ABSTRACT
April 19, 1995 is etched in the memory of Oklahomans and most Americans. It is the day that our assumptions were shattered about the safety of living in the United States, particularly in the “Heartland,” as Oklahoma would come to be described. For Oklahomans, the term disaster was predominately associated with tornadoes. Most of us who have lived here all of our lives, however, took these in stride. I will never forget the statement I made to my youngest daughter just a few weeks before the bombing of the Murrah Building when she prophetically asked about the possibility of being attacked by other countries or outside forces. “Honey, we are in the middle of the United States. If something were going to happen, it would be on either coast.”
