By a plan known only to Providence, the stolen sons and daughters of Africa helped to awaken the conscience of America. The very people traded into s… - George W. Bush

And so literacy is crucial for the ability for this country to compete and the ability for people to realize dreams. It just is. And so we're going to - we're going to - here at SMU we're going to continue to focus on accountability in schools aiming to make sure people can read early before it's too late and we're going to do a joint venture with the Simmons Education School, which by the way, is a reform-minded school. I don't know if you know that. But the Simmons School of Education here at SMU is an excellent school run by people willing to challenge the status quo when the status quo is unacceptable.

I believe the most solemn duty of the American president is to protect the American people. If America shows uncertainty and weakness in this decade, the world will drift toward tragedy. This will not happen on my watch.

Americans do not yet have the distance of history,” I said. “But our responsibility to history is already clear: to answer these attacks and rid the world of evil. War has been waged against us by stealth and deceit and murder. This nation is peaceful, but fierce when stirred to anger. This conflict was begun on the timing and terms of others. It will end in a way, and at an hour, of our choosing.