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[[File: Flat_of_Branch_Davidians.png|300px|thumbnail|right|The Branch Davidian Flag]]
In order to understand how the Waco tragedy affected American society, a brief background examination of David Koresh and the Branch Davidians is warranted. The Branch Davidian sect was the idea of a Hungarian immigrant named Victor Houteff who converted to the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) church in 1918 and within a few years became one of its major leaders. Believing that his vision of the Bible and the SDA church was the correct one, Houteff took a small group of followers and broke from the main body of the church in 1933, moving to a tract of land outside of Waco, Texas that he christened “Mount Carmel” in reference to the biblical locale in northern Israel. The breakaway sect slowly grew in size until it asserted its own identity when Houteff rebranded the sect as the “Davidian Seventh-day Adventist” church in 1942. The new name, as well as the name of their church’s location, indicated a more militant tone than what was present in the mainline SDA church. King David was the biblical king who enforced god’s will at sword point and Mount Carmel was the place in the Bible where the prophet Elijah was believed to have fought a battle against followers of the Phoenician god Baal. <ref> Reavis, Dick. jJ. <i>The Ashes of Waco: An Investigation.</i> (Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, 1998), p. 59</ref>
David Koresh was born Vernon Howell in 1959 to an alcoholic mother and a father he never knew. Anecdotal evidence shows that Howell may have suffered from learning disabilities as a child because he had difficulties reading and in generally in school, but excelled in music, mechanics, and above all – reading scriptures. <ref> Reavis, p. 26</ref> Howell’s mother was a member of the SDA church, but he was eventually drawn to the Branch Davidians, who he believed followed the scriptures more closely. As he immersed himself in life at Mount Carmel, the ever fractious Davidians split once again in 1984, which led to violence and eventually Howell’s assumption of the church’s leadership.
