Bushs Speech to the Nation: Regaining Confidence :: Essays Papers

Bush's Speech to the Nation: Regaining Confidence On September 11 2001, the American public's image of continental security was shattered in the form of terrorist hijacked passenger planes slamming first into the world trade center towers in New York and then the Pentagon in Washington DC. America prior to the incident had been a peaceful unsuspecting economic giant. "Americans have known wars -- but for the past 136 years, they have been wars on foreign soil, except for one Sunday in 1941" (Bush par.11). The week following the suicide jet liner attacks found Americans filled with anger, fear, and a missing sense of direction. The public was at a complete loss concerning why the tragic act occurred and the steps that were being taken to overcome it. Only nine days after the attack, the public got its answers in the form of a presidential speech given from the capitol building in Washington DC. On September 20 2001, President George W. Bush's speech regained the public's confidence by speaking of justice, public safety, and unity. The most predominant strategy Bush uses to gain civic confidence is letting the public know justice will be delivered: "Our grief has turned to anger, and anger to resolution. Whether we bring our enemies to justice, or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done" (par.5). This quote from Bush gives insight into why justice is an important topic for bringing America alive. Knowing the public is enraged and has revenge on its' mind, Bush shows a similar determination. In doing so, he reassures society that vengeance is on the right path. Bush makes the ultimate demands on the network of terrorist believed to be responsible, creating confidence from the publics desire for retribution: "Close immediately and permanently every terrorist training camp in Afghanistan, and hand over every terrorist, and every person in their support structure, to appropriate authorities. (Applause.) Give the United States full access to terrorist training camps, so we can make sure they are no longer operating. These demands are not open to negotiation or discussion"(par.21). According to former FBI agent G. Gordon Liddy, these requests are successful at reassuring the public because unconditional surrender is a convincing way to communicate to Americans that the President means business: "General U.S. 'Unconditional Surrender' Grant received unconditional surrender from General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House to end America's bloodiest war. Such was never the goal in Vietnam or the Gulf War.