Analysis Of The Timothy Mcveigh Bombing

The Timothy McVeigh bombing at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on April 19th 1995 was one of the deadliest domestic terrorist acts in the history of the United States, killing 168 with 15 of them being children and injuring many more. The attack by McVeigh and his sole accomplice Terry Nichols proved to be an attack done because of anger with American Government and what they believed to be a noble cause. When analyzing Timothy McVeigh and searching for the motives behind the attack it becomes apparent that the decision to become a terrorist and follow through with the attack best fits the rational choice theory. It is clearly rational choice because the definition and necessities of rational choice clearly

When looking at rational choice theory and McVeigh it is clear that of the components of the theory he follows all three motivated by stable and consistent political preferences, evaluated the payoffs, and selected the optimal option. When looking at McVeigh’s political preference the clear motivation is his disdain for government. In an interview by Jody Lyneé Madeira, author of the 2012 book “Killing McVeigh: The Death Penalty and the Myth of Closure” gave to oxygen. Com she said that McVeigh had been identifying with right wing groups after he was rejected from the green berets and became enraged after the Ruby Ridge Standoff and the Waco siege (Tron, Gina). McVeigh blamed the government for the deaths of the people in Waco and was a factor in his bombing in Oklahoma City. In 1993 he visited the cult compound and was interviewed by another reporter in which he stated that the government is at fault for Waco and said that the government is afraid of people with guns (Clay, Nolan). His right wing political stance and belief that the government was overbearing on his rights specifically his right to bear arms, clearly this was his motivating factor that aligned with his consistent political preferences. McVeigh weighed the cost and benefit of all available options and only turned to terrorism because to him it was the superior alternative. In a letter from McVeigh sent to fox news correspondent Rita Cosby in 2001 shows this, He said that he waited two years from after Waco happened for non violent check and balances from the government and other options such as protests, letter campaigns, and video production but did not result in a change in his political preference. Although he may have not directly been involved in the other options he still weighed all the options and waited for an option to have a successful political change and