OKLAHOMA CITY – Bill Clinton recalled the profound impact of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing on the nation and his presidency during a private tour of a memorial and museum honoring the 168 people killed.

AP – Former President Bill Clinton speaks at the Clinton Foundation Millennium Network event in Los Angeles

The former president announced Saturday he is joining an honorary national board of trustees that will promote the privately operated Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum. Clinton was president when the powerful truck bomb tore through the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995.

On his fifth visit to the site, the former president declared that the resilience of Oklahomans in the bombing aftermath shows people can draw strength from one another and prevail while confronting "the worst in humanity."

"My life has been indelibly marked by the people I met here," Clinton said Saturday in addressing about 200 museum supporters, bombing survivors and former rescue workers. "I came here, more than anything else, to say 'Thank You.'"

He added: "The memories I have here ... have changed my life, and I think, fundamentally changed the lives of the nation."

Others joining Clinton on the honorary board are former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge; the Rev. Billy Graham, who led a National Prayer Service days after the bombing; former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating and his wife Cathy; and Lee Woodruff, author and wife of TV news reporter Bob Woodruff, who was critically injured in Iraq.

Clinton also was honored with the Beacon of Hope Award for supporting the memorial. The award was carved from wood taken from a limb of the memorial's Survivor Tree and mounted on a base of granite that had been salvaged from the shattered Murrah Building.

The trustees are to work with the staff and board of the memorial to advance its mission of remembrance and education, said Bill Scheihing, chairman of the Oklahoma National Memorial Foundation.

Clinton's "presence on the national board will provide both historic perspective and the committed passion of someone who bore witness to both the tragedy and to the hope this place represents for future generations," Scheihing added.

He said the national board will help with fundraising efforts for the memorial, which is privately owned and operated. The memorial and museum are sustained through museum admissions and sales, a marathon, private fundraising and earnings from an endowment currently at about $14 million, Scheihing said.

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