On September eleventh two-thousand and one the United States of America was attacked by a group of Islamic terrorists whose name was al-Qaeda. These terrorists boarded planes throughout the United States and over took the pilots and eventually crashed these planes into various locations throughout the United States, one of which was the twin towers in New York City. Thousands of people were killed and many more were injured as a result of these attacks. As the rescue efforts by the New York first responders and military members began the country was in a state of fear they did not know what was going to happen next. It was then the job of the President of the United States who at the time was President George W. Bush to reassure the country and produce some type of plan for the country to follow through with in the effort to find and capture the people who organized these attacks. The night immediately following the attacks President Bush believed it was time to present a speech to the citizens of the country and let them know what was occurring and how a resolution would be met. All throughout President Bush’s “Address to the nation on the terrorist attack”, he uses simple words to express tragedy, creates a feeling of reassurance for the citizens and is able to motivate people to move on from the event. 

All throughout the President’s speech he clearly decided to use a simplistic vocabulary to depict the event. He is able to detail the event without causing the citizens to become frightened. He is able to do so by using simple words that will not confuse people for instance when describing the event, the President uses words such as “victims, evil, and despicable” (533). These words are very simple compared to other words he could have used however the simplistic feeling these words present creates a simple vision for the audience. By reciting the details about the events in a simple manner the citizens of the United States are more apt to feel safe and less worried about the unexpected. Using everyday words creates a more normal feel for the audience to feel comfortable, especially directly after this event has occurred. President Bush understands while writing this essay that he must be able to create a speech that will relate to every single member of the country. Some people may not be familiar with military plans of attack or different technical terms regarding rescue efforts; by using terms that everyone can relate to it forms a better feeling within the citizens of the country. Which is exactly what the President of the United States wants, especially at the time following the attacks. 

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 saying this, he makes nine-eleven feel like some sort of movie scene, that would be unrealistic to think of for most. No one would ever imagine having this terrible attack on the United States. So by Bush describing the incident like some sort of military movie it lessens the feeling of fear for people. 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. By making it seem unrealistic people may be able to move on from it quicker or help with the rescue efforts better rather than staying in a feeling of shock. 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” (533). 

After creating a movie like scene he is creates a feeling of comfort for the citizens of the country, speaking words of reassurance specifically “Our country is strong” (533). He chooses to use the word our because he wants to tell the people that they are all there to support one another. 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 dividing the speech into two different sections. The first half of his speech Bush is really set on detailing the events and describing how this act is unacceptable. While in the second part of the speech he is set on creating unity and making the country move on. The first half of the speech is very detailed but done so in an unrealistic almost movie type way. He is able to depict the disgusting acts performed by the terrorists in ways that are not to gory for people and people are able to envision the scenes of the attacks. However, as eh is finishing describing the attack Bush moves forward and tells the people about plans going further for instance “Our first priority is to get help for those who have been injured and to take every precaution to protect our citizens” (534). He then follows that statement about rescue efforts with “The functions of our government continue without interruption” (534). By having him say this it is a very subtle way of being able to switch from the grieving ways people are going through to the next step of everyday life. By referring to the country’s government it is a way of talking about the entire country in one word. The country’s government is going to move on and start working again, so should the rest of the country. Bush is inferring that the only way that the country will be able to move on is by going back to everyday life. 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.

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” (534). President Bush 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 simple words to describe a substantial event, produces a feeling of reassurance and is able to get the country to begin to move on. The point of this speech for Bush was to provide information to the countries’ citizens as well as give them a feeling of protection and he succeeds by using simplistic word choice and he understood when it was a correct time to move on from looking back at the attack and to look forward. Bush’s secretive way of including positivity to the citizens of the United States is the reason that the speech is so strong in getting its point across. A few days later the President of the United States threw out the first pitch at the New York Yankees game and that was point in time where the country began to move on, the pitch represented everything that the President wrote in his speech. 