The last act

Timothy McVeigh's execution was the first federal one since 1963.

(CNN) -- On June 11, the U.S. government executed Timothy McVeigh.

The grim finale to McVeigh's six years of infamy was the closest the country has come to a public execution since the 1930s, when thousands turned out for the carnival-like atmosphere that surrounded hangings. (More on McVeigh's life in prison.)

McVeigh was put to death by lethal injection, within the confines of the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana (Map of the execution facility). But the execution of the man condemned for the April 19, 1995, bombing of Oklahoma City's Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was watched by hundreds. About 30 people sat in the witness rooms of the prison's death chamber, divided into three groups: those invited by McVeigh, the media and victims (Details of the execution protocol).

The number of people devastated by the crime was so vast that the execution also was shown on closed-circuit television to try to accommodate those who wanted to watch him draw his last breath. About 300 survivors and relatives of the bombing victims gathered in Oklahoma City to watch the broadcast of McVeigh's death (More on bombing victims and survivors).

Reporters from around the world gathered in tents set up on the federal prison grounds in Terre Haute. Death penalty supporters and opponents gathered overnight near the prison.

Millions more followed moment-by-moment accounts of the first federal execution since 1963 on network television and the Internet. (Previous federal executions)

McVeigh was pronounced dead at 7:14 a.m. (8:14 a.m. EDT) when a tiny needle prick delivered a fatal dose of potassium chloride to the decorated American war veteran convicted of blasting a gaping hole in the national psyche (Profile of McVeigh).

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