
the Waco Siege, and other supposed
improprieties by the American
government, also radicalized others,
who, to this point, have not turned
their beliefs into mass murder. The
advent of the War on Terror, and the
September 11th attacks have taken the
public's attention away from the
right-wing militia groups, but the
potential for more Oklahoma City-style
attacks still exists. Education: Best
Known As: The Oklahoma City
Bomber. Publications
About McVeigh and the Bombing:
The Oklahoma City
Bomber. "The
History Guy" is a Registered Trademark. Contact
the webmaster |
Historyguy.com Search
Engine
Trending on
Historyguy.com Now: Family William
McVeigh --Father Mildred
"Mickey" McVeigh
--Mother Siblings Jennifer
McVeigh- Associates,
Colleagues, &
Connections Terry
Nichols-Co-conspirator in the
bombing. Met McVeigh in the
army. Michael
Fortier-friend who was convicted
of knowing of the bombing plot,
but failed to report it. Met
McVeigh and Nichols in the
army. Lori
Fortier-Michael Fortier's wife.
She was a witness at the
trial. Links
and Resources on the Oklahoma City Bomber
Timothy McVeigh The
Making of a Mass
Murderer--Very
political article on McVeigh
which blames society for turning
a "working-class" boy into a
right-wing killer. Full of
socialist opinions; read with
care. McVeigh
letter to Fox
News--
McVeigh explains his reasons for
the bombing in a letter to Fox
News reporter Rita
Cosby. See
also: Biofiles List: American
Domestic Terrorists and
Assassins Site
Map--revision
in progress |
