Governor Helps Oklahoma Forget Horror

There was no "honeymoon" period for newly-elected Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating.

Only three months after his election, a bomb of ammonium nitrite and fuel detonated outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in the state's capital on April 19, 1995, tearing away more than half of the nine-story building, killing 168 people and injuring hundreds more.

The immediate scene thereafter was chaotic. But it was the days and weeks to follow that would test the leadership of the Republican governor. He would have to guide Oklahoma's citizens, victims and rescue workers through the worst case of domestic terrorism in U.S. history.

Keating, then 49 and just beginning to serve the first of his two terms, tells Bryant Gumbel on CBS News' The Early Show the memories from those horrific days still haunt him five years later.

"No one can anticipate this man-made or natural disaster," Keating said on The Early Show. "The fact something like this could happen. That somebody -- to make a political point -- would destroy a building and kill 168 people, including 19 babies, will never, ever escape my shock and disbelief."

But Keating survived his baptism by fire both politically and emotionally. He says focusing the state's attention on lobbying for a memorial and museum on the grounds of the Murrah building, and scholarships for children who lost a parent in the bombing has helped the healing.

"The fact is that good does come from evil and the best of times can follow," the governor says. "As a result of this, we -- as an Oklahoma family, Americans together, 4,000 people -- raised the 29 million dollars to do this museum and this very spiritual."

The Republican governor announced Tuesday a $2.3 million contribution from the state that brings an end to fund raising for the Oklahoma City National Memorial. Once added to public and private donations, the legislature-approved contribution raises the total to $29.1 million.

"We showed ourselves, without regard to race, color, sex, nationality, how people should stick together to make a better tomorrow. And we did it," Keating says. "We all stuck together and did what we were supposed to do. I'm proud of that."

Although recent polls have shown that many Americans say another domestic terrorism attack similar to the Oklahoma City bombing could take place, Keating strongly believes the worst has happened and a repeat is unlikely.

"This can never happen again, this is an isolated incident," he says. "That this horrible thing could happen once in America, but never again."

For groups or individuals with anti-government sentiment, Keating says: "If you have a beef with the government and that was the motive, change the government. Throw out the bums if you don't like a political figure. If you don't like an agency, repeal it. Don't do what happened here."

Keating, who strongly supported the deah penalties for bombing co-conspirators Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, could lead his state through another difficult time when the Oklahoma state district attorney tries Nichols on state murder charges in August.

Nichols, currently serving his life sentence in Oklahoma for the deaths of eight federal employees killed in the bombing, faces 160 counts of first-degree murder. The charges represent the remaining 160 of the 168 people killed in the Murrah building explosion.

For now, Keating said he is focused on joining fellow Oklahoma citizens to commemorate the Wednesday opening of the memorial.

"When I went down (to the memorial) two weeks ago to see what was emerging to be the final product, you can't look at those chairs – and I knew a lot of the people -- and not get terribly sad and spiritual," Keating says. "That is good, but it certainly is something I'll never forget."

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