humanity in the face of mad, crazy people who think the differences are all that matter. will carr is live with more on today s ceremony. reporter: it was 20 years ago but for many at the ceremony today, the emotional scars are still fresh. april 19th 1995, just after 9:00 a.m. that s when a ryder truck exploded outside of the building in oklahoma city gutting the building and the carnage was unforgettable. of the 168 people killed, 19 were children. it took rescuers six weeks to recover all of the bodies. less than two hours after the explosion, authorities arrested timothy mcveigh and was later convicted. his accomplice terry nichols, is serving consecutive life sentences right now. at the exact same time the bomb went off two decades ago, family members choked up as they read
i urge you never to forget it. a fitting tribute to oklahoma city and the 168 people who died in the bombing that forever changed our country on this day, april 19th, 1995. that is our show for today. thanks to you at home for watching. be sure to tune in to hardball with chris matthews this tuesday night on msnbc. chris has a big interview with none other than president barack obama. now it s time for a preview of weekends with alex witt. hello, thank you very much. well, everyone there s an update on the stalled confirmation of loretta lynch. new word from capitol hill that the logjam may soon be cleared. new questions about what was left out of the brit mchenry videotape and whether it kept the whole story from being told. it s a possible solution to california s drought, but will it cause more environmental problems? i ll speak with the mayor of one town to hear what he thinks. california s measles crisis is over. the vaccine fight continues. this morning, hear from
humanity in the face of mad, crazy people who think the differences are all that matter. will carr is live with more on today s ceremony. reporter: it was 20 years ago but for many at the ceremony today, the emotional scars are still fresh. april 19th 1995, just after 9:00 a.m. that s when a ryder truck exploded outside of the building in oklahoma city gutting the building and the carnage was unforgettable. of the 168 people killed, 19 were children. it took rescuers six weeks to recover all of the bodies. less than two hours after the explosion, authorities arrested timothy mcveigh and was later convicted. his accomplice terry nichols, is serving consecutive life sentences right now. at the exact same time the bomb went off two decades ago, family
aaron would be 20 years old now, elijah would be 17. sometimes during the day you re going to cry. or there s going to be something that s going to remind you of the bombing, and you re right back where you were on april 19th, 1995. we don t ever get too far from there. there were reports of up to 50,000 people in the oklahoma city area suffering symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. i looked at all the photographs from the crime scene. i looked at all the photographs from the coroner s office. it was overwhelming. death and loss are integral part of life everywhere, and accidents like plane crashes where you lose 100, 200 people, all the examples i give you right now are unexpected losses. we have to accept it and move on.
nichols part way for the last time. headed toward oklahoma, and i finally thought am i going to be able to sleep? right? for the most part i was at peace. in the gulf war when b-52s would do their carpet bombing, i can t feel the ground tremble underneath my sleeping bag, so sleeping on the back of a 7,000 pound bomb is no big deal. the weather along the kansas/oklahoma border is crisp and clear when the sun rises on the morning of april 19th, 1995. 100 miles north of oklahoma city, timothy mcveigh wakes at dawn after sleeping soundly on the side of the highway in the cab of his rented ryder truck. now loaded with 7,000 pounds of explosives, ready to ignite. he had initially intended to bomb the building at about 11:00 in the morning, but he finally