Oklahoma City bombing anniversary a reminder of the radical right’s rage

April 19, 2014

Former Senior Fellow

On the 19th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, SPLC Senior Fellow Mark Potok reflects on the legacy of radical-right terrorism in America, the horrific Kansas shootings of earlier in the week, and the importance of the government taking the threat more seriously.

Nineteen years ago today, evil came to Oklahoma City. Timothy McVeigh, fueled by hatred of the government he saw as an oppressive tyrant, set off a massive truck bomb at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, tearing away the lives of 168 Americans, including 19 small children in a day-care center.