Having visited the Oklahoma City bombing museum just over a year ago, and read the American Terrorist book about the bombing and the life of its perpetrator Timothy McVeigh, here’s something I’ve wondered from time to time: what if, as he made his way down to OKC from Junction City, Kansas (where he rented the Ryder truck that held the bomb and, along with co-conspirator Terry Nichols, built the bomb at a nearby lake), early on the morning of April 19, 1995, the truck crashed somewhere along I-35 in northern Oklahoma, causing the bomb to explode and killing or injuring McVeigh along with any drivers unfortunate enough to have been near the truck when it crashed?
I ask this because a passage in the American Terrorist book talks about how, while McVeigh understandably took great care to keep the truck on the road, he usually drove rather recklessly, which led me to come up with this question. Of course, for the purposes of this post, it doesn’t matter if McVeigh drives with his normal wild abandon and runs the truck off the road or if some other driver crashes into it - the point is that, one way or another, something causes McVeigh’s Ryder truck to explode before reaching its target. What would come of such a situation - aside from a section of I-35 being put out of commission for several months, that is?
Well, for one thing, the Murrah Building would still be standing, and the people working there would be going about their days normally, unaware of their building being a terrorist target - while many of the employees would understandably be rather unsettled upon hearing news of a mysterious explosion on I-35 coming in on their car radios as they drove in to work, I’m sure most of them would probably just brush it aside as a freak accident and focus on their work and their day-to-day lives. Eventually, the details of the “OKC Truck Bomb Plot” would filter through to the Murrah Building workers and the public at large, but most likely not until days or even weeks later, as the accident is investigated.
Anyway, what sort of things - legislation, debates, whatever - might have come in the aftermath of the OKC bombing having failed in this manner? After all, unlike many foiled terrorist plots, an explosion would still have occurred, albeit not at its intended target. I’m sure that once the details of the plot came to light, there might be some national conversation or congressional hearings about how to secure the nation from the threat of terrorism, albeit perhaps not to the extent of the aftermath of OTL’s (unfortunately) successful OKC bombing. What do you think?
I ask this because a passage in the American Terrorist book talks about how, while McVeigh understandably took great care to keep the truck on the road, he usually drove rather recklessly, which led me to come up with this question. Of course, for the purposes of this post, it doesn’t matter if McVeigh drives with his normal wild abandon and runs the truck off the road or if some other driver crashes into it - the point is that, one way or another, something causes McVeigh’s Ryder truck to explode before reaching its target. What would come of such a situation - aside from a section of I-35 being put out of commission for several months, that is?
Well, for one thing, the Murrah Building would still be standing, and the people working there would be going about their days normally, unaware of their building being a terrorist target - while many of the employees would understandably be rather unsettled upon hearing news of a mysterious explosion on I-35 coming in on their car radios as they drove in to work, I’m sure most of them would probably just brush it aside as a freak accident and focus on their work and their day-to-day lives. Eventually, the details of the “OKC Truck Bomb Plot” would filter through to the Murrah Building workers and the public at large, but most likely not until days or even weeks later, as the accident is investigated.
Anyway, what sort of things - legislation, debates, whatever - might have come in the aftermath of the OKC bombing having failed in this manner? After all, unlike many foiled terrorist plots, an explosion would still have occurred, albeit not at its intended target. I’m sure that once the details of the plot came to light, there might be some national conversation or congressional hearings about how to secure the nation from the threat of terrorism, albeit perhaps not to the extent of the aftermath of OTL’s (unfortunately) successful OKC bombing. What do you think?
Last edited: