In the early weeks of September of 2001 the United States experienced a heart break of an attack that hit only in a few places but definitely affected everyone throughout the country. This event was known as nine-eleven where the country was faced with an onslaught of planes crashing into buildings killing thousands of people and causing the country to stay in fear. This caused the President of the United States who at the time was George W. Bush to respond to these attacks and tell the country what they were dealing with and what the next steps were going forward. In fact, President Bush gave his address the night of the attacks a mere twelve hours after the first attack had hit. All throughout President Bush’s “Address to the nation on the terrorist attack” he uses words further than what their formal definitions entail, in addition to this the President was able to inform the country of the events while reassuring them, by doing so Bush is able to move the country forward and unite everyone. 

President Bush’s speech was well thought out and written in a way that he thought would get his point across, he was able to do so by the use of specific words. All throughout the speech Bush include key details about nine-eleven but it is the way that he uses these words to get his overall point of unity across. While Bush is describing the horrific events he uses words like “victims, evil and despicable” (Bush 533), these may seem like simple words and that is exactly what they are and for that reason Bush used them. People of the United States at this time are struggling with feelings of fear and sadness, Bush understands that and uses simplistic terms to get his major point across. Using such simple terms in a sentence like “Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil despicable act of terror” (Bush 533), gives readers as well as listeners the feeling of comfort. By saying these words, it simplifies the whole idea of nine-eleven and gives the country a cause to unify against. Every one throughout the country is able to understand the simple language that he uses, which means every citizen is willing to join together to help. He refrained from using language that would be hard to connect with all.  Bush’s intentions at the time of writing this speech was that he needed something that would be able to reach every citizen as well as bring those people together and bring them a feeling of patriotism and he did that successfully through the use of simple language. 

President Bush chose to write this speech in an obvious manner that had a large impact on the way his message would reach the country. Bush was able to describe the attack in a detailed approach when saying “The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge structures collapsing, have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness and a quiet, unyielding anger” (Bush 533). By Bush saying this he makes nine-eleven feel like some sort of movie seen, that would be unrealistic to think of for most. This is exactly part of Bush’s plan as he goes through the entirety of this speech, he makes it seem as though it is in fact unrealistic. Bush understand that people are still hurt from this event both physically as well as mentally and he wrote his speech in the manner for that reason. The President follows the unrealistic approach by backing it with a feeling of reassurance and comfort towards the citizens by saying “These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed. Our country is strong. A great people has been moved to defend a great nation” (Bush 533). Bush directly put this after his line describing the attack, because he realized once he tells people about the attack they are going to begin to get distraught. This is the style of writing that Bush uses for the entirety of his speech every time Bush relays a negative fact or feeling about the attack he follows it by some sort of up lifting remark whether it be about the country finding who performed the attack or if it is about the country becoming one and moving forward together. 

Another way that Bush uses his writing style to create a positive speech about such a somber event, is that in the first half of his speech Bush is really set on detailing the events and describing how this act is unacceptable. He does so in a feeling of unrealistic actions toward the attack as the President feels the country can understand better. However, in the second portion of his speech Bush seems as though he is moving on from the incident and getting the country to function as it once did. In one sentence Bush states that it is “Our first priority is to get help for those who have been injured and to take every precaution to protect our citizens” (Bush 534). But in the sentence following immediately after he switches his thoughts toward the attacks by stating that “The functions of our government continue without interruption” (Bush 534). By having him say this it is a very subtle way of being able to switch from the grieving ways people are enduring to the next step of everyday life. Bringing up the government he is also inferring that the rescue efforts will begin regarding the attacks however he would like the country to begin to move on and begin to unite as one and regain their everyday life styles. The main focus of Bush’s necessity to move on is that he wants the country to begin to feel unified as he creates the second part of his speech about that. 

Bush doesn’t force the idea of unity until he has depicted the entire event and is finished with looking back at nine-eleven he then states “This is a day when all Americans from every walk of life unite in our resolve for justice and peace” (Bush 534). President Obama presented this speech to the country very shortly after the first attack had come upon the county, although it was such a short period of time that he had to create this speech he was able to fill the speech with information to let the people of the country understand what has occurred. In such a short speech, Bush was able to use vocabulary that represented so much more than what the word is defined as, he provides reassurance which moves people away from fear. The point of this speech for Bush was to provide information to the countries’ citizens as well as give them a feeling of reassurance and he succeeds by using simplistic word choice and he understood when it was a correct time to move on from looking at the attack and look forward. Bush’s secretive way of including reassurance and positivity to the citizens of the United States is the reason that the speech is so strong in getting its point across. 