In keeping with APCB's tradition of writing rememberance posts a day after the anniversary of the event we're supposed to be remembering, here's my recollections of the events of April 19, 1995.
I spent the bulk of the day in the library at George Washington University, where I was getting my Master's. It was my first semester, and most afternoons were spent at Gelman Library fattening my sense of dread by reading the likes of Robert Kaplan's "The Coming Anarchy" and Samuel Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations" (and Francis Fukayama can kiss my ass). I may have stepped outside once or twice to grab a coffee from the cart on H Street, but the library was one of the few campus buildings not blaring CNN on half a dozen TVs, so I had no idea anything had gone down.
When I got to my 4:00 National Security Policy class, I was still pretty oblivious. Granted, I had moved to DC from Texas a scant three months earlier and knew a whopping five or six people at school, but the only friend I had in class - Joe - was late getting there from work so we didn't have time to discuss the day's events.
Our professor, one Colonel "Sandy" Hallenbeck[1], deviated somewhat from the syllabus that day, discussing domestic terrorism instead of Les Aspin's "Bottoms-Up" review, or whatever. I didn't think much of it until he said this, "Essentially, there isn't a lot you can do from a national policy perspective to keep some maniac from driving a Ryder truck full of fertilizer up to a federal building in Oklahoma and blowing it to hell." Where did that come from? I remember thinking, but kept my mouth shut. Since everyone else seemed to be nodding sagely, I figured I'd inadvertantly skipped over something in that week's reading.
There was a restaurant a few blocks away that Joe and I would sometimes hit after class to get a few pitchers and talk about football. That evening, we met another guy, Dan, and plopped down in a booth. After a few minutes small talk, I said, "I think the Agent Orange finally got to Hallenbeck."
Joe: "What are you talking about?"
Me: "That Ryder truck thing, where did that come from?"
Joe and Dan looked at each other, then back at me.
Dan: "Are you serious?"
Me: "Why? What's going on?"
Joe pointed to the TV over the bar. I looked.
Me: [two minutes later] "Aha."
The rest of the evening was spent in rumination about which faction of Arab terrorism was responsible. Keen anaylsts, one and all.
This is always a squirrely time of year for domestic whack-jobs. April 19, 1995 was the day McVeigh blew up the Murrah Building, but it's also the day, in 1993, that the Branch Davidian compound went up in Waco. Focus in Iraq and al-Qaeda has dimmed the spotlight on homegrown terrorists, but they're still out there. Republican or Democrat in the White House, these guys hate everything the federal government represents. My bet is that they aren't through making noise.
UPDATE: I noticed today was also the 5-year anniversary of the Columbine shootings. Courtesy of This Day in History, I dug up a list of similar events that have taken place on April 19-20:
April 19, 1775 - American Revolution begins with battles at Lexington and Concord.
April 19, 1861 - Secessionist citizens of Baltimore, MD riot against the 6th Massachusetts Regiment. Four soldiers and 12 Baltimore residents are killed.
April 19, 1865 - Funeral of Abraham Lincoln.
April 20, 1871 - Third Force Act passed by Congress authorizing President Grant to declare martial law and use military force against the Ku Klux Klan.
April 20, 1889 - Adolf Hitler born.
April 20, 1914 - Private militia hired by Rockefeller mining interests attack striking miners and their families in Ludlow, CO. 66 die.
April 19. 1993 - FBI and ATF agents storm the Branch Davidian compound at Mt. Carmel in Waco, TX. At days end, leader David Koresh and at least 80 followers are killed.
April 19, 1995 - Turner Diaries fan Timothy McVeigh parks a truck bomb outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, OK, killing 168.
April 20, 1999 - Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 13 at Columbine High School in Littleton, CO.
Hmmm. Maybe I'll stay home next year.
[1] His given name was "Ralph." To all of us in his class, he was "Colonel Hallenbeck," even at the Italian bistro where he and a few of us from class would occasionally gather after class for beers. That is, until The Wife and a few of her friends joined us one Wednesday and he introduced himself to each of them as "Sandy." Those of us actually in his class shot a look at each other.
"Sandy? Since when?"
"Since always," the teacher formerly known as Col. Hallenbeck shrugged, "You never bothered to ask."
We were never a bunch of hot coeds either, but none of us felt like offering that theory.