Apr 27, 2021
S03-E08 We feature President Clinton and his 1995 speech at the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial Service. U.S. Presidents are often called upon to help the nation begin the healing process after great tragedies. In this short set of remarks at the memorial service, the President begins that painful process in April 1995 a few days after the bombing. It will take months before the federal investigation is completed of the second most deadly act of terrorism on U.S. soil, only surpassed by events of September 11th. The concept of terrorists coming from inside the U.S. was a difficult concept for most Americans to believe. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were anti-government extremists who acted in part to recent events of federal law enforcement intervention at the Ruby Ridge compound and the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas. All of these events became part of the paranoid delusion that led McVeigh and Nichols plant the bomb in Oklahoma City that killed so many, caused so much destruction, and led a nation to fear their neighbors, especially new immigrants to the U.S. It is for that reason that the historical accounts of all three events are included to provide context for the event that led to the President’s speech.
In addition to this audio episode, I also provide several PDF documents: first, a transcript of this speech, second a historical account of the Oklahoma bombing, third an account of the Ruby Ridge compound, and finally, an account of the Branch Davidian confrontation in Waco, Texas.
These audio recordings come from a variety of sources. This one was provided through the American Rhetoric online database. This website provides more than 5,000 speech transcripts, audio recordings, and videos of public speeches, sermons, lectures, interviews, and more. Checkout the website at http://americanrhetoric.com
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Please post comments to the individual episodes at http://historicvoices.org, podcast review and rating section within iTunes and other apps, or email to me, arendale@umn.edu You can also checkout my other four podcasts and other social media at www.davidmedia.org