The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour

MS. FARNSWORTH: Good evening. I'm Elizabeth Farnsworth in Washington.

MR. MAC NEIL: And I'm Robert MacNeil in New York. After tonight's News Summary, we have the latest from Oklahoma City and Washington on the bombing investigation, the search for survivors, and the emotional toll on relatives. Then a report on the state of environmental issues as the world marks Earth Day. Finally, the week's political analysis with Paul Gigot, joined tonight by Juan Williams. FOCUS - BREAK IN THE CASE

MR. MAC NEIL: The two key suspects in the deadly bombing in Oklahoma City have been arrested. Timothy McVeigh has been in custody since Wednesday when he was stopped near Oklahoma City for speeding. The second man, Terry Lynn Nichols, turned himself in to authorities in Kansas today. In other developments, federal agents began a raid on a house in Decker, Michigan, about 70 miles North of Detroit. A local law enforcement official said they were searching for evidence related to the Oklahoma investigation. Similar searches were said to be underway in other parts of the country. Attorney General Reno and FBI Director Louis Freeh held a news conference in Washington this afternoon to announce the first arrest.

JANET RENO, Attorney General: I am pleased to announce that one of the individuals believed to be responsible for Wednesday's terrible attack on the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City has been arrested. Timothy McVeigh, age 27, who we previously called John Doe No. 1, the man with the light brown crew cut, was arrested by local authorities on a traffic violation about 60 miles from Oklahoma City on Wednesday morning about an hour and a half after the explosion occurred. At the time of his arrest he was in the possession of a firearm. He has been in the local jail since the arrest. He will be taken into custody by the FBI. This investigation has been fast moving. Although the investigation is in the preliminary stage, this announcement shows the substantial progress made by very dedicated law enforcement agents and officers in a very short period of time. But we continue to pursue absolutely every lead. We are determined that we will not rest until the people who perpetrated this terrible act are brought to justice and convicted. Our prayers are with the victims, their families, and their loved ones, for our heart and all America's heart has gone out to them.

REPORTER: What basis do you have for holding him, other than the gun, and the description?

JANET RENO: Again, we would not comment on any of the evidence. This will be a pending matter.

SECOND REPORTER: Can you say anything, Ms. Reno, on either a possible motive and/or whether the man belonged to a paramilitary group?

JANET RENO: We would not speculate with respect to any of the motivation or any of the evidence relating to the pending matter.

THIRD REPORTER: You said in your statement that you still planned searches at several locations around the country, several others may still be at large. Should the American people worry that in their community there might be a terrorist who might have an attack in their area? Should they be concerned at this moment?

JANET RENO: What we want to do is to pursue every lead to take every reasonable precaution to make sure that the people responsible for this terrible act are brought to justice.

FOURTH REPORTER: Do you think this to be a terrorist act, or is this a statewide group, or is this individual from Oklahoma, someone on our own soil, hurting our own people?

JANET RENO: At this point, every evidence indicates that it is domestic in the nature. How we characterize it will depend upon the investigation as it proceeds, and we will, as I indicated yesterday, try to provide all complete information as appropriate, consistent with the investigation.

FIFTH REPORTER: General Reno, Timothy McVeigh, is he being charged while he's being taken into federal custody, is he being charged with a federal crime at this point?

JANET RENO: He will be charged under the John Doe warrant.

SIXTH REPORTER: As to the name of the suspects, you are not ready to confirm that they are, indeed, suspects?

JANET RENO: I would not comment.

SEVENTH REPORTER: Ms. Reno, the chairman of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee said this morning that he has literally cases of Arab-Americans and of children being intimidated and harassed in the wake of the outrage in Oklahoma City. Is the department receiving any of these complaints, or do you have anything to say about them?

JANET RENO: Again, what we have said from the beginning is that every lead must be pursued. There should be no generalization based on somebody's race or ethnic background whatsoever. I have not received any complaints. Any complaint that indicates action that this department should take will be pursued.

EIGHTH REPORTER: Can you talk for a second about the arrest? You said a traffic violation. Can you tell us some details, how that occurred?

JANET RENO: I'd let Director Freeh comment to the extent possible.

LOUIS FREEH, FBI Director: What I could say at this point -- and there will certainly be an arraignment before a federal judge or magistrate in the near future -- the local arrest was the subject of a traffic incident, and more details with respect to that I'm sure will appear at the arraignment north of Oklahoma City, about 60 miles.

NINTH REPORTER: Do you know what made law enforcement officials connect him to the explosion after the traffic stop?

LOUIS FREEH: I'd rather not comment on that at this point.

TENTH REPORTER: Director Freeh, knowing what you know now about how this happened, are you going to change procedures in any way? Are you going to do anything differently in the future to try to prevent a repeat of this incident?

LOUIS FREEH: I will not comment on that now. I think what we will do in cases like this is exactly what we did today. We will vigorously pursue the evidence wherever it takes us. The investigation is still early. Many of our findings are preliminary. We have a long way to go to complete the final resolutions.

ELEVENTH REPORTER: The arrest was Wednesday?

LOUIS FREEH: Yes, sir.

TWELFTH REPORTER: Was he in jail at the time you issued the description of him?

LOUIS FREEH: Yes, sir.

THIRTEENTH REPORTER: What can you tell us about the raid in Michigan that's going on, and what other raids are going on?

LOUIS FREEH: I can't comment on the nature or location of any ongoing -- can't discuss that at this point.

FOURTEENTH REPORTER: Most people are wondering why Oklahoma City. Can you shed any light on that at all?

LOUIS FREEH: Again, with respect to motivation, there's a lot that has to be done yet in this investigation. It's too preliminary to comment on that.

FIFTEENTH REPORTER: Can you say who first noticed that this prisoner in jail was in your suspect sketch?

LOUIS FREEH: I can't give those details right now.

SIXTEENTH REPORTER: There have been other reports at the ease with which this bomb was made, and farmers have done this for generations, and there's even a description on the Internet on how to make these bombs. How can the government protect the public when you're talking about such an operation?

LOUIS FREEH: It's a large question and a large issue. Our job is -- together with all the enforcement agents, treasury, state, and local -- to prevent these types of godless acts. We do that vigorously daily to the best of our ability, but it is not a perfect situation.

SEVENTEENTH REPORTER: Mr. Freeh, can you tell us whether or not the identification of this suspect was a consequence of this department's publication of the composite drawing?

LOUIS FREEH: I can't really comment on that at this time, but, as I said, at the arraignment, many more facts will be coming out.

EIGHTEENTH REPORTER: The Palestinian-American gentleman, can you confirm that he's off the hook as a suspect as far as you're concerned?

LOUIS FREEH: The person brought back from England has never been a suspect. In fact, he's been voluntarily cooperating in assisting the government since his return.

NINETEENTH REPORTER: Ms. Reno, one of the white supremacists has said that their members have been questioned, and they contend that you, yourself, are on a witch hunt for the white supremacists. Do you have any reaction to their claim?

JANET RENO: I only operate based on the evidence and the law, and I only try to apply the law as diversely as possible to people who commit violations of the law that deserve to be punished.

MS. FARNSWORTH: A short time after that briefing, President Clinton spoke to reporters at the White House.

PRESIDENT CLINTON: First let me say how very proud I am of the swift and decisive and determined work of law enforcement officials on this case throughout the country. I know every American is proud of them too. Their continued vigilance makes me sure that we will solve this crime in its entirety and that justice will prevail. As I said on Wednesday, justice for these killers will be certain, swift, and severe. We will find them, we will convict them, and we will seek the death penalty for them. Finally, I know I speak for all Americans when once again I extend our deepest thanks to the brave men and women who are still involved in the rescue teams. Let us not forget them. There is a lot of work for them still to do. It is difficult, and it is often heartbreaking now. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the people in Oklahoma City. And let me say again, you will overcome this moment of grief and horror, you will rebuild, and we will be there to work with you until the work is done.

BRIT HUME, ABC News: Is there a sense now, sir, that this was not a foreign threat, that this was something from within our own borders?

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Let me say that I have never and the Justice Department has never said that it was a foreign threat. But the most important thing that you understand is that even though this is a positive development, this investigation has a lot of work still to be done in it. And, therefore, it would be -- it would be wrong to draw any conclusions. There have been lots of twists and turns in this investigation, but I would say to the American people, we shall not assume -- as I said yesterday -- that we should not assume that any people from beyond our borders are involved in it. We should not assume anything, except, except what we know.

TERENCE HUNT, Associated Press: Mr. President, has this taught the United States, the government, to take a new look, a tougher look at the white supremacist groups, the hate groups, the militias? Is this going to trigger any kind of crackdown?

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Let me say that we need to finish this investigation now. We need to focus on this investigation. We need to finish this investigation. We need to finish the rescue. We then need to obviously examine anew, as we will over the next few days, the sufficiency of our efforts in the whole area of terrorism. Maybe it would be helpful -- let me just take a few moments to talk about what we have been doing for the last couple of years before the Oklahoma City incident. We have increased the counterterrorism budgets and resources of the FBI and the CIA. We arrested a major terrorist ring in New York before they could consummate their plans to blow up the UN and tunnels in New York City. We've retrieved terrorists who've fled abroad, as I said on yesterday, from Pakistan, the Philippines, from Egypt, and elsewhere. We broke up a major terrorist ring before they could consummate their plans to blow up airplanes flying over the Pacific. We brought together all the various agencies of the federal government that would be involved in rescue and in response to a terrorist action and did a comprehensive practice earlier, and some of that work, I think, was seen in the very efficient way that they carried out their work at Oklahoma City. Now, finally, let me say there's been a lot of activity that the public does not see, most of which I should not comment on, but let me give you one example. There was one recent incident of which I was -- with which I was intimately familiar which involved a quick and secret deployment of a major United States effort, of FBI and FEMA and public health service and army personnel because we had a tip of a possible terrorist incident which, thank goodness, did not materialize. But we went to the place, and we were ready. We were ready to try to prevent it, and if it occurred, we were ready to respond. So we have been on top of this from the beginning. Finally, let me say I issued the executive order which gives us the ability to try to control funding more strictly, and I have sent counterterrorism legislation to the Hill, which I hope will be acted upon quickly when they return.

RITA BRAVER, CBS News: The way this is coming down, does the way this is coming down give Americans any reason to feel a little bit more secure that this particular group is not going to carry out something else, or do you just not know yet?

PRESIDENT CLINTON: I think Americans can be secure that our country has able law enforcement officials, that we work together well, that we have prevented terrorist activities from occurring, that, obviously, every civilized society is at risk of this sort of thing. I cannot -- I must not comment on any of the specific people involved in this investigation at this time.

GENE GIBBONS, Reuters: Mr. President, there's been a loud drumbeat in this country in which you hear the government is the enemy, the government is bad. Given the way this case seems to be pointing, do you think that in any way contributed to what happened in Oklahoma City on Wednesday?

PRESIDENT CLINTON: I think it's important that we do not speculate about the motives, the atmosphere, or anything else, until this investigation is complete. It could only -- anything I say could only undermine the successful conclusion of this.

BRIAN WILLIAMS, NBC News: Mr. President, you've been cautious about warning us and all Americans not to draw any conclusions over the past several days. Can you rule out a foreign tie to a domestic group, and can you in any way blame this incident on any kind of climate presently in this country?

PRESIDENT CLINTON: I cannot rule in or rule out anything. It would be inappropriate. The investigation has not been completed, and, again, that's a variation of the question that was just asked. I cannot and I should not characterize this in terms of the climate or anything else at this time. Let us do this investigation. Let the people get the work done. Let us follow every lead, pursue every alley, let's wrap this up, so we can see it whole, and then there will be time for this kind of analysis. I understand why you want to do it. It's perfectly understandable and appropriate, but it's not ripe yet. We have to solve the heinous crime first. Thank you.

MR. MAC NEIL: Officials at the scene in Oklahoma City said today they have confirmed at least 65 deaths. They said the death toll will go much higher as the search continues. President Clinton said he and the First Lady would attend a prayer service on Sunday in Oklahoma City for the victims. Meanwhile, the painful task of sifting through the twisted wreckage of the federal building continued. Officials believe there are about 150 people still unaccounted for. Betty Ann Bowser reports on the community's attempts to cope with the dreadful possibility that all of them are dead. FOCUS - SEARCH FOR SURVIVORS

BETTY ANN BOWSER: After many hours of waiting, it was the worst possible news for Erin Almond: her infant daughter, Bailey, was dead.

ERIN ALMOND: [hugging police officer and crying] Thank you so much for getting here out of there.

MS. BOWSER: But even in her grief, Mrs. Almond thanked one of the two men who tried to save her little girl's life shortly after the explosion Wednesday morning.

ERIN ALMOND: [crying] Thank you so much. At least she's out of there.

MS. BOWSER: This still picture of Bailey being carried from the wreckage has been published all over the world, becoming almost a symbol of the tragedy. Firefighter Chris Fields was the man who thought he was saving Bailey's life when the photograph was taken.

ERIN ALMOND: [crying and hugging Chris Fields] Thank you for getting her out of there as fast as you could.

CHRIS FIELDS: There was nothing we could do.

ERIN ALMOND: I'm going to miss her.

MS. BOWSER: But for countless others, there is still no word, so the agony continues.

KATHLEEN TREANOR: [crying] I just want everyone to know what my little girl looks like, and what my mom and my dad look like. I want -- if anybody sees them or knows of them, the first possible chance, please call me. This is my mom. [holding up photo] Her name is Larue.

REPORTER: Can you spell that for me?

KATHLEEN TREANOR: L-a-r-u-e Treanor. She's 56. She has very, very long silver, silver gray hair. I don't know if she was wearing her glasses that day. She's a beautiful woman. [crying] My dad was with her. His name is Luther Treanor. I'm sure if there was anything he could have done, he would have done it. He was a pillar of strength always. And my baby girl, she's younger here, she's three and a half. Her hair is just a little bit longer than that, but for the most part that's her.

REPORTER: What is her name?

KATHLEEN TREANOR: Ashley.

MS. BOWSER: Katherine Treanor's mother-in-law, father-in-law, and four-year-old daughter were in the Social Security office at the federal building when the bomb went off.

KATHLEEN TREANOR: I work for Producers Co-op. It's down here, about a half mile from the blast.

REPORTER: What were you doing at the time?

KATHLEEN TREANOR: I was working. I was -- I was doing some light accounting work for them. The phones were ringing off the walls. As soon as the blast hit, I mean, the phones went bananas. And we turned on the TV to see what we could see, you know. I didn't know about 10 o'clock that they were down there.

MS. BOWSER: This morning, there were reports that many more bodies had been found in the area of the Social Security office, but still Treanor doesn't know anything official. There is resignation in the air. People are beginning to grapple with the magnitude of what has happened. Last night, friends and relatives of those who are still missing gathered at the First Christian Church to console each other in song and prayer. Many are still hoping for a miracle that so far has eluded them. Lack of a miracle has done nothing to deter the enthusiasm of the recovery effort. Rescuers are equipped with sophisticated listening devices and dogs trained to sniff for bodies. But it frequently comes down to this: workers combing through the rubble by hand. Their efforts are also slowed by the monumental volume of wreckage: nine floors of concrete stacked on top of each other like pancakes. Each one has to be painstakingly cut into pieces, then winched out of the way with a crane and cable before workers can move down to the next level to look for more people. For nearly three days now, waitress Patti Kite has tried to go about her job as if things were normal, but two of her close friends are dead in the explosion, and then early this morning, she learned of a third, a young, expectant mother.

PATTI KITE: This is so hard. It's hard on everybody. But we're - - everybody's holding together. I am proud of everybody. We are.

MS. BOWSER: You're proud of the way the community has pulled together?

PATTI KITE: Yeah. And I think everybody's still in outer space or shock. We cry, and then we get mad.

MS. BOWSER: Does getting mad make you feel better?

PATTI KITE: I don't know. It takes away the tears for a little while and maybe readjusts you, and then you hope you can sleep for a little bit and wake up and it's a bad movie. It's not. I did this again last night. I was hoping -- I woke up this morning, and I woke up about 3:30, and it's all still real, it's still all over the TV. It's still all over the place. I mean, it happened.

MS. BOWSER: How do you go about putting some normalcy back in your life after this?

PATTI KITE: I don't know. I don't know. FOCUS - A CITY'S PAIN

MR. MAC NEIL: We turn now to the man who is heading up the federal government's rescue effort in Oklahoma. James Lee Witt is the director of FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. I spoke with him this afternoon. Mr. Witt, thank you for joining us.

JAMES LEE WITT, Director, FEMA: You're welcome.

MR. MAC NEIL: What is the state of the search of the rubble right now?

MR. WITT: Well, search and rescue teams are working on the outside of the rubble in one area and also from inside underneath the rubble, where they shored up those areas that have been so fragile. The building is safe -- a lot of it where they're working is not too safe, and they've got to take all the precautions they can to protect those workers in there, but they're doing it very slowly, but a lot of it -- I mean, just hand to hand moving it out, so they can get into those areas where they feel like there is some -- victims.

MR. MAC NEIL: How much of the building has been combed so far, and how much remains to be searched?

MR. WITT: Percentages of it, they've gone through most of the floors up above, the collapsed area, and they're concentrating in the basement and the area that has been pancaked together from the ninth floor on down.

MR. MAC NEIL: I gather that area still to be searched is the day care center, is that right?

MR. WITT: Most of that area they are getting in slowly but they're getting into them, and, and searching those now.

MR. MAC NEIL: I saw a member of the California Urban Search and Rescue team saying their sensors detected absolutely no signs of life in the building. Can you confirm that?

MR. WITT: Well, last night when I was over there, and this morning when I was at the site and talked to the search and rescue team, they didn't give any indication that they picked up anything.

MR. MAC NEIL: Does this mean you have officially given up hope of finding anyone alive?

MR. WITT: We won't give up hope until we have completed the whole search and rescue mission.

MR. MAC NEIL: What is the number you are working on of people still unaccounted for?

MR. WITT: We've heard different figures, anywhere from a hundred forty to a hundred sixty unaccounted for. How realistic that figure is, you know, we're not real sure, but that's the figures they're giving us right now, so the death toll is still what it was at the 11 o'clock briefing.

MR. MAC NEIL: Right. How dangerous is the stability of the building where they're working now?

MR. WITT: It's very dangerous, and the wind is a factor in itself that's coming out of the northeast, northwest, and blowing into the face of the building, and sometimes that causes a problem with some debris falling from above the search and rescue teams, and they have to be very careful.

MR. MAC NEIL: You mean the debris is so precariously delicately balanced that even the wind can shift it?

MR. WITT: Yes, it can, and it has. And so they're -- you know - - taking every precaution. They're still trying to do all of the search and rescue missions as fast as we possibly can.

MR. MAC NEIL: I heard a weather report saying the winds were going to increase tonight. Are you aware of that, and are you worried about that?

MR. WITT: Yes, we are, and also they're calling for a 20/30 percent chance of rain possibly, so we don't need either.

MR. MAC NEIL: Describe what you are going to do now in the next stage of this search.

MR. WITT: What we're continuing to do is we have almost 350 search and rescue team members in here -- six teams -- and they're rotating the team members out about every two hours, give 'em breaks, and, and so they can at least rest, and we will continue to do that 24 hours a day until we complete the mission. I can't say enough about the search and rescue teams that were brought in and also the chief of the local fire department here in Oklahoma City and his team. They've just been fantastic and all the local law enforcement, FBI -- all that's worked as a partner in this - - and made this effort possible. It's amazing what they've accomplished.

MR. MAC NEIL: I see reporters that rescuers have noted the positions of many dead bodies but just have not stopped to remove those now, and they're going still looking for people who might be alive. Is that the case, and when is it planned to remove those bodies?

MR. WITT: They've removed I think most of the ones that they could remove, and they are in the process, you know, of identifying victims in other areas and trying to remove rubble and try to remove those as well.

MR. MAC NEIL: So you have to remove the rubble as delicately to remove the bodies almost as you would if you were pulling people out alive, is that the case?

MR. WITT: That's the case, and there's a lot of very large pieces of debris, and some of that they're having to move out by crane and other areas they're moving a lot of it out strictly just from hand to hand, in small buckets.

MR. MAC NEIL: Is it -- is it putting the workers at risk to remove these bodies?

MR. WITT: Well, they have to be very careful, and we're watching it very closely. The search and rescue teams and the structural engineers are in there with 'em. They bring those engineers in with them, and so they stay on top of that and try to make it as safe as possible for all the workers.

MR. MAC NEIL: Have you been over there, yourself?

MR. WITT: Yes. I just come from there, and fixing to go back.

MR. MAC NEIL: Tell me what it feels like there, as close inside the wreckage as you've been able to get.

MR. WITT: Well, I've beenin part of the buildings where the search and rescue teams are set up this morning, early this morning, and it's -- it's very solemn. You know, it's something like this, you know, it affects people, and the workers, the rescue workers, and all the workers in there, you know, they want to continue to work as fast as they can, and they really don't want to leave, they want to get their job done very quickly, and they have to get out a little bit and take a break, so it's a very solemn situation. And, you know, people just can't comprehend someone this callous and evil as doing something like this to people, and it's really -- it's sad.

MR. MAC NEIL: What is your best estimate now of how long that phase of things is going to take?

MR. WITT: It all depends on weather. It depends on the condition. We're still probably looking at another four, five, six days projection, but maybe -- we hope sooner.

MR. MAC NEIL: And what else remains to be done from your perspective? I know you're in charge of the federal effort. What else remains to be done in Oklahoma City, besides removing bodies and any possible survivors from the rubble?

MR. WITT: Well, of course, it's still a crime scene, and it has to be dealt as a crime scene, and also it has the search and rescue function as well. As soon as the FBI and everyone releases it as a crime scene, then the state office of emergency management here and FEMA and the Oklahoma City officials, we will be doing preliminary damage assessment just to get an idea of the extent of the damage and the cost of it, and then we'll be working on that as soon as they release it as a crime scene.

MR. MAC NEIL: What else remains for you to do, Mr. Witt?

MR. WITT: I will be here on the scene. Of course, the President is coming out Sunday to the prayer service. The governor invited him out and the First Lady, and he accepted and is coming out and I will be here through Sunday, I know, possibly, however long it takes, and however long we have to get -- to continue to recover and also the damage estimate.

MR. MAC NEIL: How would you describe the mood of Oklahoma City?

MR. WITT: Well, I think they've been in shock. I think that shock is starting to wear off, and the reality is setting in, and I think a lot of people here in Oklahoma City are very angry, and you can understand why. It's totally different any disaster we have responded to because most of the disasters we respond to are natural disasters from hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, or fires, and when you have a disaster like this that's been caused by some individual, it's totally different, and it's, it's hard for people to deal with this, and our hearts and prayers go out to them, and our condolences.

MR. MAC NEIL: How is it affecting you personally?

MR. WITT: It's been tough. This morning was real tough. But it's tough on everybody here. But we have a job to do, and we're going to make sure that we get it done.

MR. MAC NEIL: Well, Mr. Witt, thank you very much for joining us.

MR. WITT: Thank you, and thank you all for what you've been doing.

MS. FARNSWORTH: Still ahead, Earth Day and Friday night politics. FOCUS - THE GOOD EARTH

MS. FARNSWORTH: Next, the 25th anniversary of Earth Day, set aside to focus attention on protecting the world's natural resources. President Clinton used the occasion to criticize Republican attempts to ease environmental regulations, saying it would be "crazy" to undo the gains of the last 25 years. The organizer of the first Earth Day celebration lived in Seattle, where residents take a strong interest in the surrounding mountains, forests, and waterways. A new congressman from the area has aroused the ire of ecology-minded constituents. Gregg Hirakawa of public station KCTS reports.

GREGG HIRAKAWA: Returning home after his first 100 days in Congress, freshman Republican Rick White of Washington State found he had become a target of environmentalists for the way he voted on one part of the Contract With America.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN IN AUDIENCE: We did vote for change, yes. We did not vote to see the rollback of the laws that protect our air, that protect our water, that protect the food we eat.

MR. HIRAKAWA: At a town meeting he attended, members of conservation groups showed up to take issue with White's vote for a regulatory reform bill. The measure would temporarily restrict the number of new federal regulations from being implemented. It would also override health considerations and existing environmental laws replacing rigid standards with a process that weighs public benefits against economic costs. One critic says lawmakers should look elsewhere for savings.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN IN AUDIENCE: Why not draft some legislation to repeal the $60 billion that taxpayers subsidize the mining industry, the timber industry, and the grazing livestock industry?

MR. HIRAKAWA: The attacks are part of an organized campaign, although the criticism came from both the left and the right.

OLDER MAN IN AUDIENCE: And I also believe as a conservative that we need to preserve the heritage of wilderness, forests, wildlife, and rivers for our grandchildren. [applause] I'm not very happy about what the Congress has done in that area so far.

REP. RICK WHITE, [R] Washington: Well, you know, I appreciate hearing what you have to say, and I really appreciate the opportunity to talk to you about this, because I agree with you 100 percent. Now, I know a lot of you people probably disagree with the vote I took on the regulatory reform bill. The reason I did so is because I firmly believe in my heart that it will allow us to do a better job of protecting the environment than we've done so far.

MR. HIRAKAWA: In addition, the Republican-controlled Congress may change the law requiring state of the art technology be used in controlling water pollution. It may also scale back protection for plants and animals on the verge of extinction. The proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act are being championed by Washington State Republican Sen. Slade Gorton. The Senator has already been successful passing a bill exempting huge parcels of Pacific Northwest forest land from law suits environmentalists usually file to block timber cutting. The bill would allow loggers to take out timber damaged by forest fires, regardless of the ecological harm those harvests may cause.

SEN. SLADE GORTON, [R] Washington: Because as you know now, every attempt at doing harvesting results in a suit from one of the environmental organizations, and if they can keep the harvest from taking place over this summer, all of that good timber is rotted by next year and isn't worth anything.

WOMAN ON THE STREET: Excuse me. We're here getting people to sign a petition.

MR. HIRAKAWA: Decisions made by the new Congress have prompted environmental groups to step up traditional grassroots efforts. At a special Earth Day event, nine and ten year olds worked the phone lines, hoping to get families involved in environmental activities. The theme: keep the land clean for the people who will inherit it.

CHILD ON PHONE: If Eleanor can get a parent to go, it would be great if she couldgo.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: We Americans have always said nothing is more important than our children's health. But now that their friends are running Congress the corporate polluters say bigger profits come first.

MR. HIRAKAWA: Environmental organizations have also pulled together at least $1 1/2 million for television advertising. The ads target Senators whose votes are needed to block previous House- passed measures. Environmentalists are also taking a page out of the Republican play book, hoping to get their message across on talk radio. They have a sympathetic voice in Seattle talk show host Bill Gallant.

BILL GALLANT, KIRO-AM: We now have legislation that guts the Clean Water Act, because we no longer think all the nation's waters should be fishable and swimmable.

STEVE WHITNEY, The Wilderness Society: Suspending the nation's environmental laws is just not acceptable.

MR. HIRAKAWA: Steve Whitney, regional director for The Wilderness Society, says environmental groups have spent too much time recently lobbying members of Congress and not enough time lobbying the public.

STEVE WHITNEY: In the last decade or so, what we had to do was work on Capitol Hill with the administration and out here in the regions to try to use the laws and the regulatory processes in a way that benefited the Earth. Now, times have changed, so our challenge now is to not play that inside game. It's to take our message, simplify our message, and take it out to the people.

SPOKESPERSON: Isn't this a pretty good place to live? Well, the answer is that many of these things are about ready to be undone.

MR. HIRAKAWA: Their message that Congress wants to roll back regulations protecting the environment and the public's health is being delivered in particular to suburban districts like those represented by Congressman White.

SPOKESMAN: Next question: Who voted to block efforts to clean up Puget Sound?

WOMAN: I don't know.

SPOKESMAN: Answer: Rick White and Randy Tate.

MR. HIRAKAWA: Julia Reitan's with the Sierra Club, the organization that purchased the ads.

JULIA REITAN, Sierra Club: What we're trying to do is get a message out to people who don't necessarily claim to be environmentalists, wouldn't give themselves that title, but, in fact, care a lot about the environment. And we not that a lot of those folks are living in the streets, in the cul-de-sacs of suburban America.

REP. RICK WHITE: I suspect you and I would find we have a lot more in common than we disagree on, but --

MR. HIRAKAWA: White says he supports protecting the environment and believes the attacks are unwarranted.

REP. RICK WHITE: I do think they've missed the point, and I've tried to address that to some of the people I've talked to individually. I think we may disagree on the best way to accomplish our environmental objectives, but I don't think we disagree on the objectives. I'm 100 percent committed to protecting the environment. I just want to make sure we do it in the most cost effective and efficient way.

MR. HIRAKAWA: But Denis Hayes, organizer of the first Earth Day 25 years ago, says White is the one missing the point.

DENIS HAYES, Environmentalist: In the last election, a lot of people voted because they were worried about crime, they were worried about the economy, they were worried about the deficit, and because they just wanted to get rid of incumbents because America just didn't seem to be doing well, so throw the rascals out. But very few people anywhere in the country voted in the last election to trash the planet.

MR. HIRAKAWA: White insists voters do want federal programs to be more efficient.

REP. RICK WHITE: I think we have a direct mandate to reform every single thing that the government does, and one of the things the government does is environmental protection. It's done some of it well and some of it not so well, and so I do think we have a mandate to look at environmental protection as part of all the other things that government does to make sure we're getting the most effective use from our resources.

MR. HIRAKAWA: Conservation groups are banking there is still public support for laws protecting the air and water from pollution. Whether that assessment is accurate will be known in the coming months. FOCUS - POLITICAL WRAP

MS. FARNSWORTH: Finally, it's Friday, and that means it's time for political analysis. Mark Shields is on vacation but Wall Street Journal columnist Paul Gigot is here. Tonight, he's joined by Washington Post columnist Juan Williams. What about political fallout from the Oklahoma bombing, Paul, do you -- is it too early to assess the President's leadership?

PAUL GIGOT, Wall Street Journal: Well, I think it's too early to assess if there's any long run political fallout here, but I think in the short-term, it helps the President. I mean, there are really two areas of policy, if you will, where there's no controversy about the government's role: the national security and preserving domestic tranquility. And when the President of the United States can stand up and kind of speak for the nation, represent its sense of outrage, and then lend a direction that says we're going to get these people, and we're going to do it with dispatch, and severity, I think that shows a command and it helps him.

MS. FARNSWORTH: Any other political fallout you're seeing, Juan?

JUAN WILLIAMS, Washington Post: Well, I think you have to quickly judge what impact this will have when the Senate comes back next week as they start talking about anti-terrorism bills. I think everyone in the House and in the Senate is going to be quick to jump on this issue and say that we have to ensure the kind of domestic tranquility that Paul was just referring to. I think if there was any negative for the President in all this this week, I think it was his attempt to go on TV in this TV age and appear to really represent the kind of grief and a sense of purpose that the American people have in going after these people. I'm not sure that as a young man and someone who didn't have the kind of experience in his background that he had this gravatus, if you will, a sense of purpose, and even I think Ronald Reagan, even though he certainly didn't have any great experience in this area might have come off as more weighty.

MS. FARNSWORTH: Do you agree with that, Paul?

MR. GIGOT: Well, Reagan was the master at that, though. I mean, he was -- there was nobody better. Maybe FDR, but you might remember him, I don't, but -- [laughing] -- I think -- I think he had to do it. I mean, he is the President of the United States, and he had to I think to demonstrate that there was some sense of law enforcement direction here, and I think handing the ball off to the attorney general and the FBI director at some stage is good. I mean, if I were him, I wouldn't continue to force myself onto the stage, but, but a sense of direction and a sense of purpose and outrage I think is perfectly appropriate.

MR. WILLIAMS: And I think that ultimately if the government servants perform their duty, if the FBI and federal agencies get the job done, that's ultimately how it will be measured. When the President goes to Oklahoma this week and visits with the families again, that will be another opportunity for him to take center stage and to act in a certain way that conveys to the American people that he is capable of proper leadership during a time of crisis and that can only help him.

MS. FARNSWORTH: Paul, Senator -- Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination on the day of the bombing, so it didn't get a lot of attention, but what do you think it adds, or what does it mean for the nomination battle right now?

MR. GIGOT: Well, Sen. Lugar is the -- probably the best of all of the candidates which a lot of us in the press say don't have a chance for the nomination, probably unfairly, prematurely, in the sense --

MS. FARNSWORTH: Why?

MR. GIGOT: -- that he has a lot of experience. I mean, he has a lot of talent. He has stature. He's a foreign policy expert which in a different era, maybe a decade ago, would have been a considerable advantage. He looks presidential. You know with Dick Lugar, there are going to be no skeletons in his closet, honorable man in the past. The problem is that this is an era for Republican primary voters of domestic reform. He's trying to get on that bandwagon by proposing to abolish the income tax and cutting farm subsidies in Iowa. He's going to have a hard time, I think, raising money with Bob Dole already there. In many respects, he does resemble Bob Dole, sort of a decade younger Bob Dole. His chance comes -- will come up if -- if Bob Dole falters. I think that he's one of those who can break through and make a difference.

MS. FARNSWORTH: Do you think that's why he decided to run? I mean, he must know that he has the witnesses that Paul pointed out. Why do you think he decided to run?

MR. WILLIAMS: Well, I think he has also some strength that Paul didn't mention. Obviously, he's one with foreign policy expertise. That really makes him unique in this field. I think he's someone that has a strong sense of purpose. I think most people in this town regard him on the same level even as let's say Sen. Dole in terms of stature, someone who knows how Washington works. That's a negative in the sense that he's an insider in an age when lots of people would see that as a negative and want someone who is fresh and a little younger and more spirited. He's clearly out of touch with the Newt Gingrich House revolution. So really on that terms he's in more sync with Bob Dole and in that sense kind of competing with Dole, and the question is: whether or not Dole is there at the end. Dole has wide support right now, but that's who's competing with. He's not so much competing with Phil Gramm. Phil Gramm's having his own problems right now, and I think most people see Gramm as a No. 2 person in this race if there was a horse race right now. And Gramm seems to be faltering, so, therefore, who is going to be the No. 2? I think Lugar seems himself having an opportunity there. Gramm, as we, for instance, when the bombing occurred, went way off the map. So we're talking about the need to execute people and if this was done by a foreign power, we're going to have to retaliate in some vicious way. And Lugar, by comparison, was really -- came off as statesmanlike, which is -- offers people a different view of a Republican in this age.

MS. FARNSWORTH: Do you think Sen. Gramm is faltering with the Republican -- with the social conservatives of the Republican right?

MR. WILLIAMS: Absolutely. I think the same people who had trouble with the Contract With America because they didn't attend to more family values type issues, prayer and school and the like, and even abortion, are the same people who I think are upset with Phil Gramm because he has said that he is not going to make those kind of things the bellwether of his campaign.

MS. FARNSWORTH: And what about the Foster nomination? Sen. Dole has said that he wanted to bring it to the floor of the Senate for a discussion. What do you think of that?

MR. GIGOT: A game of me and my shadow with Phil Gramm a little bit. I mean, I think that one of the broad themes so far that we've seen emerging in the Republican race for President is the social conservatives are up for grabs. Bill Bennett, natural standard bearer for them, didn't run. Dan Quayle didn't run. Jack Kemp didn't run. Phil Gramm, who you might have thought would coalesce them, somehow hasn't, seems to be more comfortable with the economic issue. I think they're up for grabs, and Bob Dole you see in the Foster nomination saying, look, Phil Gramm, who had already said I'm going to filibuster this, he's not going to get a step up on me, and I'll do him one better, and I'll even bring it up to the floor. So I think they both view the Foster nomination as a way to make a statement to the religious right, to social conservatives broadly, about the values agenda that's so important within Republican primaries. And I think that's going to make it very, very tough for Mr. Foster.

MR. WILLIAMS: I think it's really a tragedy, to tell you the truth. I think it's a case of them making Foster into something that he's not. I think he's being clearly beaten around the head here. I think he clearly is having a rough time even before he got caught, as President Clinton said, in the midst of presidential politics. I think the President is very right. In fact, I think it's a good example of the President standing up for something for all those who claim he's such a big waffler here. On the Foster nomination, he's going to go to the mat on this one, that it's not fair, that this man didn't do anything illegal, he's not someone who should be running and hiding behind anyone's skirt. In fact, he was a doctor who was a caring man, he was doing something that was totally legal in this country, performing legal abortions, and trying to help young people, and the idea that Sen. Dole would suddenly make him into this stick figure and describe him in terms of, you know, someone who's way off the mat, that he's not even going to bring it to the floor, not even allow a vote, seems to me to be really vindictive and ridiculous.

MS. FARNSWORTH: Do you want to comment on that, Paul?

MR. GIGOT: Well, there's presidential politics going on on both sides of this. I've already talked about the Republicans, and Juan made that point, but look, on the President's side, the President - - one of the President's problems is that he's not trusted by a lot of the base groups in his own party. He's -- he's accused widely of not standing for anything, and this is a nomination which under better circumstances probably shouldn't have been brought at all, because it was going to be controversial, it was not going to be easy. I mean, this is not -- the secretary of the treasury or state -- this is the surgeon general, which is not that potent a position, except for the bully pulpit. It's a largely symbolic position. And the President now wants to play symbolic abortion politics with it, and he's going to try to say, look, if the Republicans want to stop him, I'm going to raise the ante as much as I can and make, try to make this into an abortion rights case, rather than issue, rather than an issue of did Dr. Foster tell the truth about his medical past and how credible is he?

MR. WILLIAMS: But, Paul, wait a second. You're saying the President's making this an abortion issue? It seems to me that the Republicans are the ones who have made it that issue, and it seems to me that Dr. Foster actually is a good nominee to be surgeon general of the United States, someone who can speak out with some sense of credibility about a tremendous health problem in this country, which is teenage pregnancy.

MS. FARNSWORTH: Okay. Let me interrupt because I want to get onto another topic. On the Democratic side, another Democratic Senator, Arkansas's David Pryor, announced that he won't run again. I think's he's fifth, right? There are four other people - - Senators -- Democratic Senators who've said they won't run again. Sen. Sam Nunn said recently he understands the problems of the endangered species. What do you make of this decision, Juan?

MR. WILLIAMS: Well, in the case of Pryor, I think he'd have conservative Democrats, especially southern conservative Democrats really feeling under assault and that there's a sense that there really is no place for them right now. They don't feel that comfortable among their fellow Democrats. They see that Republicans are really running the show down South now. In fact, people like Nathan Deal last week are going from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party. The sense of kind of common sense, civil discussion that I think David Pryor's well known for is absent. The other consequence of Pryor's decision is it's going to make it hard for the Democrats to have any hopes of reclaiming control of the Senate, and it hurts President Clinton. Pryor is from Arkansas. He was one of the President's close consultants, if you will, someone he trusted deeply, and it also might mean that Mack McLarty leaves the White House to go run for the Senate.

MS. FARNSWORTH: What do you think, Paul?

MR. GIGOT: It -- will the last Democrat in the South please turn off the lights? There really -- they're a vanishing species, as Sam Nunn said. I think the key point in terms of broader politics, though, is the one Juan made about the fact that this is going to make it a lot more difficult for the Democrats to get control of the Senate in 1996, even if, if the President should win reelection, because all of the seats where the Democrats have set down are very competitive. Republicans have only had one -- Senator Hank Brown in Colorado -- in a competitive state -- say he's going to step down. Right now it looks as if it is more likely that the Republicans could get closer to 60 in filibuster proof strength in the Senate than that the Democrats will come back and get 51.

MS. FARNSWORTH: We have to step down too. That's all the time we have. Thank you. ESSAY - MARRIAGE IS CHIC

MR. MAC NEIL: Now, essayist Anne Taylor Fleming considers the institution of marriage.

ANNE TAYLOR FLEMING: What a surprise! Here I am at my very own 23rd wedding anniversary party. I have now been married more than half my life, having walked down the aisle at the age of 22, a baby-faced bride in a tight-fitting white gown, marrying an already-distinguished journalist and father of four. The even bigger surprise is that we're now chic, we old marrieds. We're in the middle of some media hype celebration of the institution of marriage. And this celebration is not just the work of the religious right or all those concerned at the wages of unwed motherhood and all the societal ills that seem to come along with that. No, even the mainstream press seems to be touting marriage as something worth doing, worth fighting for. The swinging singles are now seen as the lonely crowd, and we who have remained coupled are now the enviable hipsters, the role models for a country that's in a values tailspin. Although the Census Bureau still predicts that one out of four first marriages will end in divorce, more and more people are actively trying to stay married, and all manner of gurus have sprung up to help them. According to a recent Time Magazine story, some 4.6 million couples now air their marital woes before some 50,000 licensed therapists every year, up from 1.2 million in 1980. The book racks are full of marriage manuals of one kind or another. [SOME OF BOOKS SHOWN ON SCREEN: Passage to Intimacy by Lon H. Gordon, Ph.D.; Getting the Love You Want; Men Are from Mars; Why Marriages Succeed or Fail; More Time for Sex]

ANNE TAYLOR FLEMING: And now we have marital enhancing, making love work videos.

ANNOUNCER: Growing in love.

ANNE TAYLOR FLEMING: On TV, Frank Gifford and Kathie Lee cleanly endorse one set of tapes, while John Tesh and Connie Sellecca mushily tout another. It's a non-stop, sugary sweet, hand holding, value your mate marathon, with, of course, a hard-sell capitalistic edge. And for all that I find it corny, even exploitive, I also find it tender, even hopeful. After all, I am one of the seriously married, and looking around my anniversary table, I realized that most of my close friends are too. We don't drink too much or stay up too late or flirt with each other's spouses, maybe an appreciative nod or too. Some of us have children together, some don't, but all of us have family values, meaning we value our family. Part of the marriage/family celebration is clearly about the aging of the baby boomers. We noisy bulge of the population, we think every time we do something, like staying married, we've discovered it and must share it with the world. Some is about AIDS, which has caused a re-emphasis on monogamy and commitment, and some is about the fragmentation of our cities and communities and civic life, leaving us all to hunker in with our significant others, clinging to our small family units as to a life raft. There's a positive emphasis too behind all this pro-marriage propaganda, and that has to do with the evolving equality between women and men. What becomes apparent, and studies show this, is that marriages between equals tend to be more satisfying and often more likely to endure than the old "Father Knows Best" variety. What I see in my contemporaries is a mutual respect and a marital closeness that many of us parents locked in the old sex roles could not know. These men are close to their kids and would find it wrenchingly hard, therefore, to walk away from the family. They are also close to their wives and would find it equally unpalatable to hurt them somehow. Conversely, the women, themselves, have much larger lives and do not burden the marriage with all their hopes and dreams. All this I thought about as I looked down the table at my husband on the night of our anniversary. I remembered something W.H. Auden said about marriage, about the fact that it's more satisfying and interesting than any transitory affair. It's the difference between being in a novel as opposed to a short story. And I, for one, have always been drawn to the exhilarating complications of love that come with the long form. I'm Anne Taylor Fleming. NEWS SUMMARY

MR. MAC NEIL: In other news today, at least four people were killed in a chemical plant explosion in Lodi, New Jersey. The blast ignited a fire which spread to nearby buildings. Four hundred people were evacuated from the area. Officials said the explosion was triggered when workers mixed the wrong chemicals. Secretary of State Christopher urged North Korea to reopen nuclear talks with the U.S. today. The negotiations deadlocked in Berlin yesterday when the North refused to accept new lightwater reactors from South Korea in place of its frozen nuclear program. Arkansas Sen. David Pryor announced that he will not seek a fourth term. The 60-year- old former governor is the fifth Democratic Senator to announce his intention not to seek reelection. Pryor said it was time for him to step aside but he still intends to help the party. RECAP

MS. FARNSWORTH: Again, today's major developments in the Oklahoma bombing story: the two suspects whose sketches were circulated yesterday are under arrest. Timothy McVeigh has been in custody since Wednesday, when he was apprehended on a traffic violation near Oklahoma City. Terry Lynn Nichols turned himself in to authorities in Kansas today. Federal agents are searching locations in Decker, Michigan, and elsewhere in the country for evidence related to the bombing, and the official death toll rose to 65. But authorities said it is expected to go much higher. Good night, Robin.

MR. MAC NEIL: Good night, Elizabeth. That's the NewsHour for tonight. We'll see you again on Monday night. I'm Robert MacNeil. Good night.