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My Google-fu is not quite as strong today as I would like. Can anyone point me at a transcript of any speeches the President of the United States may have made regarding the OKC bombing or the 1993 WTC bombing immediately after the attacks? Or as close to immediately as possible, during the initial 'Bad thing happened, we're looking for those responsible' phase? I keep hitting press conferences from several days later or from anniversary ceremonies.

Crossposts: http://camwyn.livejournal.com/946303.html

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From:

sardonicynic

Hrrrrm. Access World News was some help:

→ From TERROR IN THE HEARTLAND - 31 DEAD, HUNDREDS INJURED IN OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING
Daily News of Los Angeles (CA) - Thursday, April 20, 1995
Author/Byline: John Kifner The New York Times

At the White House, President Clinton convened an interagency task force to coordinate federal assistance and called on Americans to pray for the dead and stricken. He also dispatched a small army of federal investigators to Oklahoma and pledged a relentless hunt for the killers.

Attorney General Janet Reno, noting that the dead children ranged from 1 to 7 years old, and that some had been burned beyond recognition in their second-floor day-care center just above the curb where the bomb detonated, said the crime was a capital one and that the government would seek the death penalty if those responsible were caught.

→ From HEARTLAND HORROR - OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING LEAVES AT LEAST 31 DEAD
Daily Press (Newport News, VA) - Thursday, April 20, 1995

President Clinton vowed swift retribution against those responsible. He called the bombers "evil cowards."

→ Then, Googling "evil cowards," "Clinton" and "Oklahoma City Bombing" got me what's probably the best story with direct quotes yet.

I'll keep trying for an actual transcript, though!

From:

camwyn

Thank you. I'm trying to work up a Presidential speech for a fanfic and there isn't really any real-world analog to the situation in question, but the closest I think we come to it is the responses to these attacks, and I'd like to capture at least the same kind of tone overall that the various speechwriters and Presidents had.

From:

sardonicynic

No problem -- happy to work some Google-fu! I'm sorry it isn't anything more illuminating, though. Every actual transcript I'm finding is from the prayer service a few days afterward, on April 23, 1995.

But, I also found this, though I'm not sure how helpful these quotes may be:

During his first public address on the bombing, President Clinton stated that the terrorist act was an "attack on the United States, our way of life and everything we believe in" (Lyfestyles, 1995, p. 15). This expressed and confirmed the anti-American character of the bombing and it at least implicitly insinuated that guilt lay outside America's borders. Clinton added that searching and convicting the perpetrators was "not a question of anybody's country of origin,... not a question of anybody's religion" (Lyfestyles, 1995, p. 15). The disclaimer, of course, only made sense in view of a suspicion towards Middle-Eastern Muslims.

From:

sardonicynic

Thank you, Google. (Thank you, PBS and historycommons.org!)

In a live television press conference, President Clinton addresses the nation regarding the morning’s bombing in Oklahoma City (see 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995).

He says: “The bombing in Oklahoma City was an attack on innocent children and defenseless citizens. It was an act of cowardice and it was evil. The United States will not tolerate it. And I will not allow the people of this country to be intimidated by evil cowards. I have met with our team which we assembled to deal with this bombing, and I have determined to take the following steps to assure the strongest response to this situation.

"First, I have deployed a crisis management under the leadership of the FBI (see After 9:02 a.m. and After, April 19, 1995), working with the Department of Justice, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, military and local authorities. We are sending the world’s finest investigators to solve these murders.

"Second, I have declared an emergency in Oklahoma City. And at my direction, James Lee Witt, the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is now on his way there to make sure we do everything we can to help the people of Oklahoma deal with the tragedy.

"Third, we are taking every precaution to reassure and to protect people who work in or live near other federal facilities. Let there be no room for doubt. We will find the people who did this. When we do, justice will be swift, certain, and severe. These people are killers and they must be treated like killers.

"Finally, let me say that I ask all Americans tonight to pray, to pray for the people who have lost their lives, to pray for the families and the friends of the dead and the wounded, to pray for the people of Oklahoma City. May God’s grace be with them. Meanwhile, we will be about our work. Thank you.”

Clinton asks Americans to pray for the victims.

Attorney General Janet Reno follows Clinton in the conference, and says, “The death penalty is available and we will seek it.” She refuses to speculate on whether the date of the bombing—the two-year anniversary of the Branch Davidian tragedy (see April 19, 1993 and April 19, 1993 and After)—is a coincidence or something more. “We are pursuing all leads,” she says. “This has been a tragic and heartbreaking day.… We cannot tell you how long it will be before we can say with certainty what occurred and who is responsible but we will find the perpetrators and we will bring them to justice.”

At another time during the same day, Clinton tells a Des Moines reporter: “I was sick all day long. All of us have been looking at the scene where those children were taken out, and all of us were seeing our own children there. This is an awful, awful thing.”