New HBO Documentary Explores the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing — a ‘Crossroads’ for Homegrown American Terrorism

Sean Neumann
·2 min read
1

The 1995 bombing killed 168 people and injured 680 others

<p>BOB DAEMMRICH/AFP via Getty </p> Albert P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 20, 1995

BOB DAEMMRICH/AFP via Getty

Albert P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 20, 1995

The Oklahoma City Bombing was “a crossroads” for America and its battle against homegrown extremism, according to a new Max documentary that examines the 1995 domestic terrorist attack and what led up to it.

HBO's new documentary, An American Bombing: The Road to April 19, begins streaming on Max on April 16 at 9 p.m. ET.

The documentary “looks at the surge in homegrown political violence through the story of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, showing the roots of anti-government sentiment and its reverberations today, along with the emotionally charged warnings of those who suffered tragic losses in the deadliest homegrown attack in U.S. history,” according to the streaming service.

It also includes interviews with former President Bill Clinton, bombing survivor Nancy Shaw, investigative reporters Mike Boettcher and Bob Sands, a number of victims’ family members, as well as handfuls of local and federal officers who investigated the case.

Related: Remembering Lives Lost in the Oklahoma City Bombing, 24 Years Later

The 1995 bombing killed 168 people, including 19 children, and injured 680 in total. The explosion occurred when American terrorist Timothy McVeigh ignited a truck bomb outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building – two years to the day after the 1993 Waco massacre.

The Oklahoma City Bombing was “the worst act of homegrown terrorism in the nation’s history,” according to the FBI, and was rooted in McVeigh’s far-right “extremist ideologies and his anger over the events at Waco two years earlier.”

Related: Oklahoma City Bombing, 20 Years Later: Survivors, President Clinton Celebrate Resilience

<p>Greg Smith/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty</p> FBI and ATF agents search a car transmission

Greg Smith/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty

FBI and ATF agents search a car transmission

“It was anger against the federal government’s exploitation of farmers,” one interviewee explains in the trailer for the series, which also includes interviews with McVeigh’s childhood friend.

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<p>Greg Smith/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty</p> Aftermath of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in 1995

Greg Smith/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty

Aftermath of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in 1995

McVeigh, a former member of the U.S. Army, worked with co-conspirator Terry Nichols, who helped him build the bomb using 4,800 pounds of fuel, oil, and fertilizer PEOPLE previously reported.

McVeigh was later executed and Nichols was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the attack.

An American Bombing: The Road to April 19, begins streaming on Max April 16 at 9 p.m. ET.

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