Greer: Then the Oklahoma City bombing happened. Was there a lot of domestic policy going on during that period? Hell, no. But mainly what was happening was jousting. I think he began to turn the corner perceptually about that point. He found a voice and very cleverly linked that episode with hostility of government run amuck. Things hit bottom right before the bombing of the Federal building in Oklahoma City and sort of rebounded. Galston: The President was back on his heels in early 1995. A terrible tragedy, but for him, politically, as was written at the time, a very important moment. Rubin: really gave a chance to show to the American people that he was a leader who cared about a whole host of matters. A terrible tragedy, but for him, politically.a very important moment. really gave a chance to show to the American people that he was a leader who cared. So by ’95 I think he was operating on all pistons as President of the United States, for everybody. I have said in other settings that I thought that was a pretty dramatic turning point for him. It’s about the burden you’re carrying for the people. There are moments when-and I think 9/11 was that for President Bush-you realize this is not about politics and this is not about momentary victories and this is not about your own legacy. So it was very personal, very poignant.Ĭisneros: Did a magnificent job of relating to the widows and children at the ceremony that day. It was very touching. Saw the people who were hurt and the people who were not hurt but were afraid to go back to work and did not want to go back into a Federal building. Then I had to deal with the survivors, went to the hospital. We lost 35 of our colleagues, some of whom I had seen just the week before. Can you tell us anything about that trip?Ĭisneros: My department lost more people than anyone else. Q: You went down to Oklahoma City, didn’t you?. I saw his demeanor change after that and Ron Brown’s death and some of the other hard things that we went through.
I saw him get much more sober and serious about what he was dealing with and what he was entrusted with. I always thought that one turning point for him was the Murrah Building and the attack in Oklahoma City. Q: Did you feel the President had a similar learning curve in his job that you did in yours?.Ĭisneros: No, it took him a lot less…. Secretary of housing and urban development Clinton Presidential History Project about how the Oklahoma City bombing helped shape the Clinton presidency. Here, some of Clinton’s top advisors of the day talk to the Miller Center’s William J.
It also provided the president with a sizable bump in polls, having just been rebuked by voters during the “Republican Revolution,” when the GOP took control of both houses in the 1994 midterm elections. A bomb hidden in a Ryder truck ripped apart the Federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995, killing 168 people.įour days after the bombing, in response to the tragedy, President Clinton traveled to Oklahoma City and delivered a speech to begin the healing process for the nation. Having been associated with a radical paramilitary group based in Michigan, the two men said they were driven to act by a searing anger over the deadly federal raid of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, which happened on the exact same day two years prior. But within days, authorities discovered the perpetrators were two domestic terrorists-Timothy McVeigh, who received the death penalty in 2001, and Terry Nichols, who is currently serving life in prison. At first, investigators believed it to be the work of Middle East terrorists, as White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta describes below. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995, killing 168 people, including 19 children. A truck filled with explosives detonated at the Alfred P.
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