Description:

Clinton Bill

Bill Clinton TLS Regarding Oklahoma City bombing

 

1p TLS signed by 42nd U.S. President Bill Clinton displayed to the left of a newspaper editorial from Rockville, Maryland, and matted and framed behind glass. The May 15, 1995 letter is on "The White House, Washington" letterhead with embossed presidential seal at top, and is signed as "Bill Clinton" at lower left. Expected light surface wear to frame, otherwise near fine. Not examined out of frame, which is mahogany finished and measures 18.5" x 16.25" overall.

 

This framed 2-piece ensemble relate to the domestic terrorist attack in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on April 19, 1995, when far right fundamentalist Timothy McVeigh detonated a rental truck containing 5,000 lbs. of explosives in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The bomb blast and subsequent partial building collapse killed 168 people including 19 children. Casualties were mostly federal employees, but also included U.S. military personnel and civilians. The explosion also caused an estimated $652 million property damage.

 

In this TLS dated May 15, 1995, almost one month after the attack, President Clinton thanks Rockville, Maryland resident Anne Mahoney Robbins for her recent letter.

 

"Dear Anne:

 

Thank you for writing about the tragic bombing in Oklahoma City and for sharing the inspiring historical quotation with me.

 

As America seeks to recover from this brutal attack, we must do all we can to help heal the emotional and physical wounds, to rebuild Oklahoma City, and to bring to swift and certain justice those who committed this act of cowardice…"

 

This letter is an almost exact iteration of the speech Clinton delivered at the Oklahoma State Fair Arena four days after the attack, on April 23, 1995. In that speech, the President stated his three main objectives: "We pledge to do all we can to help you heal the injured, to rebuild this city, and to bring to justice those who did this evil."

 

In the same speech, Clinton also mentioned receiving letters from Americans like Anne Mahoney Robbins. He said: "I've received a lot of letters in these last terrible days. One stood out because it came from a young widow and a mother of three whose own husband was murdered with over 200 other Americans when Pan Am 103 was shot down. Here is what that woman said I should say to you today: 'The anger you feel is valid, but you must not allow yourselves to be consumed by it. The hurt you feel must not be allowed to turn into hate, but instead into the search for justice. The loss you feel must not paralyze your own lives. Instead, you must try to pay tribute to your loved ones by continuing to do all the things they left undone, thus ensuring they did not die in vain.' Wise words from one who also knows."

 

The undated newspaper clipping comes from a Maryland journal and includes the quote that Robbins sent Clinton. It is by anonymous: "The heroes come when they are needed. When our belief gets pale and weak, there come people out of that need who are shining and everyone living reflects a little of that light and shores up some for the future."

 

A 4-person conspiracy was later revealed to have been behind the Oklahoma City attack. The primary perpetrator Timothy McVeigh (1968-2001) was executed by lethal injection 6 years after the attack.

 

Anne Mahoney Robbins (b. 1942) was a teacher who ran multiple times for the Rockville City Council. The Democrat has submitted multiple editorials over the decades; her thoughts on federal workers, Jimmy Carter's election chances, and Michelle Obama have been published in the New York Times, Washington Post, and People Magazine!

 

Bill Clinton (b. 1946) graduated from Yale Law School and served as a law professor at the University of Arkansas in the early 1970s. In 1976, he defeated two other Democratic candidates for Arkansas Attorney General and ran unopposed in the general election. The handsome and personable Clinton become "Boy Governor" of Arkansas in 1979; he entered the White Office as 42nd U.S. President in 1993.

 

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