Former President Bill Clinton’s highly publicized visit to Oklahoma City one week later on April 26. He arrived to help mark the 30th anniversary of the deadliest domestic terrorist attack in U.S. history. On that awful day in 1995, the Oklahoma City bombing targeted the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. It took the lives of 168 men, women and children—including 19 innocent children who were on their way to school. More than 600 other people were injured in the attack.
Clinton’s comments at the memorial service focused on the idea that came to be called the “Oklahoma Standard.” This term represents the togetherness, love, and support that grew from that tragedy. And the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum president and CEO Kari Watkins has referred to the bombing’s initial response as “tender.” She underscored how this response was key in determining the nature of the community’s character.
As Clinton said, the nation’s eyes were glued to that horrific event. He reinforced just how hard the bombing dug into the nation’s soul. He encouraged Americans to make the Oklahoma Standard not just an ideal for Oklahomans, but a starting place guiding how we should treat each other.
In Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Standard has served as a rallying cry for Oklahomans since that fateful day in April 1995, marked by service, honor and kindness. Clinton cemented its significance during a moment when inclusiveness appears to be in short supply from coast to coast. As he put it, “Everyone is fighting over whose resentments count the most. Whose resentments are the most legitimate.”
Watkins focused on how the community’s reaction to the bombing showed unity and empathy. Instead, we were defined — for the first time in memory — not by the tragedy, but by the tenderness of the response. She emphasized that rather than running away from the building in panic, those on scene ran toward it to provide assistance. This really got at the incredible vibe of that day.
Clinton went on to stress the importance of working together in an increasingly divided world. He cautioned though that if anger and distrust fill the public square, it would threaten the hard-won progress on the long, bumpy road to a more perfect union. Our money and energy spent trying to defeat our opponents will suck up all the joy and fulfillment from our lives. This fight threatens to reverse the 250-year progress towards a more perfect union.