Oklahoma Bombing Speech Analysis
Caroline Woodrome
COM 135 MC
Professor Jarvis
April 24, 2012
Oklahoma City Bombing Prayer Service Address 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). On April 23, four days after the bombing, President Bill Clinton addressed the public and gave an effective, excellent speech.
The overall goal of the message was to appropriately respond to the Oklahoma City bombing, support the ones who lost loved ones, and address what America as a nation should do to keep this from happening again. This goal was achieved through these statements made by President Clinton: “Our words seem small beside the loss you have endured. But I found a few I wanted to share today..You have lost too much, but you have not lost everything. And you have certainly not lost America, for we will stand with you for as many tomorrows as it takes.. Let us let our own children know that we will stand against the forces of fear. When there is talk of hatred, let us stand up and talk against it. When there is talk of violence, let us stand up and talk against it. In the face of death, let us honor life.” 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). The setup of the speech made
COM 135 MC
Professor Jarvis
April 24, 2012
Oklahoma City Bombing Prayer Service Address 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). On April 23, four days after the bombing, President Bill Clinton addressed the public and gave an effective, excellent speech.
The overall goal of the message was to appropriately respond to the Oklahoma City bombing, support the ones who lost loved ones, and address what America as a nation should do to keep this from happening again. This goal was achieved through these statements made by President Clinton: “Our words seem small beside the loss you have endured. But I found a few I wanted to share today..You have lost too much, but you have not lost everything. And you have certainly not lost America, for we will stand with you for as many tomorrows as it takes.. Let us let our own children know that we will stand against the forces of fear. When there is talk of hatred, let us stand up and talk against it. When there is talk of violence, let us stand up and talk against it. In the face of death, let us honor life.” 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). The setup of the speech made
References: Clinton, W. (2008). Americanrhetoric.com. Retrieved from http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/wjcoklahomabombingspeech.htm Rosenburg, J