Essay Sample about David Koresh

Many people have heard about the tragic incident that occurred in 1993, known as Waco. It earned its name because the stand-off occurred in Waco, Texas. While numerous articles and documentaries were written after, many people are not familiar with the man who caused all of the chaos. David Koresh was the most manipulative man of the 1990s because he had a difficult childhood, was an American cult leader, and caused the death’s of many. 

Since Koresh was born, his life has always been challenging. He was born on August 17th of 1959, and his mother, Bonnie Clark, was an unmarried 14 year old. His birth name was originally Vernon Wayne Howell, which he later altered. Almost a month after he was born, Koresh’s father, Bobby Wayne Howell, left him and got with another woman. His father never took care of him and essentially disappeared from his life. This was part of the reason he was moved from different family members’ homes constantly. “Allegedly, this step-father physically mistreated Koresh until he was 2 years old, at which time he was sent to live with his maternal grandparents” (Smith) Life as a child was miserable for Koresh. As well as having an unstable home, he was dyslexic and had to retake the second grade.

Growing up with many challenges and lacking a steady father figure, Koresh looked like your average teen for the majority of his youth. “Spending much of his early years with his grandparents, Koresh attended the Seventh-day Adventist Church” (Smith). As a senior at Garland High School, he dropped out to take a job in carpentry. Later in his early 20s, he went to Los Angeles and spent a short time attempting to become a rockstar. After returning home without success, he went ad rejoined the Seventh-day church. Soon after, Koresh was removed from the group after butting heads with all of the leaders.

“In the early 1980s, Koresh, then known as Vernon Howell, moved to Waco, Texas, and joined the Branch Davidians.” (David Koresh). In 1983, he had married a girl named Rachel Jones who was a teenager. Together they had three children. Right before Jones met Koresh had an affair with an old prophetess named Lois Roden. After Roden passed, Koresh and George, Roden’s son, fought over who would become the next person to take over the church. The argument between the two didn’t fall to Koresh’s favor, causing him to leave the compound. “In 1987, he and a handful of his devotees returned to Mount Carmel heavily armed and shot Roden, who survived the attack” (David Koresh). Koresh and his follower were put into a trial for attempted murder but were not charged. 1990 was the year that Vernon Howell was officially was known as David Koresh. He selected the name ‘Koresh’ because it was the name of the Persian king. Soon after, he became the official leader of the Branch Davidians. 

Koresh seemed kind and charming at first, but soon things turned for the worst. He would preach and pound into his followers’ heads telling them that he was the true messiah. He would use scripture to manipulate them everyday of their lives. “Koresh’s teachings included the practice of ‘spiritual weddings,’ which enabled him to bed God-chosen female followers of all ages. (David Koresh)” Then Koresh ended up fathering at least a dozen other children with women other than his wife. He would tell his followers that their would be a day soon that the compound would be under attack by the government, but if they keep faith and stay loyal to him, everything would work out as planned. While forcing them took stock pile weapons, Koresh administrated a Kool-aid test to his devotees. In this, he gave all of the members a glass of Kool-aid and told them that the drink contained poison. Koresh then advised them that if they truly trusted him, his beliefs, and the plan that they should drink the Kool-aid. Some did while others refused. Koresh then made a list of those who drank and who didn’t drink the poison. Afterwards, Koresh told his members that the drink did not truly contain poison, but that it was a loyalty test.

The Waco standoff was the longest standoff in the nation of its time, lasting 51 days. There were dozens of different radio stations, newscasters, and reporters live on scene. They were a few days into the seize and on both sides, they were trying to be civil. The FBI had decided to blaire music to get the Branch Davidians out of the building. They have found out throughout years that playing music can affect those they are against, but sources say that there’s always a risk because you will never know how they will react. “The FBI will not discuss its tactics, although it did say it rejected the idea of endlessly repeating Billy Ray Cyrus’s country-rock hit, “Achy Breaky heart’” (Pareles). They say that he didn’t want to play it because the Davidians might enjoy it too much. Instead, the FBI played Nancy Sinata singing “These Boots are Made for Walking”, Tibetan monks chanting, Christmas Carols, and telephones ringing. On February 28, 1993, the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms rated Mount Carmel. This led to an hour long gun fight. Six of Koresh’s followers and four BATF agents We’re all found dead. This sparked the stand-off. April 19th was the day the FBI had had enough. They fired a tank at the establishment causing the compound to erupt into flames. “78 people would perish that day. Not a single one of them had to.”- Bob Ricks (Special Agent in Charge) (Truth). Koresh was found dead with a self inflicted bullet wound to the chest.

Even though over six dozen men, women, and children lost their lives that day they were still many survivors. Some of them have came forward to discuss how they felt during the seize and what was running through their minds. The agents were trying to negotiate, but the Davidians were not listening. Even one FBI agent said that it finally hit them how many were getting hurt when they ran out of space, and had to put someone on the roof of a car to transport them to safety. All of the Davidians were very stressed except for Koresh. One of the Davidians said that he heard Koresh leave a voicemail for his mother because he knew he would not make it out alive. In Koresh’s voicemail he told his mother that he was sorry that she didn’t believe in the same religion as him, but maybe someday they could see each other again in heaven.

Overall, Koresh was only alive for 33 years, but within this time he had caused over dozens of deaths. He manipulated people for almost two thirds of his life. From birth, Koresh’s life was very difficult. Moving around and struggling with a learning disability affected him for the worse. When he became an adult he took on a leadership role that changed the town of Waco, Texas and large part of the United States forever. This leadership role caused many people to lose their life, including his own.