April Oklahoma City, OK

At 9:02 a.m. on April 19, 1995, a 5,000- pound bomb, hidden inside a Ryder truck, exploded just outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The explosion caused massive damage to the building and killed 168 people, 19 of whom were children (Rosenburg, 2011).

Bill Clinton stressed his words clearly. The Speech was heartfelt and was powerful. He stressed all his words and he connected with the audience. The speech was directed to all of the American people. The diction in the speech is amazing because his word choice affected the audience greatly. The President then goes on to quote a meaningful letter from a woman who is a widowed mother of three. In this section from the letter that Clinton uses in his speech. "The anger you feel is valid, but you must not allow yourselves to be consumed by it. The hurt you feel must not be allowed to turn into hate, but instead into the search for justice. The loss you feel must not paralyze your own lives. Instead, you must try to pay tribute to your loved ones by continuing to do all the things they left undone, thus ensuring they did not die in vain"( Clinton,1995). The President used this because it could now have a warrant on his audience because the experience the widow went through could be similar for many in the audience.

The Children lost in the Oklahoma Bombing

Amazing Quote!  "My fellow Americans, a tree takes a long time to grow, and wounds take a long time to heal. But we must begin. Those who are lost now belong to God. Some day we will be with them. But until that happens, their legacy must be our lives" (Clinton, 1995)

President Clinton is asking the audience to stand up to forces of fear, teach children to stand up to fear, learn from the Oklahoma City Bombing, and keep moving forward. He encourages us to support each other and live through and for those who were lost. Clinton does convey this throughout the speech and specifically through a young widow’s response to the Oklahoma Bombing, who lost her husband when Pan Am 103 was shot down: “..The loss you feel must not paralyze your own lives. Instead, you must try to pay tribute to your loved ones by continuing to do all the things they left undone, thus ensuring they did not die in vain” (Clinton, 2008).