Oklahoma City bombing

===Federal and state government aid===
[[File:President Bill Clinton's Eulogy for the Bombing Victims in Oklahoma City 1995.png|thumb|right|alt=A document showing Bill Clinton's message to victims. Some of the typed text has been scribbled out and replaced with hand-written text.|[[Bill Clinton]]'s notes for address to the Oklahoma City bombing victims on April 23, 1995]]
At 9:45&nbsp;a.m., Governor [[Frank Keating]] declared a [[state of emergency]] and ordered all non-essential workers in the Oklahoma City area to be released from their duties for their safety.<ref name="Terrorism Info"/> President [[Bill Clinton]] learned about the bombing at around 9:30&nbsp;a.m. while he was meeting with Turkish Prime Minister [[Tansu Çiller]] at the White House.<ref name="Jennings 1995-04-19"/><ref name="Apocalypse46">{{cite book|title=Apocalypse in Oklahoma|last=Hamm|first=Mark S|page=46|isbn=978-1-55553-300-7|year=1997|publisher=Northeastern University Press }}</ref> Before addressing the nation, President Clinton considered grounding all planes in the Oklahoma City area to prevent the bombers from escaping by air, but decided against it.<ref name="Apocalypse578"/> At 4:00&nbsp;p.m., President Clinton declared a federal emergency in Oklahoma City<ref name="TM"/> and spoke to the nation:<ref name="Jennings 1995-04-19"/>

{{Blockquote|The bombing in Oklahoma City was an attack on innocent children and defenseless citizens. It was an act of cowardice and it was evil. The United States will not tolerate it, and I will not allow the people of this country to be intimidated by evil cowards.}}

He ordered that flags for all federal buildings be flown at [[half-staff]] for 30&nbsp;days in remembrance of the victims.<ref name="Apocalypse71">{{cite book|title=Apocalypse in Oklahoma|last=Hamm|first=Mark S|page=71|isbn=978-1-55553-300-7|year=1997|publisher=Northeastern University Press }}</ref> Four days later, on April 23, 1995, Clinton spoke from Oklahoma City.<ref name="ClintonApril23Speech">{{cite news|last=Keating |first=Frank |author-link=Frank Keating |title=Where Terrorists Belong |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/31/opinion/where-terrorists-belong.html |date=August 31, 1999 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130605205211/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/31/opinion/where-terrorists-belong.html |archive-date=June 5, 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

No major federal financial assistance was made available to the survivors of the Oklahoma City bombing, but the Murrah Fund set up in the wake of the bombing attracted over $300,000 in federal grants.<ref name="USDJ2"/> Over $40&nbsp;million was donated to the city to aid disaster relief and to compensate the victims. Funds were initially distributed to families who needed it to get back on their feet, and the rest was held in trust for longer-term medical and psychological needs. By 2005, $18&nbsp;million of the donations remained, some of which was earmarked to provide a college education for each of the 219&nbsp;children who lost one or both parents in the bombing.<ref name="TormentLingers">{{cite news |last=Witt |first=Howard |title=Torment lingers in OK City |url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0504170293apr17,0,6613315.story |date=April 17, 2005 |work=[[Chicago Tribune]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025074244/http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0504170293apr17,0,6613315.story |archive-date=October 25, 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> A committee chaired by Daniel Kurtenbach of [[Goodwill Industries]] provided financial assistance to the survivors.<ref name="Goodwill">{{cite web|url=http://www.gimv.org/about_us/ceo.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070426071526/http://www.gimv.org/about_us/ceo.htm|archive-date=April 26, 2007|title=Meet Our President/CEO|publisher=[[Goodwill Industries]]}}</ref>