Former President Bill Clinton returned to Oklahoma City on Saturday to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the bombing.
Clinton, 78, was president when 168 people including 19 children were murdered in what remains the deadliest domestic terrorist attack in US history.
Speaking at the memorial service, he honored the victims and survivors while also making comment on the current state of politics.
He said: 'I still remember as if it were 30 minutes ago, coming here with Hillary to that memorial service and saying: 'You have lost too much, but you have not lost everything.
''You have certainly not lost America, and we will be with you for as many tomorrows as it takes', I do think we've kept that commitment', he added.
He cautioned about the polarizing nature of modern-day politics and how such divisiveness can lead to violence, as it did 30 years ago.
Clinton said there the nation can learn from the 'Oklahoma Standard,' a term coined to reference the response to the bombing by uniting in service, honor and kindness.
'Today, Oklahoma City, America needs you,' he said. 'I wish to goodness every American could just see life unfold here, hearing these stories.'
Speaking at the memorial service, he honored the victims and survivors while also making comment on the current state of politics
Clinton was president when 168 people including 19 children were murdered in what remains the deadliest domestic terrorist attack in US history. He is seen here in 1995 after a prayer service
Clinton said there the nation can learn from the 'Oklahoma Standard'' a term coined to reference the response to the bombing by uniting in service, honor and kindness
Other speakers included former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating and former Oklahoma City Mayor Ron Norick, who were in office when the bombing occurred.
Family members of some of those killed in the bombing read the 168 names of those killed in the attack.
Saturday's ceremony was originally scheduled to take place on the grounds of the memorial but was moved inside an adjacent church because of heavy rains.
After the ceremony, a procession of bagpipe players from the Oklahoma City Fire Department those in attendance across the street to the outdoor memorial built on the grounds where the federal building once stood.
The memorial includes a museum, a reflecting pool and 168 empty chairs of glass, bronze and stone etched with the names of those killed.
Nineteen of the chairs are smaller than the others to represent the children killed.
Authorities had initially suspected that the attack was orchestrated by extremists outside the US, before the perpetrators turned out to be two former US soldiers.
Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols had met while serving in the Army, developing a deep hatred toward the government that was exacerbate by the 1993 Waco siege.
Authorities had initially suspected that the attack was orchestrated by extremists outside the US, before the perpetrators turned out to be two former US soldiers
Timothy McVeigh is seen here being lead out of the Noble County Courthouse in Perry, Oklahoma, in 1995 following the attack
Another standoff in the mountains of Ruby Ridge, Idaho, that left a 14-year-old boy, his mother and a federal agent dead also angered the pair.
The Oklahoma City bombing happened on the second anniversary of the fiery end to the 51-day Waco siege.
McVeigh drove the truck to the site and set the fuse to blow it up. He was convicted of 11 murder counts and executed by lethal injection in 2001.
Nichols is seen here in a January 2000 mug shot
Nichols helped McVeigh plan and build the bomb. He was convicted of conspiracy and involuntary manslaughter, and is serving life in prison.
The bombing exposed Americans to violent extremism and anti-government sentiment on home soil.
McVeigh and Nichols sympathized with right-wing militia movements that sprang up in the early 1990s and continue to this day.
In 1996, Clinton signed an 'antiterrorism' law that toughened penalties for a wide range of crimes and made it a crime to target federal workers performing their duties.
It also spent about $1 billion, most of it for the FBI, to expand counterterrorism efforts.
The memorial site is among Oklahoma’s most popular destinations, typically drawing more than 500,000 visitors each year.
School children arrive by the busload to learn about the dangers of political violence.
