There was no direct connection between Ted Kaczynski (the Unabomber) and Timothy McVeigh (the perpetrator of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing). However, they did share some superficial similarities, which initially led the public and even the FBI to consider possible links.
Kaczynski and McVeigh never met and never communicated. Their motives, methods, and targets were very different: Unabomber (Kaczynski): acted alone, sent mail bombs to scientists, academics, and executives linked to technology and industry. His goal was to protest against technological progress. Tim McVeigh: a former soldier who carried out the Oklahoma City bombing (April 19, 1995) using a truck bomb to attack a federal government building. He was motivated by anti-government extremism and influenced by militia and far-right movements.
Both cases happened around the same time (the Unabomber manifesto was published in 1995, the same year as the Oklahoma bombing). Both involved explosives and anti-establishment rhetoric. Because of this, the media and public briefly speculated about a larger network of domestic terrorists, but that theory was soon disproven.
Kaczynski was an anarcho-primitivist, focused on philosophical and ecological arguments, he believed technology destroyed human freedom. McVeigh was a far-right political extremist, driven by anger toward the U.S. government and conspiracy theories (like those surrounding Waco and Ruby Ridge).
