Timothy McVeigh’s Last Words Prove the
Oklahoma City Bomber Had No Regrets...
By Lissete Lanuza Sáenz
April 18, 2025 11:52 am
https://stylecaster.com/entertainment/t ... ast-words/
...McVeigh was a Gulf War veteran who had become radicalized by anti-government beliefs and hoped to inspire a revolution against the federal government with the bombing. He was arrested shortly after and indicted on 160 state offenses and 11 federal offenses, which included the use of a weapon of mass destruction. He was found guilty on all counts in 1997 and sentenced to death...
McVeigh was a Gulf War veteran who had become radicalized by anti-government beliefs and hoped to inspire a revolution against the federal government with the bombing. He was arrested shortly after and indicted on 160 state offenses and 11 federal offenses, which included the use of a weapon of mass destruction. He was found guilty on all counts in 1997 and sentenced to death.
McVeigh chose a poem,
Invictus, as his final words. The Latin word Invictus means unconquerable or undefeated. Just before his death, McVeigh handed a copy of the poem by William Ernest Henley to the prison warden. Those present at McVeigh’s execution reported that he died with his eyes open and without saying a word, so the poem is truly his last statement, and it speaks of defiance.
“Out of the night that covers me/Black as the Pit from pole to pole/I thank whatever gods may be/For my unconquerable soul,” the poem reads, going on to speak about how even “Under the bludgeonings of chance/ My head is bloody, but unbowed.”
In general, the poem makes a point to emphasize resilience in the face of adversity, which proves that McVeigh considered his cause right until the bitter end and saw himself as a martyr. For McVeigh, the bombing was a legitimate tactic against what he saw as a tyrannical government. Not just that, the poem is also about defiance and inner strength in the face of adversity, which McVeigh seems to believe he was displaying.
Handing the Warden a copy of Invictus were not McVeigh's last spoken words.
I prefer his spoken words to the court just prior to being sentenced to death, detailed here: https://www.upi.com/Archives/1997/08/14 ... 871531200/
UPI Focus: McVeigh quotes late justice in sentencing
By STEPHEN GASCOYNE
Aug. 14, 1997
DENVER - U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch has formally sentenced Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh to death for the truck bomb attack on the Murrah building that killed 168 people. Before the judge made official what a jury found June 13, McVeigh walked past his lead attorney, Stephen Jones and faced the bench to quote a former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis. McVeigh said: 'You honor, I want to let the words of justice Brandeis speak for me.
"Our government is the hope, the
omnipotent teacher. For good or
ill, it teaches the whole people
by its example.''
...Matsch then asked McVeigh, 'Do you have any questions?' McVeigh responded, 'Not with this court, your honor.'
