McVeigh executed for Oklahoma City bombing

FROM THE ARCHIVE

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JUNE 11, 2001

While many in the nation slept, convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was put to death today in Terre Haute, Indiana, the first federal execution in 38 years.

McVeigh made no final statement when his execution began at 7 AM Central Standard Time. Instead, he provided a hand-written statement, a poem known as "Invictus," authored in 1875 by William Ernest Henley.

The poem reads:

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.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud,
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

McVeigh was pronounced dead at 7:14 AM. He was injected with a mixture sodium penathol, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride through his arm.

McVeigh's death was viewed by a group of about 30, which included his supporters, government officials, and selected members of the media. The media representatives held a press conference following the execution to provide their accounting.

A closed-circuit broadcast was shown at the Oklahoma City airport to survivors and relatives of the April 19, 1995, bombing. A number were also present at the memorial site in Oklahoma City, where 168 chairs represented those killed in the bombing.

From the Media:
Facing Death, McVeigh Unyielding (The Washinton Post 6/11)
Subdued Scene at Site of McVeigh Execution (The Washinton Post 6/11)
McVeigh Is Executed by Lethal Injection (The New York Times 6/11)
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