The Connection Between Elohim City (Oklahoma) and the Oklahoma City Bomber, Timothy McVeigh

On April 19, 1995, 168 people were killed in a truck bombing that took place at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building (Editors, History.com). Two of the men involved in the attack bought bags and bags of ammonium nitrate, the bomb’s main ingredient. Timothy McVeigh was the mastermind of the attack, but he recruited the help of two men that served in the army with him. Terry Nichols had a bigger role in the operation than Michael Fortier, but even so, the two men followed McVeigh’s lead. The bomb also included Tovex sausages, another ingredient that Nichols and McVeigh stole from a storage shed (Goodman). This made the explosive more powerful combined with Nitromethane racing fuel.

This concoction was described in “The Turner Diaries”. This book was written for Christian Identity followers and displayed a plan for a group of white supremacist that use a truck bomb to blow up a federal building. This would cause a war in the United States and bring a white world to power (Coppola). The Oklahoma City bombing was a story coming to life for The Turner Diaries. McVeigh became obsessed with The Turner Diaries because of his anti-government mindset (Goodman).

One reason for the Oklahoma City bombing was that McVeigh believed the government’s goal was to disarm gun-owners (Hoffman). This feeling developed from a situation in Waco, Texas. David Koresh built a community in Waco that created a shooting and standoff with the FBI. McVeigh felt that this was the government’s way to try and take away gun owners rights (Goodman).

When investigations on the bombing began, the government’s first assumption was that people from the Middle East committed the horrid act of terrorism (Michael). Federal agents raided an apartment in Dallas, Texas that was occupied by Middle Eastern men (Goodman). This gave strength to Middle Eastern advocates because of the stereotypes the government was placing on Middle Eastern people. It gave ammunition for more violent acts by extremists in the Middle East. The Oklahoma City Bombing placed a new found fear of terrorism due to right-winged Americans (Hoffman).

The movement started in England in the nineteenth century by Scottish minister, John Wilson. Wilson wrote “Our Israelite Origins,” which formed a foundation for the Christian Identity movement (Michael). Their main belief is that white people have been granted superiority by Devine right. Their values align with the British’s paranoid views such as believing Jews are trying to control the world through international banking (Juergensmeyer). There are many different divisions of Christian Identity, but all have anti-Semitic views (Armstrong). It originates through British Israelism which is what Wilson wrote about in his book. The ideology claims

“Jesus had been an Aryan, not a Semite; that the migrating Israelite tribes from the northern kingdom of Israel were in fact blue-eyed Aryans who somehow ended up in the British Isles; and that the “Lost Sheep of the House of Israel” were none other than present-day Englishmen.” (Juergensmeyer).

The main idea is that the whites are in power and to get rid of the blacks and jews (Bruckberger). They want to defend the United States from people that don’t view them as a Christian, White power nation (Michael). The followers view the Federal Government as a threat that must be eliminated (Armstrong). Christian Identity is viewed as an “old man’s religion” because they do not replace the dying members with new ones at the rate they should (Michael).

McVeigh was born on April 23, 1968, in Lockport, New York. When his parents divorced he was raised by his father in Pendleton, New York (Editors, Biography.com). McVeigh became very close with to grandfather who taught him his love for guns. His grandfather would take him practice shooting and lectured him on the rights of gun-owners (Goodman). He was bullied in high school, being referred to as “Noodle” McVeigh because of his lanky figure (Goodman). His high school experience affected him negatively and made him greatly sensitive to any form of bullying. Once he graduated high school, McVeigh did not know what he wanted to do as a career path. Looking to his love for guns as inspiration he decided to enlist in the Army. McVeigh participated in the first Gulf War in 1991 (Armstrong). During this time, McVeigh did not feel the exhilaration while shooting people that he expected he would. McVeigh could not find a reason for doing it and explained it as 

“My overall experience in the Gulf War taught me that these people were just that, they were people. They were human beings at the core, they were no different than me. Then I had to reconcile with the fact that, well, I killed them.” (Goodman).

These feelings led him to believe that the American Government was a bully and this is a feeling he could not tolerate. When McVeigh flunked out of rangers school, failure ate him up to a point where he couldn’t take it anymore (Goodman). McVeigh became infatuated with “The Turner Diaries” because of their anti-government propaganda (Editors, Biography.com). He was a self-proclaimed agnostic, but still worked with followers of Christian identity (Armstrong).

When the situation in Waco, Texas took place, McVeigh showed up because he believed the government could be described as bullies. They were in a stand-off with gun owners and he felt that they were trying to take away those citizens rights to own guns. McVeigh began to sell bumper stickers with pro-gun or anti-government slogans on them (Goodman). He wanted to show the government that they were no longer in charge, so he set his plan in motion for the Oklahoma City Bombing.

Robert Millar founded Elohim City in 1973 and it is known as the “City of God” (User). A former Nazi member, Glenn Miller, helped establish the settlement along Millar (Juergensmeyer). It is a community for followers of Christian Identity that study “The Turner Diaries.” The book places whites in a position of power and teaches them to be hostile towards Jews and blacks (Bruckberger).

Millar was known as a leader for the White Supremacist movement throughout America and followers flocked to the compound to be a part of the movement (Hoffman). When the compound was first founded, Millar described that he felt the hand of God. Millar stated that God shared information with him such as that he was Aryan. God told him that he would descend to them soon to lead a group of the White race to rule the world with him (Coppola).

When Millar described the compound he stated “It’s proper for a people to minister unto the diety,” and “Christianity is a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week experience. We’re here to live that life.” (Coppola). In this settlement, they were stocked on arsenal and kept survival gear in preparation for the Battle of Armageddon. The followers of Millar and Christian Identity believed that according to God’s word, they needed to cleanse the world of antichrist and non-white forces. This would lead them to rule on Earth alongside God for following his plan (Michael).

Timothy McVeigh was suspiciously connected to Elohim City before he committed the Oklahoma City Bombing. McVeigh made a phone call to Elohim City two weeks before the violent act took place (Juergensmeyer). Carol Howe stated in court that she heard a man named Mr. Mahone speaking to a Tim Tuttle on the phone (User). This was an alias that McVeigh admitted to using because it is the name of a character in the movie, Brazil, where Tuttle blew up a government building filled with bureaucrats (Michael).  Telephone records show that a call to Elohim City by McVeigh was placed on April 5, the bombing took place April 19. Millar denies that he ever talked to McVeigh on the phone even when presented with the phone records (Hoffman). McVeigh placed a call for “Andy” which is a nickname for the head of security, Andreas Strassmeir. Strassmeir was highly knowledgeable in weaponry including bombings (Bruckerberger).

Howe also described a man she believed to be McVeigh at the compound during July of 1994 (User). It was hard for McVeigh to deny ever being there because he received a citation for a traffic offense ten miles away from Elohim City, on route 220, its only access road (Juergensmeyer).

McVeigh committed the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, which is the same day Richard Wayne Snell was executed. Snell was a follower of Christian Identity and Millar, founder of Elohim City, was his primary advisor and defender (Juergensmeyer). Snell was buried in Elohim City and McVeigh changed his birthday on his driver’s license to April 19.  While he was at a bar with an Elohim City citizen, McVeigh stated, “You’re going to remember me on April 19.” (Juergensmeyer). 

Since Elohim City was accused of involvement with the Oklahoma City bombing they have become more modernized (Flatland). Before the incident, they stayed recluse from the rest of the world’s inventions and no one gave it a second thought. When they were linked to the bombing, people used their anti-modernization against them labeling them as freaks (Editors, History.com). They now are more advanced in technology, with the use of Wi-Fi and cellphones. They have national outings to show the public that Elohim City is not what they previously presumed (Thomas).

Still they cannot pretend they are not a racist community because Richard Wayne Snell, a known white supremacist that was executed, is buried on their property (Goodman). Also, residents have publicly spoken about how they are happy to be white because God was Aryan (Thomas).

David Millar, son of the founder, says that the violent followers of Christian Identity come to their community thinking it is filled with people like them, but leave disappointed when they realize that the Elohim City community is filled with normal, non-violent people. Millar explains that many residents are just looking for refuge, not a holy war (KCPT). Their residents are just there to honor God by doing what is expected by them through God’s word (Thomas).