Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - On the 30th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, former President Bill Clinton spoke at a ceremony in memory of the 168 killed in the horrific attack.

Clinton said that the bombings had shocked the country but also showed the best of the US, with people coming together to help. He spoke of the current deep division in the country, insisting that the US needed this "Oklahoma Standard" instead.

"If we all lived by it, we'd be a lot better off," Clinton said in a hoarse voice. "We would get a fairer economy, a more stable society. We would understand one another, and we wouldn't feel weak if we admitted we were wrong about something."

Clinton was president when the far-right extremist Timothy McVeigh detonated a massive bomb in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. A total of 168 people died, including 19 children.

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McVeigh, an ex-soldier, despised the US and had carefully chosen his target. He parked the explosive device in a rented truck in front of the building and detonated it. The images of the destruction went around the world.

Only 90 minutes after the attack, the police stopped him because his car had no license plate and arrested him after discovering a gun. Shortly thereafter, he was convicted of the attack.

McVeigh was executed in 2001, and his accomplice Terry Nichols, who helped him build the bomb, was sentenced to 161 life sentences.