Oklahoma City bombing

==Memorial observances==

===Oklahoma City National Memorial===
{{Main|Oklahoma City National Memorial}}
For two years after the bombing the only memorials to the victims were plush toys, crucifixes, letters, and other personal items left by thousands of people at a security fence surrounding the site of the building.<ref name="TouristsHistory105">{{cite book|title=Tourists of History|last=Sturken|first=Marita|page=105|isbn=978-0-8223-4122-2|date=November 2007|publisher=Duke University Press }}</ref><ref name="NYTVisitors">{{cite news|last=Yardley |first=Jim |title=Uneasily, Oklahoma City Welcomes Tourists |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/11/us/uneasily-oklahoma-city-welcomes-tourists.html |date=June 11, 2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090422200709/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/11/us/uneasily-oklahoma-city-welcomes-tourists.html |archive-date=April 22, 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Many suggestions for suitable memorials were sent to Oklahoma City, but an official memorial planning committee was not set up until early 1996,<ref name="Unfinished119">{{cite book|last=Linenthal|first=Edward|title=The Unfinished Bombing: Oklahoma City in American Memory|page=119|isbn=978-0-19-516107-6|year=2003|publisher=Oxford University Press }}</ref> when the Murrah Federal Building Memorial Task Force, composed of 350 members, was set up to formulate plans for a memorial to commemorate the victims of the bombing.<ref name="DMN"/> On July 1, 1997, the winning design was chosen unanimously by a 15-member panel from 624 submissions.<ref name="OKBMS">{{cite web |title=About the Designers |publisher=[[Oklahoma City National Memorial]] |url=http://www.oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org/secondary.php?section=2&catid=31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110616153214/http://www.oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org/secondary.php?section=2&catid=31 |archive-date=June 16, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The memorial was designed at a cost of $29 million, which was raised by public and private funds.<ref name="TouristsHistory109">{{cite book|title=Tourists of History|last=Sturken|first=Marita|page=109|isbn=978-0-8223-4122-2|date=November 2007|publisher=Duke University Press }}</ref><ref name="29million">{{cite news|last=McLeod |first=Michael |title=Hundreds still live with scars of Oklahoma City bombing every day |work=[[Orlando Sentinel]] |url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-8332312_ITM |date=June 1, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103230052/http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-120953680/hundreds-still-live-scars.html |archive-date=November 3, 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The [[List of national memorials of the United States|national memorial]] is part of the [[National Park Service|National Park System]] as an affiliated area and was designed by Oklahoma City architects Hans and Torrey Butzer and Sven Berg.<ref name="NYTVisitors"/> It was dedicated by President Clinton on April 19, 2000, exactly five years after the bombing.<ref name="OKBMS"/><ref name="NPS">{{cite web|title=Oklahoma City National Memorial |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |url=http://www.nps.gov/okci/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514123638/http://www.nps.gov/okci/index.htm |archive-date=May 14, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Within the first year, it had 700,000 visitors.<ref name="NYTVisitors"/>

The memorial includes a reflecting pool flanked by two large gates, one inscribed with the time 9:01, the other with 9:03, the pool representing the moment of the blast. On the south end of the memorial is a field of symbolic bronze and stone chairs&nbsp;– one for each person lost, arranged according to what floor of the building they were on. The chairs represent the empty chairs at the dinner tables of the victims' families. The seats of the children killed are smaller than those of the adults lost. On the opposite side is the "survivor tree", part of the building's original landscaping that survived the blast and fires that followed it. The memorial left part of the foundation of the building intact, allowing visitors to see the scale of the destruction. Part of the chain link fence put in place around the site of the blast, which had attracted over 800,000&nbsp;personal items of commemoration later collected by the Oklahoma City Memorial Foundation, is now on the western edge of the memorial.<ref>White, Zachary. ''The Search For Redemption Following the Oklahoma City Bombing: Amending the Boundaries Between Public and Private Grief'' (San Diego: [[San Diego State University]], 1998): 70.</ref> North of the memorial is the [[India Temple Shrine Building|Journal Record Building]], which now houses the Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum, an affiliate of the National Park Service. The building also contained the [[National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism]], a law enforcement training center.

{{Wide image|Oklahoma City memorial.jpg|800px|alt=A panoramic view of the memorial. In the center is a large stone structure shaped as a gate with "9:03" at the top. At the center of the gate is a large hole and through it a road can be seen. The Regency Towers building is visible on the right of the image in the background. The gate is reflecting in a pool of water in front of it, and grass and trees are visible to the left and right of the pool.|Panoramic view of the memorial, as seen from the base of the reflecting pool. From left to right are the memorial chairs, Gate of Time and Reflecting Pool, the Survivor Tree, and the Journal Record Building.}}

===St. Joseph's Old Cathedral===
[[St. Joseph Old Cathedral (Oklahoma City)|St. Joseph's Old Cathedral]], one of the first brick-and-mortar churches in the city, is located to the southwest of the memorial and was severely damaged by the blast.<ref name="StJoseph1889">{{cite web|author=Oklahoma Historical Society |title=Oklahoma City |publisher=[[Oklahoma State University–Stillwater]] |url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/O/OK025.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525163038/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/O/OK025.html |archive-date=May 25, 2011 |author-link=Oklahoma Historical Society |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="StJosephShell">{{cite news |last=Koetting |first=Thomas B. |title=Compelled, They Come: Visitors To The Blast Site – Oklahoma City/One Year Later |work=[[The Seattle Times]] |url=http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19960416&slug=2324470 |date=April 16, 1996 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927221923/http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19960416&slug=2324470 |archive-date=September 27, 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> To commemorate the event, a statue and sculpture work entitled ''And Jesus Wept'' was installed adjacent to the Oklahoma City National Memorial. The work was dedicated in May 1997 and the church was rededicated on December 1 of the same year. The church, the statue, and the sculpture are not part of the Oklahoma City memorial.<ref name="WeptStatue">{{cite news|title='And Jesus Wept' Statue Vandalized |publisher=[[KOCO-TV]] |url=http://www.koco.com/news/2637568/detail.html |date=November 14, 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929181443/http://www.koco.com/news/2637568/detail.html |archive-date=September 29, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Remembrance observance===
An observance is held each year to remember the victims of the bombing. An annual marathon draws thousands, and allows runners to sponsor a victim of the bombing.<ref name="Marathon">{{cite news|last=Harper |first=Justin |author2=Matt Patterson |author3=Jason Kersey |work=[[The Oklahoman]] |title=2007 Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon: Notebook |url=http://newsok.com/article/3047173 |date=April 30, 2007 |format=Fee required |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120722022928/http://newsok.com/article/3047173 |archive-date=July 22, 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="MaraEmotion">{{cite news |last=Tramel |first=Berry |work=[[The Oklahoman]] |publisher=|title=Emotion makes Memorial different |url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-18143023_ITM |url-access=registration |date=April 29, 2006 |access-date=March 28, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090429073027/http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-18143023_ITM |archive-date=April 29, 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref> For the tenth anniversary of the bombing, the city held 24&nbsp;days of activities, including a week-long series of events known as the National Week of Hope from April 17 to 24, 2005.<ref name="24Days">{{cite news|last=Page |first=David |work=[[The Journal Record]] |title=OKC Memorial plans 24 days of events to mark bombing anniversary |url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-18495930_ITM |url-access=registration |date=January 6, 2005 |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/5xGYpwfYH?url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-126767994/okc-memorial-plans-24.html |archive-date=March 18, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="AFGE">{{cite press release |publisher=[[American Federation of Government Employees|AFGE]] |date=April 6, 2005 |title=AFGE Commemorates Oklahoma City Bombing |url=http://www.afge.org/Index.cfm?Page=PressReleases&PressReleaseID=431 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110310211014/http://www.afge.org/Index.cfm?Page=PressReleases&PressReleaseID=431 |archive-date=March 10, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> As in previous years, the tenth anniversary of the bombing observances began with a service at 9:02&nbsp;a.m., marking the moment the bomb went off, with the traditional 168&nbsp;seconds of silence&nbsp;– one&nbsp;second for each person who was killed as a result of the blast. The service also included the traditional reading of the names, read by children to symbolize the future of Oklahoma City.<ref name="PH">{{cite news|last=Kurt |first=Kelly |work=[[The Portsmouth Herald]] |title=Children's pain&nbsp;– Victims speak on bombing anniversary |url=http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20050420-NEWS-304209951 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716025941/http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20050420-NEWS-304209951 |archive-date=July 16, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Then-Vice President [[Dick Cheney]], former President Clinton, Oklahoma Governor [[Brad Henry]], [[Frank Keating]], Governor of Oklahoma at the time of the bombing, and other political dignitaries attended the service and gave speeches in which they emphasized that "goodness overcame evil".<ref name="WhiteHouse">{{cite press release|publisher=[[White House]] |date=April 19, 2005 |title=Vice President's Remarks at Day of Remembrance Ceremony |url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/04/20050419.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111023134343/http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/04/20050419.html |archive-date=October 23, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The relatives of the victims and the survivors of the blast also made note of it during the service at First United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City.<ref>{{cite news|date=April 19, 2005 |url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0504/19/lt.01.html |title=Oklahoma City Marks Bombing Anniversary |publisher=CNN |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629124209/http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0504/19/lt.01.html |archive-date=June 29, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

President [[George W. Bush]] made note of the anniversary in a written statement, part of which echoed his remarks on the execution of Timothy McVeigh in 2001: "For the survivors of the crime and for the families of the dead the pain goes on."<ref name="Prez10th">{{cite press release|publisher=[[White House]] |date=April 19, 2005 |title=President's Statement on Tenth Anniversary of Oklahoma City Bombing |url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/04/20050419-2.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111023124408/http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/04/20050419-2.html |archive-date=October 23, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Bush was invited but did not attend the service because he was en route to [[Springfield, Illinois]], to dedicate the [[Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum]]. Cheney attended the service in his place.<ref name="WhiteHouse"/>

Due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic in Oklahoma City|COVID-19 pandemic]], the memorial site was closed to the public on April 19, 2020, and local television networks broadcast pre-recorded remembrances to mark the 25th anniversary.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/493500-oklahoma-city-bombing-25th-remembrance-moved-to-airwaves-amid-pandemic|title=Oklahoma City bombing 25th remembrance moved to airwaves amid pandemic|date=April 18, 2020 |first1=J. Edward|last1=Moreno|work=[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]]}}</ref>