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Every year on the 19th of April,
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people gather here at this beautiful Memorial to remember those who were
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killed, those who have survived,
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and those who are changed forever to commemorate the strength of the
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community that came together in the face of such great
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loss and to celebrate the resilience that makes
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Oklahoma city a model for communities everywhere.
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And every year on this day.
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Wherever I am.
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I reflect on the loss.
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So many of you endured the loss that you continue to
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endure in the words of the late Nobel prize winner,
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Lev Zelle at the dedication of the United States,
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Holocaust Memorial in Washington for the dead and the
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living. We must bear witness to our,
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not only are we responsible for the memories of the dead,
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we are also responsible for what we are doing with
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those memories. We bear witness.
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So that younger generations,
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those who do not first know firsthand about the bombing of the Murrah federal
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building can understand and learn of the tragedy we
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tell and retell the story to instill in them the
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commitment to prevent tragedies like this from
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occurring. Again,
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I am deeply humbled to bear witness with you today.
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26 years ago,
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I was sitting in my office and the United States department of justice in
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Washington,
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when an urgent report came through from the United States attorney's office
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in Oklahoma city, it was soon followed by a second urgent report.
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And then a third, there had been an explosion
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at the Murrah building.
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Those were the days when our only source of 24 seven news was CNN.
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My colleagues and I gathered in front of a TV in my office and
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caught our first glimpse of the destruction
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as information poured in.
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We gathered again at FBI headquarters to monitor events as a myriad of
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law enforcement agencies went to work
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and axle that landed some 200 yards away from the site
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provided a VIN number.
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The VIN number was traced to a truck manufactured by Ford
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purchased by in Florida and last rented at a shop in junction
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city, Kansas,
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a sketch artist drew a picture of the renter and the FBI made the
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rounds in junction city. Looking for anyone who had seen him,
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Lia McGowan.
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The proprietor of the dreamland meant motel recognized him
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and an all points bulletin went out for Timothy McVeigh.
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Meanwhile, 48 hours after the bombing, I was on the FBI plane,
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traveling to Oklahoma. In those days,
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the plane could not make it to Oklahoma.
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In one jump we had to refuel in Indiana.
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When I stepped outside an agent handed me a cell phone,
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you would not recognize it today. In those days,
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a cell phone was the size and the weight of a brick.
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It was attorney general, Janet Reno calling make.
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They had been found in the noble County jail,
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Charlie hanger, then a sharp Ida Oklahoma state trooper.
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And until this year,
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the noble County sheriff had stopped him 90 minutes after the
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bombing for a missing license plate.
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Charlie noticed that was concealing a gun,
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arrested him for unlawful possession and brought him to the jail.
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He was about to be released when the FBI arrived.
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When I landed,
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we drove immediately to tinker air force base McVeigh's first present meant to
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a magistrate was held there because the federal courthouse had been damaged
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along with the Moreau building.
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I argued that they should be detained and the magistrate agreed.
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We then drove to the bomb site.
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But first we had to pass through a ring of Humvees.
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The national guard had encircled a radius of more than 16 blocks that have
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been damaged by the bomb shattered glass and
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crumpled bricks were everywhere. It was night,
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but you would not have known it.
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Bright lights lit the site up like it was mid day.
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The front of the Murrah building was gone.
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The parking lot across the street still held the cars that had been flattened by
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the blast. An army,
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a first responders was crawling all over the wreckage.
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They had rushed to the scene from across Oklahoma and across the country.
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They included rescue workers from my
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own Maryland community
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who had arrived here by, before I did,
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they were sifting through the rubble for survivors in the dead.
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And everyone was crying at the time.
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We did not know how many people had died, but we didn't know
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at the children's center, which had been
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the front of the building.
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And then there, we made a vile.
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We promised that we would find the perpetrators that we would bring them to
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justice and that we would do so in a way that honored the
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constitution, a command post was set up in the Southwestern bell,
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dispatch building the windows of which had been blown out by the blast,
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Oklahoma law enforcement officers and federal agents from across the country,
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worked hand in hand to follow the evidence and put the case together.
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Then governor Frank Keating made clear that there would be none of the
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typical inter-agency rivalries that weekend investigations.
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Let's just find the people who did this. He told me,
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and as we continued that task,
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we never forgot the victims in whose memories we worked.
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We met with some of you who are here today,
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family members and survivors.
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We went to the Memorial service together.
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I carried the program for that service in my briefcase everywhere. I went,
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weeks later,
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we stood with some of you on the rooftop of a nearby building.
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As we watched the remains of the Murrah building being taken down,
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we tried to treat you
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as we would have wanted our own families to be treated.
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And in return, you and all of Oklahoma city
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treated us like family. You took care of us.
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The first responders,
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the investigators and the prosecutors who had converged on the city
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from across the country,
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the salvation army kept a food line going to feed us day and night.
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I don't remember what I ate, but I know I was never hungry.
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Nearby tables were piled high with donations, from everything,
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from toothpaste to deodorant,
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from sweatshirts to rain jackets,
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a barber shop relocated to the convention center and offered free haircuts.
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When I look at photographs from those days,
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I realized I did not visit the barber. Often enough.
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One resident noted our increasingly disheveled look and even set up a
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laundry service at the command center.
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I cannot express
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the depth of my gratitude
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for your thinking of our comfort in your pain,
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nor the depth of my admiration for the care that Oklahomans
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extended to those who are hurting neighbors and
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strangers alike. This came as you know,
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to be called the Oklahoma standard,
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a spirit of community service, generosity,
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and kindness that we had never seen before
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the Oklahoma city national Memorial and museum keeps the Oklahoma standard going