George W. Bush's Speech at VMI: Peace through Wisdom

George W. Bush at VMI

“After 1945, said United States President George W. Bush, “the United States of America was the only nation in the world strong enough to help rebuild a Europe and a Japan that had been decimated by World War II. Today, our former enemies are our friends.” 

Can we once again make our enemies into our friends?

Bush, the United States’ architect of the War on Terror, reminded the cadets at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) on April 17, 2002, that military force alone never brings security. No, security requires justice, compassion, and forgiveness. Commemorative speeches like this rarely lay out exact policies; instead, rising to a higher level, the speaker declares the values from which wise policies must arise. Bush’s theme was not peace through strength, but peace through strength working hand-in-hand with wisdom. Have we, today, forgotten that lesson?

Bush warned that terrorists are terrifying enemies. His speech reviewed the horrors of “massacres committed by the Taliban last year, victims who lie in mass graves.” He told the cadets that “we are called to defend freedom against ruthless enemies.” Bush also discussed the ongoing efforts to free Yemen from terrorists and to protect the Philippines’ elected government from militant terrorists. Those were ambitious goals. Furthermore, unlike the United States’ current leaders, Bush cautioned that the War on Terror could never be short, that victory would never be simple:

“Yet, it's important for Americans to know this war will not be quick and this war will not be easy.”

VMI's Barracks

Nevertheless, Bush’s key argument addressed questions of value, not nuts and bolts policy. He explained that wise policies could not arise from military force alone, but only if guided by justice, dignity, individual rights, and tolerance:

“The way to a peaceful future can be found in the non-negotiable demands of human dignity. Dignity requires the rule of law, limits on the power of the state, respect for women, private property, equal justice, religious tolerance. No nation owns these principles. No nation is exempt from them.”

Is it not remarkable that Bush insisted on universal values: “No nation owns … No nation is exempt?”

Perhaps this remarkable speech bridged the gap between policy (deliberative) and ceremonial (epideictic) speaking. Bush laid out the threat that international terrorism poses to the world, thus engaging in Step One of a problem-solution policy speech. Instead, however, of laying out specific policies, he turned the cadets’ attention toward moral values. Maybe he was implying that moral values are the problem’s only solution.

George W. Bush's 9/11 Oval Office Speech: Values versus Reality?

George W. Bush on 9/11: A Message of Unity

Although his VMI speech detailed few specific anti-terrorist policies, the particular policies that Bush did pursue were controversial at the time and remain disputed today. I for one, was never a fan, and, here in 2026, justice in western Asia remains inconsistent and elusive. One must, however, admire Bush’s forthright stand that only strong moral values create security, and that all nations, the United States and its enemies alike, need to follow them. 

Let us hope and pray that humanity’s common bonds can restore themselves. Let us hope that the United States can, as we did after World War II, make our enemies into our friends. Can we resist terrorism with force, but also participate in justice and reconciliation with our enemies? Bush argued that only when we reaffirm our values, only when we are moved by justice, rather than fear, can we move toward specific actions. A strong foreign policy does not need to degenerate into mindless vengeance. The more we seek universal, uplifting values, the more we seek wisdom, the more we, as human beings, can contribute to peace on our troubled globe. 

George W. Bush and the American Vision

by William D. Harpine

___________________

Personal Note: I have often visited both VMI’s stark campus and its neighbor, Washington and Lee University. Indeed, in my youth, I considered applying to Washington and Lee before choosing a different school. Lexington, Virginia stands among the nation’s most charming towns. Both schools uphold high standards, produce outstanding leaders, and contribute to the state’s culture. During my long-ago career as a College of William and Mary debater, our team often vied with superb debaters from both schools. 

For more of my posts about ceremonial or epideictic speaking, click this link. 

My continuing thanks to AmericanRhetoric.com, founded by my late classmate and editor Martin Medhurst. That invaluable website has preserved countless speech texts and, often, videos. 

Copyright ©2026 by William D. Harpine

Image of George W. Bush speaking at the Virginia Military Institute, 
official White House photo by Tina Hager, public domain

Image of Virginia Military Institute’s barracks,
Historic American Buildings Survey, National Park Service, 
via Wikimedia Commons, public domain 

George W. Bush on 9/11: A Message of Unity but Have We Forgotten?

I still remember my shock when I drove by the Pentagon, smashed on 9/11, only a few miles from my childhood home. Today, on the anniversary of the September 11th, 2001 terror attacks against the United States, let us look once again, with the perspective of history, to remember the statement that President George W. Bush made at the end of his brief epideictic speech on the evening of that terrible day. The message resonates to this day. It was a message of unity. His message was that all Americans must unite to do what is right. It is a message we have forgotten. In our increasingly contentious age, this is a lesson we must remember above all others.

“This is a day when all Americans from every walk of life unite in our resolve for justice and peace. America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time. None of us will ever forget this day. Yet, we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world.”

Yes, President Bush promised to hunt down the terrorists and their sponsors with all the might that he could muster. Vengeance was not, however, his closing message. The ultimate goal for which he spoke was not to destroy his enemies, but to work for “justice and peace.” His announced goal was not to destroy, but “to defend freedom.” He talked about what was “good and just in our world.”

Most important, however, was his assurance of national unity: “This is a day when all Americans from every walk of life unite in our resolve for justice and peace.”

In other words, to triumph, we must work together. Yes, soon after, President Bush made terrible mistakes as he responded to 9/11 with ideological violence. The invasion of Iraq failed to uncover any trace of the supposed weapons of mass destruction. The invasion of Afghanistan ended only after seemingly endless decades of miserable failure under one president after another. More innocent people died during the War on Terror than on 9/11. Bush’s nation-building exercises in western Asia left the world as insecure as ever. Indeed, Bush’s foreign policy was a case study in impulsive decision-making. 

Pentagon after 9/11 attack

None of that belies the wisdom of what Bush said the evening of the attacks. He called for unity. He spoke for “justice and peace.” Yes, in the months and years that followed 9/11, the cold light of reality failed to illuminate Bush's subsequent ill-considered decisions. Yes, reality indeed won out. It always does. Let us not, however, ignore the vision. Some people today say they want to “make America great again.” We can only do that if we remember our values. So, as we try to learn from the mistakes of the past, let us also affirm and celebrate our values. Even if we sometimes forget those values, it is never too late to look back and recover them. We need to do so today. Justice, peace, and freedom. We cannot have one unless we have all three.

Of course, let us never forget the courageous 9/11 rescue workers who sacrificed their lives when they ran toward danger while everyone else fled. 

_________________

President George W. Bush’s “9/11 Address to the Nation:” An Appeal for Unity

George W. Bush and the American Vision

George W. Bush and the American Vision, Part 2

George W. Bush Used His Prestige to Call Out the January 6 Terrorists

_________________

Research note: The reader who wishes to understand the tragic failures of 9/11 and the War on Terror might start with Richard Clarke, Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror, and Bob Woodward, Plan of Attack: The Definitive Account of the Decision to Invade Iraq. 

Images: George W. Bush, White House photo; Pentagon, FBI photo via Wikimedia Commons

George W. Bush Used His Prestige to Call Out the January 6 Terrorists

Flight 93 National Memorial, James Steakley

Can we compare the 9/11 terrorists to the rioters of January 6, 2021? That is what former President George W. Bush did in his speech yesterday, September 11, 2021, at Shanksville, Pennsylvania, the site where Flight 93 crashed.

As a former Republican president, his chastisement of the January 6 rioters carries more weight than anything that President Joe Biden, a Democrat, could possibly say. It’s not just because of what he said, but the fact that it was he, not someone else, who said it. It was neither his proof or reasoning; no, it was his personal ethos that carried his point. 

Of all the many 9/11 tributes yesterday, Bush’s brief speech attracted the most attention. Bush honored the passengers of Flight 93, praised the durable American spirit, and contrasted the wickedness of the 9/11 terrorists against what he described as the basic goodness of Americans. He also criticized the mob that attacked the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021: he asserted that “the dangers to our country can come not only across borders, but from violence that gathers within.

Millennia ago, the Greek philosopher Aristotle said that the purpose of a ceremonial speech is honor. Indeed, Bush honored the heroes of 9/11 and praised the United States’ unity and resilience. So, he didn’t just praise the passengers on Flight 93. He also praised the United States’ people: 

“In those fateful hours, we learned other lessons as well. We saw that Americans were vulnerable, but not fragile - that they possess a core of strength that survives the worst that life can bring. We learned that bravery is more common than we imagined, emerging with sudden splendor in the face of death. We vividly felt how every hour with our loved ones was a temporary and holy gift. And we found that even the longest days end.”

Bush then gave a lesson. Ceremonial speakers throughout history have reached beyond the day’s immediate topic to draw a larger lesson. They can pass on the life lessons that the honored people can teach. Ceremonial speakers might suggest that we, today, should pursue the same goals as the persons being honored. Modern-day ceremonial speakers from Hillary Clinton to John McCain have done exactly that.

Read: John McCain's Speech about "Spurious Nationalism"

Read: Pink and the Power of Pearls at the VMA Awards: Epideictic Excellence

Read: Hillary Clinton's New York Speech about Women and Girls

In this case, Bush compared the horrors of 9/11 against the misdeeds of the United States’ own domestic terrorists of today:

“And we have seen growing evidence that the dangers to our country can come not only across borders, but from violence that gathers within. There is little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home. But in their disdain for pluralism, in their disregard for human life, in their determination to defile national symbols, they are children of the same foul spirit. And it is our continuing duty to confront them.”

Let us unpack the similarities. The Muslim terrorists of 9/11 showed “disdain for pluralism,” defying their own religion’s beliefs in the process. Likewise, America’s right wing today, with its narrow view of Christianity, disdain for minorities and immigrants, and resistance to cultural change, also shows “disdain for pluralism.” By that, Bush meant that terrorists respect no one’s ideas except their own. The “disregard for human life” and “determination to defile national symbols” are also unmistakable. The 9/11 terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, two symbols of American greatness. The January 6 terrorists ransacked the United States Capitol and threatened to murder government officials. Bush’s choice of words strikes one’s attention: the two groups of terrorists “defiled” American symbols.

Bush nevertheless acknowledged that our domestic terrorists and the 9/11 terrorists placed themselves at opposite ideological poles: “little cultural overlap,” Bush said. American conservatives despise Muslim radicals with a passion. That does not negate the many features that they share. Using parallel language to drive the point home, Bush compared “violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home.” He described both groups as “children of the same foul spirit.”

Critically, Bush insisted that “it is our duty to confront them.”

We all immediately knew that the unnamed domestic terrorists to which Bush alluded were, in fact, the right-wing rioters who attacked the United States Capitol building on January 6, 2021. Despite all the previous hype, no one thought he was talking about the Portland, Oregon riots or the George Floyd protests. No one thought that he was talking about anti-fascist demonstrators. Media as distinct as the right-wing Breitbart.com, the mainstream USA Today, and the liberal website Axios all acknowledged that Bush was criticizing the January 6 Capitol rioters. For example, Breitbart’s Charlie Spiering wrote, “The former president did not specifically name the January 6th protests but alluded to the American citizens who stormed Capitol Hill to protest the 2020 election.” Yet, Bush never mentioned January 6. He never mentioned the Capitol riots. His vague comments about a “foul spirit” and defilement of “national symbols” were enough for all of us, conservative and liberal alike, to know, almost instinctively, what he meant. Maybe Bush’s simple phrases awakened people’s sleeping consciences. Maybe the guilt and worry about January 6 only needed the simplest wake-up call.

And, yes, Bush said that called on Americans to confront terrorists of both ilks. Unlike policy speakers, ceremonial speakers rarely explain what they think should be done. All that Bush said about policy was, “And it is our continuing duty to confront them.” One vague sentence. How should we confront them? He didn’t say. He didn’t need to say. The details can come later. The important thing is that we need to recognize that the January 6 rioters, the people who encouraged them, and the people who make excuses for them, are the United States of America’s enemies. The policy specifics don’t matter – yet. What matters is to acknowledge the threat. We cannot solve a problem until we acknowledge the need to challenge it. Bush himself was the president who led the United States through the horrors of 9/11. Interestingly, although he himself is a conservative Republican, Bush did not call on the insurrectionists to repent and reform. He did not ask them to rejoin traditional conservativism. His simple statement implied, among other things, that good people need to face evil down.

Bush expressed so much meaning in a few simple sentences. I never thought much of Bush’s work as president. He left the United States’ economy and foreign policy in shambles. At the same time, however, with his political ambitions already fulfilled, he now seems to feel free to express his conscience and to say positive things.

Like many ceremonial speakers, Bush drew a lesson for the present day. That lesson was harsher than what one might have expected. Perhaps members of America’s right wing took offense. The fact that a conservative Republican, not some left-wing liberal, criticized them carried a special sting. Bush’s words carries more weight precisely because of who he is.

Earlier Post: George W. Bush's 9/11 Oval Office Speech: Values versus Reality? 
_________________

Research Note: The ancient term for a ceremonial speech is “epideictic.” An epideictic speech, literally, is a speech that “shows forth.” It shows the speaker’s eloquence while praising honorable deeds. Although researchers usually think of epideictic speech as a conservative genre, liberals also give epideictic speeches. I’ve written a number of academic papers about epideictic speech; click on “William D. Harpine’s Publications” above to see some of them.

Image: James Steakley, via Wikimedia

George W. Bush's 9/11 Oval Office Speech: Values versus Reality?

George W. Bush, Dept. of Defense Photo

On the evening of September 11, 2001, the day on which terrorists hijacked four airplanes to crash into American targets, United States President George W. Bush addressed the nation from the Oval Office. This was one of three brief speeches that he gave that day. Bush did not lay out a specific anti-terror policy. That would come later. What he did was to lay out basic values of justice and peace, which, in turn, gave his yet-unnamed policies a moral justification. With the advantage of 20 years of hindsight, some people might think that Bush’s moral justification has become shaky. Still, he placed values at the center of his policies: 

“This is a day when all Americans from every walk of life unite in our resolve for justice and peace. America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time. None of us will ever forget this day, yet we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world.”

Let’s unpack that critical passage from Bush’s speech:

First, Bush assumed that the nation would unite. He did not say, “let us put aside partisanship and unite.” No, instead, he took it for granted that Americans would all stand together: “This is a day when all Americans from every walk of life unite.” In the face of a terrorist attack, Bush assumed, that the United States would be resolved to mourn the victims, praise the rescue workers, and deal with the threat. For the most part, that assumption was correct.

Second, Bush aimed at positive values. He did not say that we would unite out of fear. Instead, he said that we would “unite in our resolve for justice and peace.” That short phrase gave his audience much to think about. Bush, like most of us, took it for granted that America was the land of justice and peace. Indeed, citing “justice and peace,” Bush undertook to give subsequent American policies a moral foundation. Subsequent struggles would represent, so he implied something greater, more noble than a mere response to fear. Instead, the United States would be responding to a moral cause. Yes, earlier in the speech, Bush had said that, “Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror.” So, he had already set up the contrast between the terrorists’ evil and America’s goodness.

Whether subsequent American policy was or was not moral is something that historians will debate for centuries. I have my doubts. Bush recognized, however, that the quasi-religious doctrine of American exceptionalism would give any subsequent conflict a positive moral foundation. Bush’s persuasive goal was to go beyond immediate questions of attack and defense. From the outset, the war on terror would be, in Bush’s rhetoric, a struggle for what was right and good.

Of course, “justice and peace” can be subjective. After all, the Roman historian Tacitus commented that, “where they make a desert, they call it peace.” In a brief, largely ceremonial speech like Bush’s, however, the speaker could go easy on the details. Who gets to define justice? Who gets to define peace? Those devilishly hard questions would only haunt him later.

Third, Bush promised to oppose the United States’ enemies: “America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time.” There is, as we all know, a long tradition that the best way to achieve peace is by war. That explains the Peacemaker bomber and the Peacemaker missile. Still, the nation, shocked by the terrorist attacks, mostly expected the President to display strength and resolve. Logic tells us that war and peace are opposites, but they came together in Bush’s speech.

Fourth, Bush predicted that, “None of us will ever forget this day.” Indeed, today, the 20th anniversary of the attacks, the United States plans a series of commemorative events. But what do Americans remember? That we were attacked? That we were caught by surprise? That we had enemies that the public barely knew about? Today, however, on the 20th anniversary of the attacks, it is proper and fitting for us to remember the thousands of innocent people who lost their lives, the heroes of Flight 93, and the rescue workers who underwent great hardships to help the victims.

Fifth, Bush returned to his speech’s moral center: “we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world.” American exceptionalism, again, was Bush’s implied value.

Bush’s speech was remarkably vague. What things were just, and which things were good? Exactly how would the United States “stand down” its enemies? Would the nation go to war? If so, where? For how long? And with what goals? Those questions have hovered around the center of America’s foreign policy ever since.

For the things that Bush said in this speech were essentially unimpeachable. Of course the United States should not stand still while terrorists attack civilian targets. Of course justice and peace are good. Does that mean that Bush’s impending war in Iraq, a nation that presumably had little to do with the 9/11 attacks, was a war of justice and peace? Furthermore, we have seen in the past few weeks that the war in Afghanistan, a nation that indeed harbored the 9/11 terrorists, dragged on for 20, largely tragic, and possibly futile years. It might be said that Bush expressed wise values, but that his subsequent violent policies were a mixed bag at best.

And, yes, Bush’s message of joint resolve seems almost naïve in hindsight. Indeed, a few days after 9/11, Bush gave a speech of solidarity at the Islamic Center in Washington DC. Would it not seem unthinkable for a Republican politician to give such a speech today?

Commemorative speeches like this one often imply policies. There’s nothing new about that. It is, however, a long stretch from expressing values, on the one hand, to coming up with wise policies to deal with complex threats. At the time, Bush said what needed to be said. He said it well. Let us not forget, however, that justice and peace are not just assumptions, but also obligations to do what is right. In hindsight, the war on terror has been complex. The struggle against international terrorism has certainly had its ups and downs. Far more people died in the war on terror then on 9/11. The idealism that Bush expressed 20 years ago smashed into the hard realities that followed. War does not always make peace, does it? All the same, Bush’s call for national unity stands as this speech’s lingering message – a message that now sounds more like a desperate plea.
_____________

Earlier Post About This Speech: Bush Appeals for National Unity

Earlier Post: Franklin Roosevelt's Epideictic-Policy War Message

Earlier Post: Donald Trump and American Exceptionalism

_____________