Institute History
Description
In 1995, the Oklahoma City bombing rocked the nation as the most deadly act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history. Timothy McVeigh, convicted and executed for the crime in 2001, was a soldier, patriot, and war veteran. But a soldier is not supposed to crack. How McVeigh’s patriotism transformed into radicalism is a vital and haunting question whose exploration has never been more relevant.
Director Barak Goodman expertly crafts rarely seen archival footage to immerse us in an era when Ruby Ridge and the Branch Davidian tragedy dominated headlines. These clashes between the government and citizens frame a portrait of an embittered McVeigh, whose traumatic experience in the military influenced a dramatic recalibration of his view of the U.S. government. For McVeigh, the government was suddenly no longer a protective construct, but something to be destroyed.
Featuring new interviews with biographers, the FBI, and witnesses, Oklahoma City makes the nerves bristle as a cultural warning when sentiments of anti-government despondency walk tall with us today.