It is difficult to overstate the influence of The Turner Diaries on McVeigh. In a letter to his childhood friend Steve Hodge, which was written four years before the Oklahoma City bombing. McVeigh enclosed a copy of the book and wrote, “Read the book when you have time to sit down and think. When I read it, I would have to stop at the end of every paragraph and examine the deeper meaning of what I had just read …. I am not giving you this book to convert you. I do, however, want you to understand the ‘other side’ and view the pure literal genious [sic[ of this piece.” (Not withstanding some imperfect spelling, McVeigh turned out to be a skilled and forceful writer.)
McVeigh’s gun obsession, as well as his fixation with The Turner Diaries, fed an interest in self-dramatization, which was striking in someone who had led such a circumscribed life. Hodge told McVeigh’s lawyers that Tim “wanted to go out with his finger on the trigger and empty casings all around him. Tim seemed to feel destined for a violent death.” Inspired by Earl Turner, Tim began building primitive explosives, which he stored in the basement of the house in Pendleton. His father indulged Tim’s new hobby, which also became a nervous family joke. “If we have a fire, are we going to blow up?” Bill would ask his son. Tim said yes, adding, “So if the fire department ever comes, we are just going to stand back and watch it go, right?”
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