McVeigh, Timothy (1968–2001)

Paul Leighton

Timothy McVeigh was convicted and executed for the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City. The “deadliest terrorist attack in United States history” (Kittrie & Wedlock, 1998, p. 776) to that time killed 168 people, including children in the day care center that was located directly above the blast. McVeigh's motivations appear to have been rooted in an antigovernment ideology fueled by the government's killing of Randy Weaver's wife and child at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and 76 Branch Davidians (including children) at Waco, Texas—an event occurring exactly two years prior to the Oklahoma City bombing. In a letter from death row, McVeigh explained, “The bombing was a retaliatory strike: a counterattack, for the cumulative raids (and subsequent violence and damage) that federal agents had participated in over the preceding years (including, but not limited to, Waco)” (Vidal, 2001, p. 410). He believed government actions were growing ...

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