That they will defend the criminals and prosecute the time. Als at the same marking the 25th anniversary of the explosion side the ever be tomorrow murrahuilding building. The next hour will look back at the event from 25 years ago. Joining us as the executive director. Of 1995, from april these words by president bill clinton. His first comments about the bombing. [video clip] citye bombing in oklahoma was an attack on innocent children and defenseless citizens. Andas an act of cowardice it was evil. States will not tolerate it. I will not allow the people of this country to be intimidated by evil cowards. With our team, which we assembled to deal with this bombing, and i have determined to take the following steps to ensure the strongest response to this situation. First, i have deployed a Crisis Management team under the leadership of the fbi working with the department of justice, the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, and firearms, military and local authorities. We are sending the finest to solve these murders. Second, i have declared an emergency in Oklahoma City and at my direction, the director of the federal Emergency Management agency, is now on his way there to make sure we do everything we can to help the people of oklahoma deal the tragedy. Third, we are taking every precaution to reassure and protect people who work in, or live near, other federal facilities. Let there be no room for doubt the people who did this. Justice will be certain and severe. These people are killers and must be treated like killers. Finally, i ask all americans tonight to praise. Pray. Pray for the people who have lost their lives. Pray for the families of the wounded. Pray for the people of Oklahoma City. May gods grace be with them. Meanwhile, we will be about our work. Thank you. Host from 25 years ago, president clinton joining us from Oklahoma City is kerry watkins. We thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me. Host walk us through the events of 25 years ago. What happened . It was a spring morning. People went about their business. Downtown andarade people began to assemble likely what any facility throughout the country and just before 9 00, a truck pulled up, a bomb was detonated, and over 600 were killed. Forever. Was changed host Timothy Mcveigh was later convicted and sentenced to death with his involvement. Lets go back to the events that led to his decision to bomb this particular building. Really dating back to 1992 with ruby ridge and the siege in waco. Just over an hour later, he was pulled over and arrested. Why did these instances in ruby ridge and waco set off Timothy Mcveigh . Frustratedhe was with how the government handle things and instead of going through systems already in place. , he and his friends thought it would be easier to make a statement. He did knock at the army and there are numerous reasons someone may say why he did it. It was a simple act of terrorism. Host senseless for so many reasons including the deaths of so many children. One of the iconic photographs of an Oklahoma City firefighter rescuing a oneyearold. There was a daycare facility inside the murrah building. Can you explain . Explain . Yeah, on the second floor there was a daycare. There were children in that building. They have collateral damages. They go into that school and it was that morning when he decided to change their lives forever and their parents lives parentslives forever. Host Florence Rogers was the ceo of a Credit Union House inside the building. Here is what she remembers. [video clip] i turned around in my chair and reared back with him ready to discuss the next item i mentioned when the bomb went off. It was it had to be longer, but it was just like second. All the girls in the office with thoughtpeared and i they had left me alone. Where arehollering you guys, where are you guys . The realization set in somewhat and i realized i dont know where they are. They have gone. When they, i found out bomb went up and everything started coming down, there were federal floors up above us that had taken them down into what was eventually known as was the murder building the target of timothy what was the building the target of Timothy Mcveigh and his cop loses . Him. it was accessible to buildings were way more accessible in 1995 than they are today. You could walk in without going through metal detectors. Its a different world we lived in than we do today. People were going about their businesses and no one assumed there would be a terrorist attack in the middle of america. Host as we look at the pictures, of course, the magnitude of this explosion, the rental truck outside the murrow building, what was outside that caused such destruction and death . There were 4000 pounds of perl iser and racing fuel. He had put into these barrels much of what he learns from his army days. He was trained to be a fighter. He teamed up with his army buddies. In a thing, you know, he was and i think, you know, he was an american terrorist. This is the first time we felt as a country attacked by one of our own. Callers andcome our we do have a line set aside for those of you who live in oklahoma. Otherwise we are dividing our phone lines regional. Lets go to ginger in florida. Good morning. Caller good morning and i thank you for the washington journal programs. 2 a. M. At my desk at 9 0 when this terrible event happened 25 years ago. It left an indelible scar on building on people who lived on people who work in that building. The one thing we were able to understand a little better for people around the world who lived in other places, such as friends i had in sarajevo. When we discussed what their problem was and their attitude, they said, we have bombed out buildings everywhere, and that was a very difficult thing to understand. This was a first for us. Thing we just were not able to overcome. Forget the fence is being loaded day after day after day with stuffed animals in pictures and sympathetic messages from people all over the world to travel to see this in one of the things i have concerns about is how the families are now that had victims and children who have had now lifetime respiratory problems. They are also going to be affected i not being in the general public that could pick up a virus that could further damage lungs and such. Were inr responders who the midst of all of the dust and everything involved in the and then of the air buildingshe burning burning vehicles in the parking lot and so forth. Host thank you. Eri watkins . Caller she is right. People did not understand internationally. I remember when Timothy Mcveigh was going to be executed. Said, you journalist have built this museum for happens inhat for us every corner. Thats exactly what we built the museum. That is an issue we will always have to explain and understand. The other part is the families and the survivors, the First Responders. Because of covid19, they had a live ceremony on the ground today. We did not have a live ceremony on the ground today. We could not in good conscious bring people together. But we will have a program that in a little bit that will be a replica of a live ceremony. We have people in leadership, a present clinton, the governor, and we end with what is the next step . Think the responsibility we have is making sure that we are kept safe. We take that very seriously. People are still placing items on the fence. We clear that fence periodically and we have thousands of items in our archive. Flags, teddycan bears. Good that camef from the bad. At the same time, we still come here to remember. A reminder you can watch that prerecorded remembrance. Frank is joining us from monroe, north carolina. Good morning. Caller hi, good morning. Thank you for cspan. I enjoy it every morning. Watkins to give a reply, but i basically have a statement. I have this discussion argument online quite often about the amount of american terrorist as a group but there are, including , white, the neonazis separatists, melissa people. I get this blowback all the time. Theres hardly any of them. And my response usually is, look what one person and a truck could actually do. It really doesnt matter how many there are. What matters is the level of hate. Frank, thank you. Let me go to that last point. As someone who has studied Timothy Mcveigh, why did he have that hate . Earlier,s i said mcveigh was a young army soldier. He did not achieve the rank he wanted, left frustrated, and i think he felt like he had something to prove. I agree with frank. Is way too much hate. Weve got to do something about the neonazis and the different movements underground and some are above ground. Its ridiculous that we tolerate any kind of hate, racism, the extreme gun violence we have. We have got to figure out how to come together as a country and resolve this. There is a place for all good things, but we cannot take it to the extreme to the right or the left. One thing we have learned in the last 25 years is as important to be in the middle. Weve got to go to the middleoftheroad and work these issues out. That is something we feel very strongly about at the museum and we really want to keep teaching the next generation, meet people in the middle of the road and try to get rid of the hate that exists around this country. Of the lessons of 9 11 is the tagline, if you see something, say something. Were there any red flags when Timothy Mcveigh was buying these materials that did such damage . Im assuming there werent. I am not part of the government. I am not part of the investigative team. Spend a lot of time talking about mcveigh. I would like to talk about the people he impacted. They had to figure out how to rebuild their lives and move forward that is remarkable. He tried to change their lives. They have rallied in a way that is very important. And it has been something to watch and to witness as they move on with their lives. New marriages, new children, regrouping the families. All of that is important. I think one thing we have to is ay realize, Oklahoma City on a hill. People we can move forward. And we can teach and educate as we move forward. That is part of our mission. Weve got to keep teaching. This story is 25 years old. A generation has been born that was not alive when it happened and we have to remember we have to keep teaching the story and there are ways to resolve differences. Remarkablef the coincidences is the oklahoma highway patrolman who recalled after the hour bombing he pulled over Timothy Mcveigh for Traffic Violation only to arrest him. Here he tells the story. [video clip] he was headed to Oklahoma City based on highway dispatcher call for all available troopers. It got discontinued. He was 62 miles north of Oklahoma City and he turned around in the media in the median. As he started to head back north he is passed by this yellow mercury marquis that is missing its rear license plate. So he polls that car over and the driver gets out of the car and they order him to stay by the door of his car. Theso he gets out, tells guy to back up toward him and as mcveigh is acting toward him, he notices mcveigh has a bulge under his left jacket and he reaches out. He grabs it. They said, its a gun and is loaded and he has his gun to his head and says, so is mine. He relieved mcveigh of his gun, which was loaded with those rounds that can shoot through an armored rest. Andso, once he had that gun a knife that mcveigh had hidden on his person, he took him into custody and took him to the noble county jail in perry, oklahoma. And so our investigator asked what happened to him . And he said, i dont know. He may still be in custody, he may not. So one of our investigators contacted sheriff jerry cook and talk to him and he said, mcveigh is in custody, but hes got to be released within probably an hour. So, we put a federal hold on him and at that point, myself and several other agents got into a helicopter and flew up to perry. Host the story of how an Oklahoma State trooper was able mcveigh about an hour after the bombing and oh city. Peopleth toll, 119 including children. 86 vehicles were burned or destroyed. The explosion was felt up to 50 miles away. Back to your phone calls. Donald from golden valley, arizona, good morning. Hi, yakima i remember. I lived in kingman when that happened. This whole county yes, i remember. I living kingman when that happened. Thisll county was overrun by fbi and federal investigators. I mean, it was all over the place. I remember they arrested somebody else i forget who that was. And a year or so later, i remember stopping in Oklahoma City. I had to get my car worked on, the muffler. There were muffler problems. I was talking with the mechanic about that. He told me how he heard on the news a short ways away from that about the bombing and he was telling me how it shook everything around there. Anyway, that is my story. Donald, thank you for the call. The other person you are referring to, of course is Terry Nichols. What do you remember about that day . Caller i was on my way to class. I was walking guest i was on my way to class. I was looking at the door. Felt the blast. I came back inside, to my television on. Channel nine had the helicopter up, heading north, going back south. I caught at once of it. In really, i just said disbelief, this is happening in my city. Really, i just had disbelief this is happening in my city. Host for people who walk outside the building, what is their take away . What are learning 25 years later . I think theyest want to understand and know the people who were lost. They are amazed. Names are written on the chairs outside. These were not nameless americans. These moms, dads, teachers, preachers, baseball coaches. These were real people doing. Heir job these were people just going about work. They did not go to war. They went to their job. They went to work. Kingman, arizona, that was part of the area, mcveigh, nichols, they set up that trailer in arizona. Secretary napolitano was the u. S. Attorney at the time. She helped piece the vessel together and then the fbi agents remarkable police were, by the way, all over the country, city, county, state. When you begin to realize, people were just doing their jobs. Charlie hangar was just doing his job. They traced the Ammonium Nitrate back. Normal people doing their job extraordinarily well that day. Its all proved out. There were the two federal trials and the day trial. Our nextan host color is from uconn, oklahoma. Good morning. Caller good morning. Go ahead. Youre on the air. Caller i want to follow up on something kari was saying. I think what the memorial shows, it was not just a mass murder. It was 168 people, individuals, families. Of course, one of the memorial is the 168 chairs with the names on them but every memorial observance we have every year, we have the reading of all other 168 names. Of silence. Seconds i think thats one of the main things the memorial does. It helps people to see the true impact of violence is not just one mass murder. Its 168 families that have been devastated. I want to follow up on that one point, that these are all people doing their jobs. Its different when you think of it that way. Host the design of the more youll and the use of the chairs, what is the symbolism . The design of the memorial and the use of the chairs, what is the symbolism . Guest you are sitting around the table, your sister is killed, his or her chair is no empty. Powerful part of building the memorial. It is important to he or from these people. Hey are their story it is important for us to capture and be the guardian of this story. They are the ones that make this work. Host david is on the phone, bellingham, washington. Good morning. Caller good morning. Is,uestion for the museum does the museum there is an office of the armed forces that immediately recognized by Law Enforcement for retiredionwide military personnel . Host david, thank you. Well, part of mcveigh, story the army and the marines support part of the building. They had offices inside the building. There was an Intake Office where up to be part of the armed forces. Both continue to be partners for us. Show a picture of him in his army fatigues. We do not over emphasized that he is a veteran. Are making sure that they get the help they need. They are asked to do in a normas amount of things on the front lines. In a normas of things on the front lines. Host we will did vote to eric in pennsylvania. Something, there was that was not mentioned by many of the callers, but was just him. There was a caller who had a friend from syria go and another who mention they do not put up a museum for every bombing in israel because the ruby one on every block. This event in particular, as well as the vast majority of what lullabies as qualifies terrorist acts on american soil. Those are slender affects of extremistsstian which we have in america. Had been at the incident in waco, texas with the Branch Davidian christian group. I wonder if we shouldnt not do a disservice by not featuring not a military veteran, but was sympathetic to, if not involved in religious terrorism in the form of White Christian terrorism in america . Host eric, we will leave it there and get a response. Not sure i totally understand the question. But i think telling the story, what we present in the museum are just different facts in the federal courts and the state courts. We have stories from the trial. That is the story we tell here. While there are many people who or havefferent things conspiracies, we recognize that. We even have a panel that talks about that, but it is important to recognize that this case has been tried twice in federal court. The judges offered several times that there were other things involved in the story to bring them to the court. I do think it is important that this story is told. I think it would be easier to move on and not talk about it, not remember it, but we would not be doing the people who died board the people who survived. It is important that we keep telling the story so they understand the risk of what goes into the hatred and people who that these are issues and that violence begets violence. We have to make sure that we are giving our people the tools nece