Timothy McVeigh

McVeigh was born on April 23, 1968, in Lockport, New York, the only son and the second of three children of his Irish American parents, Noreen Mildred "Mickey" Hill and William McVeigh. In 1866, McVeigh's great-great-grandfather Edward McVeigh emigrated from Ireland and settled in Niagara County.John O'Beirne Ranelagh (2012), A Short History of Ireland, p. 341{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/oklahoma/bg/mcveigh.htm |title=An Ordinary Boy's Extraordinary Rage |first1=Dale |last1=Russakoff |last2=Kovaleski |first2=Serge F. |date=July 2, 1995 |page=A01 |access-date=April 12, 2010 |newspaper=The Washington Post |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110131234415/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/oklahoma/bg/mcveigh.htm |archive-date=2011-01-31 |url-status=live }} After McVeigh's parents divorced when he was ten years old, he was raised by his father in Pendleton, New York.{{cite web |url=http://www.wargs.com/other/mcveigh.html |title=Ancestry of Tim McVeigh |website=Wargs.com |access-date=June 4, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101202020410/http://wargs.com/other/mcveigh.html |archive-date=2010-12-02 |url-status=live }}

McVeigh claimed to have been a target of bullying at school, and he took refuge in a fantasy world where he imagined retaliating against the bullies.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/forum/1378651.stm |work=BBC News |title=McVeigh author Dan Herbeck quizzed |date=June 11, 2001 |access-date=March 28, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090425155356/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/forum/1378651.stm |archive-date=2009-04-25 |url-status=live }} Most who knew McVeigh remember him as being very shy and withdrawn while a few described him as an outgoing and playful child who withdrew as an adolescent. He is said to have had only one girlfriend as an adolescent; he later told journalists that he did not have any idea how to impress girls.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1321244.stm |work=BBC News |title=Profile: Timothy McVeigh |date=May 11, 2001 |access-date=March 28, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070217172343/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1321244.stm |archive-date=2007-02-17 |url-status=live }}

While in high school McVeigh became interested in computers, and hacked into government computer systems on his Commodore 64 under the handle The Wanderer, taken from the song by Dion DiMucci. In his senior year he was named "most promising computer programmer" of Starpoint Central High School (as well as "Most Talkative" by his classmates as a joke as he did not speak much)Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck, American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh & the Tragedy at Oklahoma City (2002), pp. 31–32{{Cite web |title=Timothy Mcveigh - From A Loner To Fanatic {{!}} The Seattle Times |url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19950505&slug=2119431 |access-date=2022-11-17 |website=archive.seattletimes.com}} but had relatively poor grades until his 1986 graduation.

He was introduced to firearms by his grandfather. McVeigh told people of his wish to become a gun shop owner and sometimes took firearms to school to impress his classmates. He became intensely interested in gun rights as well as the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution after he graduated from high school and read magazines such as Soldier of Fortune. He briefly attended Bryant & Stratton College before dropping out.{{cite book |last=Chase |first=Alston|title=A Mind for Murder: The Education of the Unabomber and the Origins of Modern Terrorism |year=2004 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=0393325563 |page=370}}Smith, Brent L., Damhousse, Kelly R. and Roberts, Paxton, Pre-Incident Indicators of Terrorist Incidents: The Identification of Behavioral, Geographic and Temporal Patterns of Preparatory Conduct, Document No.: 214217, May 2006, p. 234, found at [http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/214217.pdf NCJRS Government website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080312233139/http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/214217.pdf |date=2008-03-12 }}, [https://www.scribd.com/doc/1227830/Criminal-Justice-Reference-214217 Scribd website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306230106/https://www.scribd.com/doc/1227830/Criminal-Justice-Reference-214217 |date=2016-03-06 }} and [https://www.hsdl.org/homesec/docs/justice/nps17-061906-01.pdf&code=3acf3cb0671047a591e7a64199c4f744 DHS Government website]{{Dead link|date=December 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. Retrieved July 22, 2009. After dropping out of college, McVeigh worked as an armored car guard and was noted by co-workers as being obsessed with guns. One co-worker recalled an instance when McVeigh came to work "looking like Pancho Villa" as he was wearing bandoliers.

In May 1988, at the age of 20, McVeigh enlisted in the United States Army and attended Basic Training and Advanced Individual Training at the U.S. Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia.Linder, Douglas O. [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mcveigh/mcveighaccount.html "The Oklahoma City Bombing & The Trial of Timothy McVeigh,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110223000407/http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mcveigh/mcveighaccount.html |date=2011-02-23 }}, online posting, University of Missouri–Kansas City, Law School faculty projects, 2006, accessed August 7, 2006 feb 17; cf. [http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0106/09/pitn.00.html People in the News: Timothy McVeigh: The Path to Death Row] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313110452/http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0106/09/pitn.00.html |date=2007-03-13 }}, transcript of program broadcast on CNN, June 9, 2001, 11:30 p.m. ET. While in the military, McVeigh used much of his spare time to read about firearms, sniper tactics, and explosives.Michel, Herbeck 2002 p. 61 McVeigh was reprimanded by the military for purchasing a "White Power" T-shirt at a Ku Klux Klan rally where they were objecting to black servicemen who wore "Black Power" T-shirts around a military installation (primarily Army).Michel, Herbeck 2002 pp. 87–88 His future co-conspirator Terry Nichols was his platoon guide. He and Nichols quickly got along with their similar backgrounds as well as their views on gun collecting and survivalism. The two were later stationed together at Fort Riley in Junction City, Kansas, where they met and became friends with their future accomplice, Michael Fortier.

McVeigh was a top-scoring gunner with the M242 25mm cannon of the Bradley Fighting Vehicles used by the 1st Infantry Division and was promoted to sergeant. After being promoted, McVeigh earned a reputation for assigning undesirable work to black servicemen and using derogatory language. He was stationed at Fort Riley before being deployed on Operation Desert Storm.{{cite web |title=Timothy McVeigh |url=https://www.cnn.com/2001/US/03/29/profile.mcveigh/ |website=CNN |access-date=September 16, 2024 |date=March 29, 2001}}

In an interview before his execution, McVeigh said that he hit an Iraqi tank more than 500 yards away on his first day in the war and then the Iraqis surrendered. He also decapitated an Iraqi soldier with cannon fire from 1,100 yards away. He said he was later shocked to see carnage on the road while leaving Kuwait City after U.S. troops routed the Iraqi Army. McVeigh received several service awards, including the Bronze Star Medal{{cite book |last1=Gill |first1=Paul|title=Lone-Actor Terrorists: A behavioural analysis|date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317660163|page=141}} National Defense Service Medal,{{cite web |url=http://www.tulsaworld.com/archives/the-radicalization-of-timothy-mcveigh/article_49b91161-74c7-538f-8183-e5f957f45aa1.html |title=The Radicalization Of Timothy McVeigh |last=Jacobs |first=Sally |date=June 10, 1995 |publisher=tulsaworld.com |access-date=November 18, 2014}} Southwest Asia Service Medal,{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-04-28-mn-59919-story.html |title=Investigators Believe Bombing Was the Work of 4 or 5 People: Terrorism: Father, son are under scrutiny. FBI says 3 witnesses can place McVeigh near blast scene. Arizona town emerges as possible base for plotters. |last1=Willman |first1=David |last2=Ostrow |first2=Ronald J. |date=April 28, 1995 |work=Los Angeles Times |page=4 |access-date=18 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141221131349/http://articles.latimes.com/1995-04-28/news/mn-59919_1_material-witness/4 |archive-date=2014-12-21 |url-status=live }} Army Service Ribbon, and the Kuwaiti Liberation Medal.

McVeigh aspired to join the United States Army Special Forces (SF). After returning from the Gulf War, he entered the selection program, but withdrew on the second day of the 21-day assessment and selection course for the Special Forces, telling other recruits that he had injured an ankle. However, in a letter to his superiors, McVeigh wrote that he was not "physically ready".{{cite news |last1=Jackson |first1=David |last2=Dorning |first2=Michael |title=MCVEIGH: LONER AND SOLDIER |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1995-05-07-9505070305-story.html |access-date=19 October 2022 |work=Chicago Tribune |date=7 May 1995|url-access=registration}} McVeigh decided to leave the Army and was honorably discharged in 1991.{{cite news|last1=KIFNER|first1=JOHN|title=McVEIGH'S MIND: A special report.;Oklahoma Bombing Suspect: Unraveling of a Frayed Life|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/31/us/mcveigh-s-mind-special-report-oklahoma-bombing-suspect-unraveling-frayed-life.html|newspaper=New York Times|date=31 December 1995 |access-date=9 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161218104536/http://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/31/us/mcveigh-s-mind-special-report-oklahoma-bombing-suspect-unraveling-frayed-life.html|archive-date=2016-12-18|url-status=live}}

McVeigh wrote letters to local newspapers complaining about taxes. In 1992, he wrote to the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal:

{{Blockquote|Taxes are a joke. Regardless of what a political candidate "promises," they will increase. More taxes are always the answer to government mismanagement. They mess up. We suffer. Taxes are reaching cataclysmic levels, with no slowdown in sight. [...] Is a Civil War Imminent? Do we have to shed blood to reform the current system? I hope it doesn't come to that. But it might.{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/US/OKC/faces/Suspects/McVeigh/1st-letter6-15/index.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080119111020/http://www.cnn.com/US/OKC/faces/Suspects/McVeigh/1st-letter6-15/index.html|archive-date=2008-01-19|title=McVeigh 1st letter|publisher=CNN}} }}

McVeigh also wrote to Representative John J. LaFalce (D–New York),{{cite web|url=http://articles.philly.com/1995-05-03/news/25671989_1_union-sun-journal-handwritten-letter-stun-guns|title=Mcveigh Wrote To Congressman About 'Self-defense'|last=Goldstein|first=Steve|date=May 3, 1995|publisher=philly.com|access-date=November 18, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304092453/http://articles.philly.com/1995-05-03/news/25671989_1_union-sun-journal-handwritten-letter-stun-guns|archive-date=2016-03-04|url-status=dead}} complaining about the arrest of a woman for carrying mace: {{Blockquote|It is a lie if we tell ourselves that the police can protect us everywhere at all times. Firearms restrictions are bad enough, but now a woman can't even carry Mace in her purse?}}

McVeigh later moved with Nichols to Nichols' brother James' farm around Decker, Michigan.{{cite web |author=Adams |first=Dominic |date=19 April 2015 |title=Oklahoma City bombing memories fade in rural Michigan town at center of plot |url=https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2015/04/oklahoma_city_bombing_memories.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410163157/https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2015/04/oklahoma_city_bombing_memories.html |archive-date=10 April 2019 |access-date=17 November 2022}} While visiting friends, McVeigh reportedly complained that the Army had implanted a microchip into his buttocks so that the government could keep track of him. McVeigh worked long hours in a dead-end job and felt that he did not have a home. He sought romance, but his advances were rejected by a co-worker and he felt nervous around women. He believed that he brought too much pain to his loved ones.Michel, Herbeck 2002 p. 102 He grew angry and frustrated at his difficulties in finding a girlfriend. He took up obsessive gambling.Michel, Herbeck 2002 p. 114 Unable to pay gambling debts, he took a cash advance and then defaulted on his repayments. He began looking for a state with low taxes so that he could live without heavy government regulation or high taxes. He became enraged when the government told him that he had been overpaid $1,058 while in the Army and he had to pay back the money. He wrote an angry letter to the government, saying: {{quote|Go ahead, take everything I own; take my dignity. Feel good as you grow fat and rich at my expense; sucking my tax dollars and property.Michel, Herbeck 2002 pp. 117-118}}

McVeigh introduced his sister to anti-government literature, but his father had little interest in these views. He moved out of his father's house and into an apartment that had no telephone. This made it impossible for his employer to contact him for overtime assignments. He quit the National Rifle Association of America (NRA), believing that it was too weak on gun rights.Michel, Herbeck (2002) p.111

In 1993, McVeigh drove to Waco, Texas, during the Waco siege to show his support. At the scene, he distributed pro-gun rights literature and bumper stickers bearing slogans such as, "When guns are outlawed, I will become an outlaw." He told a student reporter:

{{quote|The government is afraid of the guns people have because they have to have control of the people at all times. Once you take away the guns, you can do anything to the people. You give them an inch and they take a mile. I believe we are slowly turning into a socialist government. The government is continually growing bigger and more powerful, and the people need to prepare to defend themselves against government control.{{cite web|title=The Guns of Spring |url=http://www2.citypaper.com/eat/story.asp?id=17888 |work=Baltimore City Paper |publisher=Times-Shamrock |author=Brian Morton |date=April 15, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129155757/http://www2.citypaper.com/eat/story.asp?id=17888 |archive-date=November 29, 2014 }}[http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/21314 The Guns of Spring]; The Smirking Chimp; 2009 }}

For the five months following the Waco siege, McVeigh worked at gun shows and handed out free cards printed with the name and address of Lon Horiuchi, an FBI sniper, "in the hope that somebody in the Patriot movement would assassinate the sharpshooter." Horiuchi's actions while an FBI agent have drawn controversy, specifically his shooting and killing of Randy Weaver's wife while she held an infant child. McVeigh wrote hate mail to Horiuchi, suggesting that "what goes around, comes around". McVeigh later considered putting aside his plan to target the Murrah Building to target Horiuchi or a member of his family instead.{{cite book|last=Martinez|first=J. Michael |title=Terrorist Attacks on American Soil: From the Civil War Era to the Present|year=2012|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=978-1442203242|page=289}}

McVeigh became a fixture on the gun show circuit, traveling to forty states and visiting about eighty gun shows. He found that the further west he went, the more anti-government sentiment he encountered, at least until he got to what he called "The People's Socialist Republic of California."Michel, Herbeck (2002) p. 121 McVeigh sold survival items and copies of The Turner Diaries. One author said: {{quote|In the gun show culture, McVeigh found a home. Though he remained skeptical of some of the most extreme ideas being bandied around, he liked talking to people there about the United Nations, the federal government, and possible threats to American liberty.Handlin, Sam (2001) [http://www.courttv.com/news/mcveigh_special/profile_ctv.html "Profile of a Mass Murderer: Who Is Timothy McVeigh?] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014123027/http://www.courttv.com/news/mcveigh_special/profile_ctv.html |date=2007-10-14 }} Court TV Online.}}

McVeigh had a road atlas with hand-drawn designations of the most likely places for nuclear attacks and considered buying property in Seligman, Arizona, which he determined to be in a "nuclear-free zone." He lived with Michael Fortier in Kingman, Arizona, and the two became so close that he served as best man at Fortier's wedding. McVeigh experimented with cannabis and methamphetamine after first researching their effects in an encyclopedia.{{cite news| url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9802E3DA1438F937A25752C1A961958260 | work=The New York Times | title=Jury Hears of McVeigh Remarks About Nichols and Bomb Making | first=Jo | last=Thomas | date=November 14, 1997 | access-date=March 28, 2010}} He was never as interested in drugs as Fortier was, and one of the reasons they parted ways was that McVeigh grew tired of Fortier's drug habits.{{cite web|url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/mcveigh/transit_6.html|title=Tim In Transit|last=Ottley|first=Ted|work=Timothy McVeigh & Terry Nichols: Oklahoma Bombing|publisher=TruTv|access-date=April 12, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090601195011/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/mcveigh/transit_6.html|archive-date=June 1, 2009|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}

In April 1993, McVeigh headed for a farm in Michigan where former roommate Terry Nichols lived. In between watching coverage of the Waco siege on TV, Nichols and his brother began teaching McVeigh how to make explosives by combining household chemicals in plastic jugs. The destruction of the Waco compound enraged McVeigh and convinced him that it was time to take action. He was particularly angered by the government's use of CS gas on women and children; he had been exposed to the gas as part of his military training and was familiar with its effects. The disappearance of certain evidence,{{Cite news | url = http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2000-08-18/78306/ | title = Prying Open the Case of the Missing Door | last = Bryce | first = Robert | work = The Austin Chronicle | date = August 18, 2000 | access-date = 2014-02-13 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140225022024/http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2000-08-18/78306/ | archive-date = 2014-02-25 | url-status=live }} such as the bullet-riddled steel-reinforced front door to the complex, led him to suspect a cover-up.

McVeigh's anti-government rhetoric became more radical. He began to sell Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) hats riddled with bullet holes, and a flare gun that he said could shoot down an "ATF helicopter".{{cite news|url=http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/03/29/profile.mcveigh/ |title=Timothy McVeigh: Convicted Oklahoma City Bomber |date=March 29, 2001 |publisher=CNN |access-date=April 12, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100301192549/http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/03/29/profile.mcveigh/ |archive-date=March 1, 2010 }}Editors (2000) [http://www.vpc.org/studies/tupfive.htm "Gun Shows in America."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070914045615/http://www.vpc.org/studies/tupfive.htm |date=2007-09-14 }} Violence Policy Center. He produced videos detailing the government's actions at Waco and handed out pamphlets with titles such as "U.S. Government Initiates Open Warfare Against American People" and "Waco Shootout Evokes Memory of Warsaw '43." He began changing his answering machine greeting every couple of weeks to various quotes by Patrick Henry, such as "Give me liberty or give me death."Michel, Herbeck 2002 pp. 136–14- He began experimenting with making pipe bombs and other small explosive devices. The government imposed new firearms restrictions in 1994 which McVeigh believed threatened his livelihood.

McVeigh dissociated himself from his boyhood friend Steve Hodge by sending him a 23-page farewell letter. He proclaimed his devotion to the United States Declaration of Independence, explaining in detail what each sentence meant to him. McVeigh declared that:

{{quote|Those who betray or subvert the Constitution are guilty of sedition and/or treason, are domestic enemies and should and will be punished accordingly.

It also stands to reason that anyone who sympathizes with the enemy or gives aid or comfort to said enemy is likewise guilty. I have sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic and I will. And I will because not only did I swear to, but I believe in what it stands for in every bit of my heart, soul and being.

I know in my heart that I am right in my struggle, Steve. I have come to peace with myself, my God and my cause. Blood will flow in the streets, Steve. Good vs. Evil. Free Men vs. Socialist Wannabe Slaves. Pray it is not your blood, my friend.{{cite book |last=Balleck |first=Barry J. |title=Allegiance to Liberty: The Changing Face of Patriots, Militias, and Political Violence in America |publisher=Praeger |date=2015 |page=18 |isbn=978-1440830969 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=E_k7BQAAQBAJ&pg=PA176}}}}

McVeigh felt the need to personally reconnoiter sites of rumored conspiracies. He visited Area 51 in order to defy government restrictions on photography and went to Gulfport, Mississippi, to determine the veracity of rumors about United Nations operations. These turned out to be false; the Russian vehicles on the site were being configured for use in U.N.-sponsored humanitarian aid efforts. Around this time, McVeigh and Nichols began making bulk purchases of ammonium nitrate, an agricultural fertilizer, for resale to survivalists, since rumors were circulating that the government was preparing to ban it.Michel, Herbeck (2002) pp. 156–158

McVeigh told Fortier of his plans to blow up a federal building, but Fortier declined to participate. Fortier also told his wife about the plans.Michel, Herbeck (2002) pp. 161–162 McVeigh composed two letters to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the first titled "Constitutional Defenders" and the second "ATF Read." He denounced government officials as "fascist tyrants" and "storm troopers," and warned: {{quote|ATF, all you tyrannical mother fuckers will swing in the wind one day for your treasonous actions against the Constitution of the United States. Remember the Nuremberg War Trials.Martinez, J. Michael (2012) [https://books.google.com/books?id=RQG_AAAAQBAJ&dq=Timothy+McVeigh+tyrannical+swing+wind&pg=PA291 Terrorist Attacks on American Soil: From the Civil War Era to the Present] Lanham,, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. {{isbn|978-1442203242}} p.291{{cite web|url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/mcveigh/turner_7.html |title=Imitating Turner |last=Ottley |first=Ted |work=Timothy McVeigh & Terry Nichols: Oklahoma Bombing |publisher=TruTv |access-date=April 10, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119012918/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/mcveigh/turner_7.html |archive-date=January 19, 2012 }}}}

McVeigh also wrote a letter to recruit a customer named Steve Colbern:

{{quote|A man with nothing left to lose is a very dangerous man and his energy/anger can be focused toward a common/righteous goal. What I'm asking you to do, then, is sit back and be honest with yourself. Do you have kids/wife? Would you back out at the last minute to care for the family? Are you interested in keeping your firearms for their current/future monetary value, or would you drag that '06 through rock, swamp and cactus... to get off the needed shot? In short, I'm not looking for talkers, I'm looking for fighters... And if you are a fed, think twice. Think twice about the Constitution you are supposedly enforcing (isn't "enforcing freedom" an oxymoron?) and think twice about catching us with our guard down – you will lose just like Degan did{{spaced ndash}}and your family will lose.Michel, Herbeck (2002) pp. 184–185}}

McVeigh began announcing that he had progressed from the "propaganda" phase to the "action" phase. He wrote to his Michigan friend Gwenda Strider, "I have certain other 'militant' talents that are in short supply and greatly demanded."Michel, Herbeck (2002) p. 195

McVeigh later said he considered "a campaign of individual assassination," with "eligible" targets including Attorney General Janet Reno, Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. of Federal District Court, who handled the Branch Davidian trial; and Lon Horiuchi, a member of the FBI hostage-rescue team, who shot and killed Vicki Weaver in a standoff at a remote cabin at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in 1992.{{cite web|url=http://www.digital-exp.com/doco/TimothyMcVeigh.html|title=Timothy McVeigh's Letter to Fox News|publisher=Digital-Exp.com|access-date=April 12, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20010823144750/http://www.digital-exp.com/doco/TimothyMcVeigh.html|archive-date=August 23, 2001}} He said he wanted Reno to accept "full responsibility in deed, not just words."{{cite web|url=https://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=1160520&language=en|title=McVeigh Considered Assassinating Reno, Other Officials|date=April 27, 2001|publisher=Kuwait News Agency|access-date=April 12, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512100425/https://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=1160520&language=en|archive-date=2021-05-12|url-status=live}} Such an assassination seemed too difficult,{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1317593/McVeigh-wanted-to-kill-US-attorney-general.html | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130505054631/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1317593/McVeigh-wanted-to-kill-US-attorney-general.html | url-status=live| archive-date=May 5, 2013 | work=The Daily Telegraph | location=London | title=McVeigh 'wanted to kill US attorney general' | date=April 28, 2001 | access-date=June 6, 2022}} and he decided that since federal agents had become soldiers, he should strike at them at their command centers.{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/27/us/mcveigh-says-he-considered-killing-reno.html | archive-url=https://archive.today/20120714023654/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/27/us/mcveigh-says-he-considered-killing-reno.html | url-status=live | archive-date=July 14, 2012 | work=The New York Times | title=McVeigh Says He Considered Killing Reno | first=Susan | last=Saulny | date=April 27, 2001 | access-date=June 6, 2022}} According to McVeigh's authorized biography, he decided that he could make the loudest statement by bombing a federal building. After the bombing, he was ambivalent about his act and the deaths he caused; as he said in letters to his hometown newspaper, he sometimes wished that he had carried out a series of assassinations against police and government officials instead.{{cite web |url=https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2001/06/09/ready-for-execution-mcveigh-says-hes-sorry-for-deaths/62143432007/ |title=Ready for execution, McVeigh says he's sorry for deaths |publisher=The Oklahoman |date=June 9, 2001 |access-date=June 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120502095039/http://newsok.com/article/700006 |archive-date=2012-05-02 |url-status=live }}

{{Main|Oklahoma City bombing}}

File:Oklahomacitybombing-DF-ST-98-01356.jpg two days after the Oklahoma City bombing]]

Working at a lakeside campground near McVeigh's old Army post, he and Nichols constructed an ANFO explosive device mounted in the back of a rented Ryder truck. The bomb consisted of about {{convert|5,000|lb|kg}} of ammonium nitrate and nitromethane.

On April 19, 1995, McVeigh drove the truck to the front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building just as its offices opened for the day. Before arriving, he stopped to light a two-minute fuse. At 09:02, a large explosion destroyed the north half of the building. It killed 168 people, including 19 children in the day care center on the second floor, and injured 684 others.{{cite web|url=http://www.ok.gov/health2/documents/OKC_Bombing.pdf|title=Oklahoma City Bombing Injuries|publisher=Oklahoma State Department of Health|date=December 1998|access-date=2014-08-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140518063448/http://www.ok.gov/health2/documents/OKC_Bombing.pdf|archive-date=2014-05-18|url-status=live}}

McVeigh said that he had not known that there was a daycare center on the second floor, and that he might have chosen a different target if he had known about it.See Michel and Herbeck; cf. Walsh:{{cite book |author-link=Gore Vidal |last=Vidal |first=Gore |title=Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace |pages=1, 81 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oF0ZTJEHubcC |isbn=978-1902636382 |year=2002|publisher=Clairview }} Nichols said that he and McVeigh did know about the daycare center in the building, and that they did not care.[http://209.232.239.37/gtd1/ViewIncident.aspx?id=6621 Global Terrorism Database] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080629211532/http://209.232.239.37/gtd1/ViewIncident.aspx?id=6621 |date=2008-06-29}}{{cite news |author1-last=Romano |author1-first=Lois |author2-first=Tom |author2-last=Kenworthy |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/oklahoma/stories/ok042597.htm |title=Prosecutor Paints McVeigh As 'Twisted' U.S. Terrorist |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=April 25, 1997 |page=A01 |access-date=2017-09-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170917164253/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/oklahoma/stories/ok042597.htm |archive-date=2017-09-17 |url-status=live }}

McVeigh's biographers, Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck, spoke with McVeigh in interviews totaling 75 hours. He said about the victims:

{{quote|To these people in Oklahoma who have lost a loved one, I'm sorry but it happens every day. You're not the first mother to lose a kid, or the first grandparent to lose a grandson or a granddaughter. It happens every day, somewhere in the world. I'm not going to go into that courtroom, curl into a fetal ball and cry just because the victims want me to do that.}}

During an interview in 2000 with Ed Bradley for television news magazine 60 Minutes, Bradley asked McVeigh for his reaction to the deaths of the nineteen children. McVeigh said: {{quote| I thought it was terrible that there were children in the building.{{cite web|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mcveigh-vents-on-60-minutes/|title=McVeigh Vents On '60 Minutes'|date=March 13, 2000|publisher=CBS News|access-date=November 18, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129043826/http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mcveigh-vents-on-60-minutes/|archive-date=2014-11-29|url-status=live}}}}

According to the Oklahoma City Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT), more than 300 buildings in the city were damaged. More than 12,000 volunteers and rescue workers took part in the rescue, recovery and support operations following the bombing. In reference to theories that McVeigh had assistance from others, he responded with a well-known line from the film A Few Good Men, "You can't handle the truth!" He added, "Because the truth is, I blew up the Murrah Building and isn't it kind of scary that one man could wreak this kind of hell?"{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/29/us/no-sympathy-for-dead-children-mcveigh-says.html | archive-url=https://archive.today/20120713080119/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/29/us/no-sympathy-for-dead-children-mcveigh-says.html | url-status=live| archive-date=July 13, 2012 | work=The New York Times | title='No Sympathy' for Dead Children, McVeigh Says | first=Jo | last=Thomas | date=March 29, 2001 | access-date=March 28, 2010 }}

File:Aa McVeigh sketch and pic.jpg

By tracing the vehicle identification number of a rear axle found in the wreckage, the FBI identified the vehicle as a Ryder rental box truck rented from Junction City, Kansas. Workers at the agency assisted an FBI artist in creating a sketch of the renter, who had used the alias "Robert Kling". The sketch was shown in the area. Lea McGown, manager of the local Dreamland Motel, identified the sketch as Timothy McVeigh.{{cite magazine|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,986240,00.html|title=Oklahoma City: The Weight Of Evidence|last1=Collins|first1=James|author2=Patrick E. Cole|author3=Elaine Shannon|magazine=Time|date=April 27, 1997|access-date=June 7, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100615022116/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,986240-5,00.html|archive-date=2010-06-15|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/mcveigh/snag_2.html |title=License Tag Snag |last=Ottley |first=Ted |work=Timothy McVeigh & Terry Nichols: Oklahoma Bombing |publisher=TruTv |access-date=April 12, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110829095824/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/mcveigh/snag_2.html |archive-date=August 29, 2011 }}

Shortly after the bombing, while driving on Interstate 35 in Noble County, near Perry, Oklahoma, McVeigh was stopped by State Trooper Charles J. Hanger.See [https://web.archive.org/web/20150310105507/http://www.nleomf.org/officers/month/otm-archive/officer-of-the-month-12.html "Officer of the Month – October 2001:] Second Lieutenant Charles J. Hanger, Oklahoma Highway Patrol," National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, copyright 2004–06. Retrieved August 8, 2006. Hanger had passed McVeigh's yellow 1977 Mercury Marquis and noticed that it had no license plate. McVeigh admitted to the state trooper{{snd}}who noticed a bulge under his jacket{{snd}}that he had a gun; the trooper arrested him for driving without plates and possessing an illegal firearm. McVeigh's concealed weapon permit was not legal in Oklahoma. McVeigh was wearing a shirt at that time with a picture of Abraham Lincoln and the motto {{lang|la|sic semper tyrannis}} ('Thus always to tyrants'), the supposed words shouted by John Wilkes Booth after he shot Lincoln.{{cite web |url=http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/notorious/mcveigh/turner_7.html |title=The Timothy McVeigh Story: The Oklahoma Bomber |access-date=July 12, 2007 |publisher=Crime Library |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119012918/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/mcveigh/turner_7.html |archive-date=January 19, 2012 }} On the back, it had a tree with a picture of three blood droplets and the Thomas Jefferson quote, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."{{cite news | url=http://www.cnn.com/US/9704/28/okc/ | work=CNN | title='Turner Diaries' introduced in McVeigh trial | access-date=May 25, 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100529135944/http://www.cnn.com/US/9704/28/okc/ | archive-date=2010-05-29 | url-status=live }} Three days later, McVeigh was identified as the subject of the nationwide manhunt.

File:TimothyMcVeighPerryOKApr2195.jpg, courthouse two days after the bombing]]

On August 10, 1995, McVeigh was indicted on 11 federal counts, including conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, use of a weapon of mass destruction, destruction with the use of explosives, and eight counts of first degree murder for the deaths of law enforcement officers.Count 1: "conspiracy to detonate a weapon of mass destruction" in violation of 18 USC § 2332a, culminating in the deaths of 168 people and destruction of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.{{ubl

|Count 2: "use of a weapon of mass destruction" in violation of 18 USC § 2332a (2)(a) & (b).

|Count 3: "destruction by explosives resulting in death", in violation of 18 USC § 844(f)(2)(a) & (b).

|Counts 4–11: first-degree murder in violation of 18 USC § 1111, 1114, & 2 and 28 CFR § 64.2(h), each count in connection to one of the eight law enforcement officers who were killed during the attack.}}{{Cite web|title=FindLaw's United States Tenth Circuit case and opinions.|url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-10th-circuit/1029918.html|access-date=2022-02-14|website=Findlaw}} On February 20, 1996, the Court granted a change of venue and ordered that the case be transferred from Oklahoma City to the District Court in Denver, to be presided over by District Judge Richard Paul Matsch.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/oklahoma/stories/judge.htm|title=Richard Matsch Has a Firm Grip on His Gavel in the Oklahoma City Bombing Trial|last=Romano|first=Lois|date=May 12, 1997|work=National Special Report: Oklahoma Bombing Trial|publisher=Washington Post|access-date=April 15, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101030062230/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/oklahoma/stories/judge.htm|archive-date=2010-10-30|url-status=live}}

McVeigh instructed his lawyers to use a necessity defense, but they ended up not doing so.{{cite news|url = http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0106/09/pitn.00.html|work = CNN|date = February 7, 2001|access-date = May 25, 2010|title = People In The News|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100423133457/http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0106/09/pitn.00.html |archive-date = 2010-04-23|url-status = live|df = mdy-all}} They would have had to prove that McVeigh was in "imminent danger" from the government. McVeigh argued that "imminent" did not necessarily mean "immediate". They would have argued that his bombing of the Murrah building was a justifiable response to what McVeigh believed were the crimes of the U.S. government at Waco, Texas, where the 51-day siege of the Branch Davidian complex resulted in the deaths of 76 Branch Davidians.Linder, Douglas O., [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mcveigh/mcveighaccount.html "The Oklahoma City Bombing & The Trial of Timothy McVeigh,"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110223000407/http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mcveigh/mcveighaccount.html |date=2011-02-23 }}, online posting, University of Missouri–Kansas City, Law School faculty projects, 2006, accessed August 7, 2006. As part of the defense, McVeigh's lawyers showed the jury the controversial video Waco, the Big Lie.{{cite web|url=http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0106/09/pitn.00.html|title=CNN.com – Transcripts|website=edition.cnn.com}}

On June 2, 1997, McVeigh was found guilty on all 11 counts of the federal indictment.Eddy, Mark; Lane, George; Pankratz, Howard; Wilmsen, Steven [http://extras.denverpost.com/bomb/bombv1.htm "Guilty on Every Count,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001000254/http://extras.denverpost.com/bomb/bombv1.htm |date=2007-10-01 }} Denver Post June 3, 1997, accessed August 7, 2006 Although 168 people, including 19 children, were killed in the April 19, 1995, bombing, murder charges were brought against McVeigh for only the eight federal agents who were on duty when the bomb destroyed much of the Murrah Building. Along with the eight counts of murder, McVeigh was charged with conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, and destroying a federal building. Oklahoma City District Attorney Bob Macy said he would file state charges in the other 160 murders after McVeigh's co-defendant, Terry Nichols, was tried. After the verdict, McVeigh tried to calm his mother by saying, "Think of it this way. When I was in the Army, you didn't see me for years. Think of me that way now, like I'm away in the Army again, on an assignment for the military."Michel, Herbeck (200) p. 347

On June 13, the jury recommended that McVeigh be sentenced to death.{{cite news|title = McVeigh sentenced to die for Oklahoma City bombing|url = http://edition.cnn.com/US/9706/13/mcveigh.sentencing|agency = CNN|date = 1997-06-13|access-date = 2020-07-04|df = mdy-all|archive-date = 2020-11-11|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201111174728/http://edition.cnn.com/US/9706/13/mcveigh.sentencing/|url-status = dead}} The U.S. Department of Justice brought federal charges against McVeigh for causing the deaths of eight federal officers leading to a possible death penalty for McVeigh; they could not bring charges against McVeigh for the remaining 160 deaths in federal court because those deaths fell under the jurisdiction of the State of Oklahoma. Because McVeigh was convicted and sentenced to death, the State of Oklahoma did not file murder charges against McVeigh for the other 160 deaths.[http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0106/09/pitn.00.html People in the News: Timothy McVeigh: The Path to Death Row] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313110452/http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0106/09/pitn.00.html |date=2007-03-13 }}, transcript of program broadcast on CNN, June 9, 2001, 11:30 p.m. ET. Before the sentence was formally pronounced by Judge Matsch, McVeigh addressed the court for the first time and said: "If the Court please, I wish to use the words of Justice [Louis] Brandeis dissenting in Olmstead [v. United States] to speak for me. He wrote, 'Our Government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example.' That's all I have."{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-aug-15-mn-22602-story.html|title=McVeigh Speaks Out, Receives Death Sentence|last=Serrano|first=Richard A.|date=August 15, 1997|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=November 18, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141221131355/http://articles.latimes.com/1997/aug/15/news/mn-22602|archive-date=2014-12-21|url-status=live}}

File:Florence ADMAX.jpg in Colorado until 1999.]]

McVeigh's death sentence was delayed pending an appeal. One of his appeals for {{lang|la|certiorari}}, taken to the Supreme Court of the United States, was denied on March 8, 1999. McVeigh's request for a nationally televised execution was also denied. Entertainment Network Inc., an Internet company that produces adult-themed websites, unsuccessfully sued for the right to broadcast the execution.{{cite news|url=http://archives.cnn.com/2001/LAW/04/05/mcveigh.internet/index.html |last=Williams |first=Dave |title=Internet firm sues to broadcast McVeigh execution |date=April 5, 2001 |publisher=CNN |access-date=April 12, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091010163946/http://archives.cnn.com/2001/LAW/04/05/mcveigh.internet/index.html |archive-date=October 10, 2009 }}{{cite news| url=https://www.salon.com/2001/04/19/mcveigh_6/ | title=The execution will not be webcast | date=19 April 2001 | access-date=July 28, 2011 | last1=Mieszkowski | first1=Katharine |last2=Standen, Amy | work=Salon | author-link1=Katharine Mieszkowski| author-link2 = Amy Standen}} At USP Florence ADMAX, McVeigh and Nichols were housed in what was known as "bomber's row". Ted Kaczynski, Luis Felipe, and Ramzi Yousef were also housed in this cell block. Yousef made frequent, unsuccessful attempts to convert McVeigh to Islam.Michel, Herbeck (2002) pp. 360–361.

The day before his execution, McVeigh said in a letter to The Buffalo News: "I am sorry these people had to lose their lives, but that's the nature of the beast. It's understood going in what the human toll will be."{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/jun/11/mcveigh.usa4 | work=The Guardian | location=London | title=McVeigh faces day of reckoning | last=Borger | first=Julian | date=June 11, 2001 | access-date=May 25, 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130825034934/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/jun/11/mcveigh.usa4 | archive-date=2013-08-25 | url-status=live }} He said that if there turned out to be an afterlife, he would "improvise, adapt and overcome", noting: "If there is a hell, then I'll be in good company with a lot of fighter pilots who also had to bomb innocents to win the war."{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/apr/22/mcveigh.usa | work=The Guardian | location=London | title=Dead man talking | date=May 9, 2001 | access-date=March 28, 2010 | first=Tracey | last=McVeigh | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130825010718/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/apr/22/mcveigh.usa | archive-date=2013-08-25 | url-status=live }} He also said: "I knew I wanted this before it happened. I knew my objective was state-assisted suicide and when it happens, it's in your face. You just did something you're trying to say should be illegal for medical personnel."

The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) transferred McVeigh from USP Florence ADMAX to the federal death row at USP Terre Haute in Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1999.Huppke, Rex W. "[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6IsvAAAAIBAJ&sjid=otwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4757,5002594&dq=timothy+mcveigh+moved+terre+haute&hl=en EXECUTION: Terre Haute, Ind. dreads execution of Timothy McVeigh]". Southeast Missourian, April 6, 2001. p. 2A (continued from 1A). Associated Press. Retrieved from Google News (2/16) on October 14, 2010. "The planning for this day began when McVeigh was moved to the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana along with the 19 other federal death row inmates in 1999[...]" McVeigh dropped his remaining appeals, saying that he would rather die than spend the rest of his life in prison.{{cite news|url=http://archives.cnn.com/2001/LAW/05/11/mcveigh.evidence.06/index.html |title=Bush calls McVeigh execution delay necessary |date=May 11, 2001 |publisher=CNN |access-date=April 12, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100614074106/http://archives.cnn.com/2001/LAW/05/11/mcveigh.evidence.06/index.html |archive-date=June 14, 2010 }} On January 16, 2001, the BOP set May 16 as McVeigh's execution date."[http://www.bop.gov/news/press/press_releases/ipapr009.jsp Federal Execution date set for Timothy James McVeigh]" ({{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527205424/http://www.bop.gov/news/press/press_releases/ipapr009.jsp |date=2010-05-27 }}). Federal Bureau of Prisons. January 16, 2001. Retrieved May 29, 2010. McVeigh said that his only regret was not completely destroying the federal building.{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/mar/30/julianborger | work=The Guardian | location=London | title=McVeigh brushes aside deaths | first=Julian | last=Borger | date=March 30, 2001 | access-date=May 25, 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130825001819/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/mar/30/julianborger | archive-date=2013-08-25 | url-status=live }} Six days prior to his scheduled execution, the FBI turned over thousands of documents of evidence it had previously withheld to McVeigh's attorneys. As a result, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft announced McVeigh's execution would be stayed for one month. The execution date was reset for June 11. Conductor David Woodard performed Requiem Mass music for McVeigh on the morning of McVeigh's execution.{{Cite news |date=2001-05-11 |title=Composer creates McVeigh death fanfare |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1324743.stm |access-date=2024-12-02 |language=en-GB}} While acknowledging McVeigh's "horrible deed", David Woodard intended to "provide comfort".Siletti, M. J., [https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/186334788.pdf#page=248 Sounding the last mile: Music and capital punishment in the United States since 1976], doctoral dissertation under Prof. J. Magee, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, 2018, pp. 240–241.Günther, M., Gesichter Amerikas: Reportagen aus dem Land der unbegrenzten Widersprüche (Bottrop: Henselowsky Boschmann Verlag, 2006), p. 30. McVeigh also requested a Catholic chaplain. His last meal consisted of two pints of mint chocolate chip ice cream.{{cite web|url=http://www.lastmealsproject.com/pages.html |title=index |publisher=Lastmealsproject.com |access-date=2014-08-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140821061756/http://www.lastmealsproject.com/pages.html |archive-date=2014-08-21 }}

File:TerreHauteUSP.jpg in Indiana after 1999.]]

McVeigh chose William Ernest Henley's 1875 poem "Invictus" as his final written statement.{{cite news|title=Execution of an American Terrorist|work=Court TV|last=Quayle|first=Catherine|date=June 11, 2001|url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/12/17/court.archive.mcveigh5/index.html#cnnSTCText|access-date=2011-08-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121110123256/http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/12/17/court.archive.mcveigh5/index.html#cnnSTCText|archive-date=2012-11-10|url-status=live}}{{cite news|title=Timothy McVeigh Put to Death for Oklahoma City Bombings |publisher=FOX News |last=Cosby|first=Rita|date=June 12, 2001|url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/timothy-mcveigh-put-to-death-for-oklahoma-city-bombings|access-date=April 15, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413215719/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,26904,00.html|archive-date=2008-04-13|url-status=live}} Just before the execution, when he was asked if he had a final statement, he declined. Jay Sawyer, a relative of one of the victims, wrote, "Without saying a word, he got the final word."{{cite news | url=http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/law/12/17/court.archive.mcveigh/ | work=CNN | title=Terror on Trial: Timothy McVeigh executed | date=December 31, 2007 | access-date=September 25, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200423134709/http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/law/12/17/court.archive.mcveigh/ | archive-date=2020-04-23 | url-status=live}} Larry Whicher, whose brother died in the attack, described McVeigh as having "a totally expressionless, blank stare. He had a look of defiance and that if he could, he'd do it all over again."{{cite web|url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/mcveigh/updates.html|title=Pre-Execution News: McVeigh's Stay Request Denied|date=June 7, 2001|last=Ottley|first=Ted|work=Timothy McVeigh & Terry Nichols: Oklahoma Bombing|publisher=TruTv|access-date=April 12, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110924155955/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/mcveigh/updates.html|archive-date=September 24, 2011}} McVeigh was executed by lethal injection at 7:14 a.m. on June 11, 2001, the first person to be executed by the United States federal government since Victor Feguer was executed in Iowa on March 15, 1963.{{cite news |title=McVeigh's final hours recall last federal execution |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/mcveighs-final-hours-recall-last-federal-execution/LW6ULI5OBLMDVDK7SWCKW4CWLQ/ |access-date=21 February 2021 |work=New Zealand Herald |date=10 June 2001}}

On November 21, 1997, President Bill Clinton had signed S. 923, special legislation introduced by Senator Arlen Specter to bar McVeigh and other veterans convicted of capital crimes from being buried in any military cemetery.{{cite news|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3655/is_199904/ai_n8846061/pg_43 |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20091001091455/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3655/is_199904/ai_n8846061/pg_43 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2009-10-01 |title=Fair notice, even for terrorists: Timothy McVeigh and a new standard for the ex post facto clause |date=Spring 1999 |publisher=Washington and Lee Law Review |last=Gottman |first=Andrew J |access-date=April 12, 2010 }}{{USStatute|105|116|111|2381|1997|11|21|S|923}}{{cite web|url=http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/vets/hvr070997.000/hvr070997_0.htm|title=Hearing on S. 923 and H.R. 2040, to deny burial in a federally funded cemetery and other benefits to veterans convicted of certain capital crimes|publisher=U.S. House of Representatives|date=July 9, 1997|access-date=October 24, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101103203356/http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/vets/hvr070997.000/hvr070997_0.htm|archive-date=2010-11-03|url-status=live}} His body was cremated at Mattox Ryan Funeral Home in Terre Haute. His ashes were given to his lawyer, who said "the final destination of McVeigh's remains would remain privileged forever." McVeigh had written that he considered having them dropped at the site of the memorial where the building once stood, but decided that would be "too vengeful, too raw, too cold."{{cite web|title=Timothy McVeigh dead|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2001/LAW/06/11/mcveigh.01/|publisher=CNN|access-date=July 30, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101191824/http://edition.cnn.com/2001/LAW/06/11/mcveigh.01/|archive-date=2016-01-01|url-status=live}} He had expressed willingness to donate organs, but was prohibited from doing so by prison regulations. Psychiatrist John Smith concluded that McVeigh was "a decent person who had allowed rage to build up inside him to the point that he had lashed out in one terrible, violent act." McVeigh's IQ was assessed at 126.Michel, Herbeck 2002 p. 288.

According to CNN, his only known associations were as a registered Republican while in Buffalo, New York, in the 1980s, and a membership in the National Rifle Association while in the Army.

After returning home from war he signed up for a trial membership in the KKK, although he did not ultimately continue with the Klan.{{Cite web |title=Terror on Trial: Who was Timothy McVeigh? - CNN.com |url=https://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/12/17/court.archive.mcveigh2/index.html |access-date=2023-01-11 |website=www.cnn.com}} There is no conclusive evidence that he ever belonged to any other extremist groups.Profile of [http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/03/29/profile.mcveigh Timothy McVeigh], {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060209045752/http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/03/29/profile.mcveigh/|date=2006-02-09}} CNN, March 29, 2001. Retrieved February 22, 2015.

McVeigh was raised Roman Catholic.Patrick Cole, [https://web.archive.org/web/20010520165156/http://www.time.com/time/nation/printout/0,8816,109478,00.html "A Look Back in TIME: Interview with Timothy McVeigh"], March 30, 1996. Retrieved October 19, 2010. During his childhood, he and his father attended Mass regularly.{{cite news | first=Robert D. | last=McFadden | title=Terror in Oklahoma: The Suspect; One Man's Complex Path to Extremism | work=The New York Times | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/23/us/terror-in-oklahoma-the-suspect-one-man-s-complex-path-to-extremism.html?pagewanted=2 | date=April 23, 1995 | access-date=March 23, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130516204332/http://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/23/us/terror-in-oklahoma-the-suspect-one-man-s-complex-path-to-extremism.html?pagewanted=2 | archive-date=2013-05-16 | url-status=live }} McVeigh was confirmed at the Good Shepherd Church in Pendleton, New York, in 1985.{{cite news | title=Fellow inmate counsels McVeigh | agency=Associated Press | url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2001-05-07-mcveigh-fellow.htm | access-date=March 23, 2011 | date=June 20, 2001 | work=USA Today | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030610003212/http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2001-05-07-mcveigh-fellow.htm | archive-date=2003-06-10 | url-status=live }} In a 1996 interview, McVeigh professed belief in "a God", although he said he had "sort of lost touch with" Catholicism and "I never really picked it up, however I do maintain core beliefs." In McVeigh's biography American Terrorist, released in 2002, he stated that he did not believe in a hell and that science is his religion."[https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna36135258 The McVeigh Tapes] " Rachel Maddow Show, aired April 19, 2010, pt. 1 at 2 min. 40 sec.Michel, Herbeck 2002 pp. 142-143 In June 2001, a day before the execution, McVeigh wrote a letter to the Buffalo News identifying himself as agnostic.Julian Borger,[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/jun/11/mcveigh.usa4 "McVeigh faces day of reckoning: Special report: Timothy McVeigh,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161201174919/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/jun/11/mcveigh.usa4 |date=2016-12-01 }}, The Guardian, June 11, 2001. Retrieved October 19, 2010. However, he took the last rites, administered by a priest, just before his execution.{{Cite web |url=https://www.toledoblade.com/Religion/2001/06/17/Salvation-for-a-killer.html |work=The Blade|title= Salvation for a killer?|author=David Yonke|access-date=2014-12-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141225225445/http://www.toledoblade.com/Religion/2001/06/17/Salvation-for-a-killer.html |archive-date=2014-12-25 |url-status=live }}[http://edition.cnn.com/2001/LAW/06/11/mcveigh.03/index.html McVeigh took last rites before execution] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151127093817/http://edition.cnn.com/2001/LAW/06/11/mcveigh.03/index.html |date=2015-11-27 }}, CNN, April 10, 2001. Retrieved 7 October 2015. Father Charles Smith ministered to McVeigh in his last moments on death row.{{Cite news |title=Oklahoma Bomber Confessed to Catholic Priest|work=The Universe|date=August 18, 2006}}

McVeigh claimed that the bombing was revenge against the government for the sieges at Waco and Ruby Ridge.See "McVeigh Remorseless About Bombing," newswire release, Associated Press, March 29, 2001. McVeigh visited Waco during the standoff. While there, he was interviewed by student reporter Michelle Rauch, a senior journalism major at Southern Methodist University who was writing for the school paper. McVeigh expressed his objections over what was happening there.{{cite news|url=http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mcveigh/mcveighwaco.html|title=Timothy McVeigh in Waco|publisher=UMKC.edu|access-date=August 14, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121007233508/http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mcveigh/mcveighwaco.html|archive-date=2012-10-07|url-status=live}}

McVeigh frequently quoted and alluded to the white supremacist novel The Turner Diaries; he claimed to appreciate its interest in firearms. Photocopies of pages sixty-one and sixty-two of The Turner Diaries were found in an envelope inside McVeigh's car. These pages depicted a fictitious mortar attack upon the U.S. Capitol in Washington.Michel and Herbeck; cf. Walsh.

In a 1,200-word essay{{cite journal|last=McVeigh|first=Timothy J.|url=http://www.4bypass.com/stories/mcveigh.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990429110745/http://www.4bypass.com/stories/mcveigh.html|title=An Essay on Hypocrisy|journal=Media Bypass Magazine|date=June 1998|archive-date=1999-04-29|access-date=September 4, 2018}} dated March 1998, from the federal maximum-security prison at Florence, Colorado, McVeigh claimed that the terrorist bombing was "morally equivalent" to U.S. military actions against Iraq and other foreign countries. The handwritten essay, submitted to and published by the alternative national news magazine Media Bypass, was distributed worldwide by the Associated Press on May 29, 1998. This was written in the midst of the 1998 Iraq disarmament crisis and a few months before Operation Desert Fox.

On April 26, 2001, McVeigh wrote a letter to Fox News, "I Explain Herein Why I Bombed the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City", which explicitly laid out his reasons for the attack.{{cite news |url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/mcveighs-apr-26-letter-to-fox-news|title=McVeigh's Apr. 26 Letter to Fox News |date=April 26, 2001 |publisher=Fox News |access-date=June 7, 2022 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110209151723/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,17500,00.html |archive-date=2011-02-09 }} McVeigh read the novel Unintended Consequences (1996), and said that if it had come out a few years earlier, he would have given serious consideration to using sniper attacks in a war of attrition against the government instead of bombing a federal building.Michel, Herbeck 2002 p. 304

McVeigh's accomplice Terry Nichols was convicted and sentenced in federal court to life in prison for his role in the crime.{{cite web |title=Terry Nichols Sentenced to Life With No Hope of Parole – The Tech |url=http://tech.mit.edu/V118/N27/nichols.27w.html |website=tech.mit.edu |access-date=2016-01-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160129110841/http://tech.mit.edu/V118/N27/nichols.27w.html |archive-date=2016-01-29 |url-status=live }} At Nichols' trial, evidence was presented indicating that others may have been involved.{{cite web |title=The mystery of John Doe No. 2 |url=http://www.salon.com/2001/06/09/john_doe/ |website=Salon |access-date=7 June 2021 |first=David |last=Neiwert |date=10 June 2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160129232536/http://www.salon.com/2001/06/09/john_doe/ |archive-date=2016-01-29 |url-status=live }} Several residents of central Kansas, including real estate agent Georgia Rucker and a retired Army NCO, testified at Terry Nichols' federal trial that they had seen two trucks at Geary Lake State Park, where prosecutors alleged the bomb was assembled. The retired NCO said he visited the lake on April 18, 1995, but left after a group of surly men looked at him aggressively. The operator of the Dreamland Motel testified that two Ryder trucks had been parked outside her Grandview Plaza motel where McVeigh stayed in Room 26 the weekend before the bombing.{{cite news |title=Dead Ends |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1995/06/11/dead-ends/c8d18f92-1d69-4e29-9ca5-233102d78e7d/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=1995-06-11 |access-date=2016-01-23 |issn=0190-8286 |first=Joel |last=Achenbach |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160131002919/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1995/06/11/dead-ends/c8d18f92-1d69-4e29-9ca5-233102d78e7d/ |archive-date=2016-01-31 |url-status=live }} Terry Nichols is incarcerated at ADX Florence in Florence, Colorado.{{cite web |last1=Ridley|first1=Gary|title=Oklahoma City bomber Terry Nichols says in prison letters he is not a terrorist |url=https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2015/04/oklahoma_city_bomber_terry_nic.html |website=MLive |date=17 April 2015 |access-date=7 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160130025751/http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2015/04/oklahoma_city_bomber_terry_nic.html |archive-date=2016-01-30 |url-status=live }}

Michael and Lori Fortier were also considered accomplices, due to their foreknowledge of the bombing. In addition to Michael assisting McVeigh in scouting the federal building, Lori had helped McVeigh laminate a fake driver's license which was used to rent the Ryder truck.{{cite news |first=Jo |last=Thomas |title=For First Time, Woman Says McVeigh Told of Bomb Plan |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/30/us/for-first-time-woman-says-mcveigh-told-of-bomb-plan.html|work=The New York Times |date=April 30, 1996 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408092649/https://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/30/us/for-first-time-woman-says-mcveigh-told-of-bomb-plan.html |archive-date=April 8, 2022|access-date=June 7, 2022 |url-status=live}} Fortier agreed to testify against McVeigh and Nichols in exchange for a reduced sentence and immunity for his wife.{{cite news|title=Transcripts |publisher=CNN |url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0601/20/sitroom.01.html |date=January 20, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629124159/http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0601/20/sitroom.01.html |archive-date=June 29, 2011 |url-status=dead }} He was sentenced on May 27, 1998, to twelve years in prison and fined $75,000 for failing to warn authorities about the bombing.{{cite news|title=12-Year Sentence Given Again to Witness in Oklahoma Bombing |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/09/us/12-year-sentence-given-again-to-witness-in-oklahoma-bombing.html |date=October 9, 1999 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220428192508/https://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/09/us/12-year-sentence-given-again-to-witness-in-oklahoma-bombing.html |archive-date=April 28, 2022|access-date=June 7, 2022 |url-status=live}} On January 20, 2006, Fortier was released for good behavior into the Witness Protection Program and given a new identity.{{cite news |first=Arnold |last=Hamilton |title=New life, identity await Fortier as he leaves prison |url=http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/011906dntexfortier.1742cf8f.html |work=The Dallas Morning News |date=January 18, 2006 |publisher= |access-date=March 28, 2018 |archive-date=October 12, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012180601/http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/011906dntexfortier.1742cf8f.html |url-status=dead }}

An ATF informant, Carol Howe, told reporters that shortly before the bombing she had warned her handlers that guests of the private community of Elohim City, Oklahoma,{{cite magazine |last1=Graff |first1=James L. |title=THE WHITE CITY ON A HILL |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,985943,00.html |access-date=12 October 2022 |magazine=Time |date=24 February 1997 |quote=The city's guest list over the years has been a veritable Who's Who of the radical right. Tim McVeigh called Elohim two weeks before the Oklahoma bombing.}} were planning a major bombing attack.{{Cite web|title = Oklahoma City Bombing's Unanswered Questions in New Book|url = https://www.thedailybeast.com/oklahoma-city-bombings-unanswered-questions-in-new-book|website = The Daily Beast|date = 2012-04-18|access-date = 2022-06-07|first = Michael|last = Isikoff|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160114160955/http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/18/oklahoma-city-bombing-s-unanswered-questions-in-new-book.html|archive-date = 2016-01-14|url-status=live}} McVeigh was issued a speeding ticket there at the same time.{{Cite web |url=http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mcveigh/mcveighchrono.html |title=A Chronology: The Oklahoma City Bombing and Trial of Timothy McVeigh |access-date=2016-01-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160121041628/http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mcveigh/mcveighchrono.html |archive-date=2016-01-21 |url-status=live }} Other than this speeding ticket, there is no evidence of a connection between McVeigh and members of the Midwest Bank Robbers at Elohim City.{{Cite web|title = The Complicated Defense of Timothy McVeigh|url = https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2007/08/complicated-defense-timothy-mcveigh|website = Mother Jones|access-date = 2016-01-23|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160130004228/http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2007/08/complicated-defense-timothy-mcveigh|archive-date = 2016-01-30|url-status=live}}

Some witnesses claimed to have seen a second suspect, and there was a search for a "John Doe #2", but none was ever found.{{Cite news|url=http://okcfox.com/news/fox-25-investigates/did-john-doe-2-exist-new-book-claims-to-solve-decades-old-mystery|title=Did John Doe #2 exist? New book claims to solve decades-old mystery|last=Cross|first=Phil|work=KOKH|access-date=2018-07-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722184852/http://okcfox.com/news/fox-25-investigates/did-john-doe-2-exist-new-book-claims-to-solve-decades-old-mystery|archive-date=2018-07-22|url-status=live}}

As part of the expanded timeline for the official website of the 2003 alternate universe movie C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America, McVeigh is a terrorist who bombed the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C., in 1995. His execution is aired live on national television and is shown on pay-per-view where it gets many viewers.{{Cite web|url=http://www.csathemovie.com/timeline/index.html|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070115204823/http://www.csathemovie.com/timeline/index.html|archive-date = 2007-01-15|title = C.S.A. The Movie Website}}

In the 2012 alternate universe novel The Mirage, McVeigh is a CIA officer of the Evangelical Republic of Texas. Terry Nichols is mentioned as an associate.

In the 2023 historical drama miniseries Waco: The Aftermath, McVeigh is portrayed by Alex Breaux.{{cite news |last1=Levine |first1=Mike |last2=Margolin |first2=Josh |last3=Hosenball |first3=Alex |last4=Wagnon Courts |first4=Jenny |date=6 October 2020 |title=Nation's deadliest domestic terrorist inspiring new generation of hate-filled 'monsters,' FBI records show |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/nations-deadliest-domestic-terrorist-inspiring-generation-hate-filled/story?id=73431262 |access-date=3 January 2025 |work=ABC News |quote=Six months ago, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin to law enforcement agencies across the country, highlighting the "persistent and evolving" threat from violent white supremacists and other domestic terrorists. The bulletin noted that due to McVeigh’s attack, 1995 was the nation’s most lethal year for domestic terrorism attacks. Last year was the nation’s second-most lethal year for domestic terrorism attacks, the bulletin said. In 2019, domestic terrorists were responsible for at least 31 deaths, 23 of which were linked to white supremacists, according to the bulletin.}}

In 2024, HBO produced the documentary An American Bombing: The Road to April 19th.{{cite web|url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/american-bombing-how-to-watch-hbo-documentary-about-oklahoma-city-domestic-terrorism-attack/ar-BB1lK9Bn|title='American Bombing': How to Watch HBO Documentary About Oklahoma City Domestic Terrorism Attack|last1=Knolle|first1=Sharon|date=April 16, 2024|website=MSN}}

In the 2024 film McVeigh, he is played by Alfie Allen.{{cite web|url=https://tribecafilm.com/films/mcveigh-2024|title=McVeigh|website=Tribeca Festival|access-date=June 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240530033421/https://tribecafilm.com/films/mcveigh-2024|archive-date=May 30, 2024}}

{{Portal|United States|Biography}}

• Capital punishment by the United States federal government
• Capital punishment in the United States
• List of people executed by the United States federal government
• List of people executed in the United States in 2001

{{Reflist}}

• Jones, Stephen, and Peter Israel (2001). Others Unknown: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing Conspiracy. 2nd ed. New York: PublicAffairs. {{ISBN|1586480987}}.
• Madeira, Jody Lyneé (2012). Killing McVeigh: The Death Penalty and the Myth of Closure. New York: NYU Press. {{ISBN|978-0814796108}}.
• Michel, Lou, and Dan Herbeck (2001). American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing. New York: ReganBooks/HarperCollins. {{ISBN|0060394072}}.
• Stickney, Brandon M. (1996). "All-American Monster: The Unauthorized Biography of Timothy McVeigh". Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books. {{ISBN|978-1573920889}}.
• {{cite book |author=Toobin, Jeffrey |title=Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism|location=New York |publisher=Simon & Schuster|year=2023}}
• Vidal, Gore (2002). Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace: How We Got to Be So Hated. Thunder's Mouth Press/Nation Books. {{ISBN|156025405X}}.
• Wright, Stuart A. (2007). Patriots, Politics, and the Oklahoma City Bombing. New York: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|978-0521872645}}.

{{Commons category}}

{{Wikiquote}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20050308093006/http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/notorious/mcveigh/dawning_1.html "Bad Day Dawning"] in "Criminals and Methods: Timothy McVeigh" at Court TV: Crime Library
• [http://independence.net/okc/mcveighletterfox.htm Timothy McVeigh's April 27, 2001 letter to reporter Rita Cosby]{{snd}}Explains why he bombed the Murrah Federal Building (posted on independence.net)
• [http://www.thesmokinggun.com/mcveigh/mcveigh.html Timothy McVeigh's Prison Dossier] at The Smoking Gun
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20050308093006/http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/notorious/mcveigh/dawning_1.html The Timothy McVeigh Story: The Oklahoma Bomber] at Court TV: Crime Library
• [http://www.voicesofoklahoma.com/interview/jones-stephen/ Voices of Oklahoma interview with Stephen Jones.] First person interview conducted on January 27, 2010, with Stephen Jones, lawyer for Timothy McVeigh.
• [http://www.3-3-3.org/docs/Kaczynski's%20comments%20on%20McVeigh.htm Ted Kaczynski's letter to the writers of the book, American Terrorist] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200831205949/http://www.3-3-3.org/docs/Kaczynski%27s%20comments%20on%20McVeigh.htm |date=2020-08-31 }}{{snd}}Critique of Timothy McVeigh by fellow inmate Unabomber
• [http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2001-05-01-mcveigh-last.htm Execution of Timothy McVeigh] – USA Today

{{Authority control}}

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