Analysis Of Bill Clinton's Address Of The Oklahoma Bombing

William Yarranton
Mrs. Talbot
Grade 9 Honors English
10/6/17

Oklahoma

On April 19, 1995 two former US Soldiers blew up a the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing over 150 people. Bill Clinton, President of the United States at that time, wrote a speech where he shared his sympathy for the friends and family of victims and united the country through his use of parallelism, patriotic language, and inclusive wording.

Bill Clinton’s Address of the Oklahoma Bombing utilized the writing style of parallelism, in which he spoke with the American people of what they should do to remember the tragedy. Such uses included “Let us teach our children that the God of comfort is also the God of righteousness… Let us let our 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 against it.In the face of death, let us honor life… Let us not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Clinton). Through wording such as “let us teach our children...”, and “when there is talk of...: let us”, Clinton spoke to the American People as if they were together in their pain. Having established common ground between Americans and the citizens of Oklahoma City through parallelism, Clinton took his approach a step further by personally establishing himself as a neighbor of the citizens of Oklahoma City. He established himself as a neighbor, providing support to the people of Oklahoma. Clinton appealed to many Americans through patriotism, in which he shows America is united in support. One such example was the start of Clinton’s speech, where he thanked everyone gathered as “our fellow Americans” (Clinton).

This use of patriotic and inclusive language at paved way for Clinton to sympathize with the American public. Having established a sense of patriotism, Clinton filled the entire third paragraph to with inclusive language to acknowledge the Grief of victim’s friends and families. Phrases such as “our nation joins with you,” and “work hand in hand with you,” (Clinton) signified that the citizens of America were unified in the grief of Oklahoma.

Bill Clinton’s speech united the American people in a time where many fellow Americans were lost. While the Oklahoma City Bombing was 19 years ago, Bill Clinton’s use of parallelism in his patriotic and inclusive speech still has a lasting effect to listeners today.