<P> Psychiatrist John Smith concluded that McVeigh was "a decent person who had allowed rage to build up inside him to the point that he had lashed out in one terrible, violent act ." McVeigh's IQ was assessed at 126 . </P> <P> According to CNN, his only known associations were as a registered Republican while in Buffalo, New York in the 1980s, and a membership in the National Rifle Association while in the Army, and there is no evidence that he ever belonged to any extremist groups . </P> <P> McVeigh was raised Roman Catholic . During his childhood, he and his father attended Mass regularly . McVeigh was confirmed at the Good Shepherd Church in Pendleton, New York, in 1985 . In a 1996 interview, McVeigh professed belief in "a God", although he said he had "sort of lost touch with" Catholicism and "I never really picked it up, however I do maintain core beliefs ." In McVeigh's biography American Terrorist, released in 2002, he stated that he did not believe in a hell and that science is his religion . In June 2001, a day before the execution, McVeigh wrote a letter to the Buffalo News identifying himself as agnostic . However, he took the Last Rites, administered by a priest, just before his execution . Father Charles Smith ministered to McVeigh in his last moments in death row . </P> <P> McVeigh claimed that the bombing was revenge against the government for the sieges at Waco, Texas and Ruby Ridge . McVeigh visited Waco during the standoff . While there, he was interviewed by student reporter Michelle Rauch, a senior journalism major at Southern Methodist University who was writing for the school paper . McVeigh expressed his objections over what was happening there . </P>

The use of tobacco as a medical agent ended near the time of the u.s. civil war