‘Day of horror and tragedy’: Former Gov. Frank Keating remembers Oklahoma City bombing
Saturday marks 30 years since the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City killed 168 people, including 19 children.
THANK ALL OF YOU FOR BEING HERE TO CELEBRATE LIVES, TO CELEBRATE. SECURITY, TO CELEBRATE COMMITMENT AND LOVE OF OTHERS, MANY OF WHOM WE NEVER KNEW AND WE DON’T KNOW. THERE IS A PARABLE OF A MAN WHO LOOKED BACK ON HIS LIFE AND SAW IT AS AN ENDLESS SERIES OF FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND. AT TIMES THERE WERE TWO SETS OF FOOTPRINTS SIDE BY SIDE, AND HE REMEMBERED THESE TIMES AS HAPPY TIMES. AT OTHERS THERE WAS BUT ONE SET OF PRINTS, THE TIMES OF SADNESS AND PAIN. HE CONFRONTED GOD AND ASKED HIM WHY HE HAD CEASED TO WALK BESIDE HIM WHEN HE MOST NEEDED HIM, AND MOST NEEDED HIS SUPPORT. WHY, HE WONDERED, HAD GOD ABANDONED HIM? AND GOD ANSWERED, BUT MY SON, THOSE WERE THE TIMES I WAS CARRYING YOU. HE CARRIES US TODAY. CUP GENTLY IN HIS HANDS. APRIL 19TH, 1995, WAS A DAY OF HORROR AND TRAGEDY. IT WAS UNBELIEVABLE FOR THOSE OF US WHO WERE HERE AND THERE TO COMPREHEND THAT THE DEVIL HIMSELF WALKS THE EARTH AND MURDERED 168 OF OUR NEIGHBORS AND FRIENDS, WOUNDED 700 OF OUR NEIGHBORS AND FRIENDS, CAUSED DAMAGE OR DESTRUCTION TO 320 BUILDINGS. MARRED THE FACE, SCRATCHED THE FACE, BLOODIED THE FACE OF THE CAPITAL CITY OF OKLAHOMA. IT WAS. INCOMPREHENSIBLE THAT WE COULD SEE AND AND UNDERSTAND WHAT WAS OCCURRING, AND WE WONDERED HOW WERE WE ALL GOING TO STAY TOGETHER WITHOUT MUTUAL SUSPICION AND MISTRUST? AND HOW COULD WE DO THAT? BUT WE DID. THE RENAISSANCE OF OKLAHOMA. AND BY THE WAY, I CHECKED THIS MORNING. HOW LONG IS A GENERATION? A GENERATION IS 25 TO 30 YEARS. AND WHY IS IT A GENERATION? BECAUSE YOU GROW UP, YOU GET MARRIED, YOU HAVE CHILDREN. IT’S ANOTHER GENERATION. AND THINK OF THE BLESSINGS WE HAVE WITH ALL THESE YOUNG PEOPLE AT OUR SCHOOLS. I WAS CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS OF O.U. FOR A WHILE, AND IT’S REALLY AMAZING TO ME THAT A SIGNIFICANT MINORITY OF THE STUDENTS THAT ARE COMING TO O.U. ARE FROM TEXAS, OF ALL PLACES. AND WHAT IS SIGNIFICANT TO ME IS THAT PEOPLE WHO ARE GRADUATING FROM THAT UNIVERSITY ARE LARGELY STAYING HERE. THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THEN AND NOW IS VERY DRAMATIC.
‘Day of horror and tragedy’: Former Gov. Frank Keating remembers Oklahoma City bombing
Saturday marks 30 years since the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City killed 168 people, including 19 children.
Updated: 9:55 AM CDT Apr 19, 2025
Saturday marks 30 years since the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City killed 168 people, including 19 children. The community gathered on Saturday to honor the victims, the survivors and the lives forever changed during a remembrance ceremony. One of the speakers during the 30th anniversary remembrance was Frank Keating, who was the governor of Oklahoma during the bombing. “April 19, 1995, was a day of horror and tragedy. It was unbelievable for those of us who were here and there to comprehend that the devil himself walks the earth and murdered 168 of our neighbors and friends, wounded 700 of our neighbors and friends, caused damage or destruction to 320 buildings, marred the face, scraps the face, bloodies the face of the capital city of Oklahoma,” Keating said. “Incomprehensible that we could see and understand what was occurring. And we wondered how we were all going to stay together without mutual suspicion and mistrust and how could we do that. But we did. The renaissance of Oklahoma.” Open the video player above to watch former Gov. Frank Keating’s full speech.
Saturday marks 30 years since the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City killed 168 people, including 19 children.
The community gathered on Saturday to honor the victims, the survivors and the lives forever changed during a remembrance ceremony. One of the speakers during the 30th anniversary remembrance was Frank Keating, who was the governor of Oklahoma during the bombing.
“April 19, 1995, was a day of horror and tragedy. It was unbelievable for those of us who were here and there to comprehend that the devil himself walks the earth and murdered 168 of our neighbors and friends, wounded 700 of our neighbors and friends, caused damage or destruction to 320 buildings, marred the face, scraps the face, bloodies the face of the capital city of Oklahoma,” Keating said. “Incomprehensible that we could see and understand what was occurring. And we wondered how we were all going to stay together without mutual suspicion and mistrust and how could we do that. But we did. The renaissance of Oklahoma.”
Open the video player above to watch former Gov. Frank Keating’s full speech.
