Oklahoma City Bombing

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The Oklahoma City bombing was 30 years ago. Some survivors worry America didn’t learn the lesson From a mother who lost her first-born baby, a son who never got to know his father, and a young man so badly injured that he still struggles to breathe, three decades have not healed the wounds from the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995. Read more.

Why this matters: The bombers were two former U.S. Army buddies, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, who shared a deep-seated hatred of the federal government fueled by the bloody raid on the Branch Davidian religious sect near Waco, Texas, and a standoff in the mountains of Ruby Ridge, Idaho, that killed a 14-year-old boy, his mother and a federal agent.   While the bombing awakened the nation to the dangers of extremist ideologies, many who suffered directly in the attack still fear anti-government rhetoric in modern-day politics could also lead to violence. "One thing I say to tell people is 'conspiracy theories can kill,' and we saw it here," said Dennis Purifoy, who was an assistant manager in the Social Security office on the ground floor of the building.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ AP Was There: A truck bomb rips through a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995

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?️ Clinton returns to Oklahoma city

Former President Clinton speaks during yesterday's 30th-anniversary memorial service for victims of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Photo: Alonzo Adams/AP Thirty years after the deadliest homegrown attack in U.S. history, former President Clinton returned to Oklahoma City to honor the victims. Clinton was president on April 19, 1995, when a truck bomb exploded, destroying a nine-story federal building in downtown Oklahoma City. Yesterday, he delivered the keynote address at a remembrance ceremony near the Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum, AP reports. The big picture: Clinton, now 78, was widely praised for how he helped the city grapple with its grief in the wake of the bombing, which killed 168 people, including 19 children. "I still remember as if it were 30 minutes ago, coming here with Hillary to that memorial service and saying: 'You have lost too much, but you have not lost everything. You have certainly not lost America, and we will be with you for as many tomorrows as it takes,'" Clinton said at yesterday's memorial service. Read early coverage from 30 years ago: "Car Bombing Kills More Than 20; No Claim of Responsibility."