    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2007, Book I)]
    [April 20, 2007]
    [Pages 463-464]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's Radio Address
    April 20, 2007

        Good morning. This week, the thoughts and prayers of millions of
    Americans are with the victims of the Virginia Tech attacks. We mourn
    promising lives cut short, we pray for the wounded, and we send our love
    to those who are hurting.
        The day after the attack, Laura and I
    attended a memorial service on the campus in Blacksburg. We met with
    faculty members who lost students and colleagues and shared hugs with
    grieving moms and dads, including parents who had lost their only child.
    We offered what words of comfort we could, and we were moved by the
    solidarity and strength of spirit we found. We wanted everyone at the
    university to know that this tragedy saddened our entire Nation and that
    the American people stand with them in an hour of darkness.
        We can never fully understand what would cause a student to take the
    lives of 32 innocent people. What we do know is that this was a deeply
    troubled young man, and there were many warning signs. Our society
    continues to wrestle with the question of how to handle individuals
    whose mental health problems can make them a danger to themselves and to
    others.
        Colleges and State and local officials are now confronting these
    issues, and the Federal Government will help. I've asked top officials
    at the Departments of Education,

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    Justice, and Health and Human Services to provide the Virginia Tech
    community with whatever assistance we can and to participate in a review
    of the broader questions raised by this tragedy.
        I have directed these officials to travel to communities across our
    Nation to meet with educators, mental health experts, and State and
    local officials. I have asked the Secretary of Health and Human
    Services, Mike Leavitt, to summarize what
    they learn and report back to me with recommendations about how we can
    help to avoid such tragedies.
        This week at Virginia Tech, we saw a glimpse of humanity at its
    worst, and we also saw humanity at its best. We learned of students who
    risked their own safety to tend to wounded classmates. We heard of a
    teacher who used his body to barricade a classroom door and gave his
    life so his students could escape through windows. And we saw the good
    people of Blacksburg embrace victims of this tragedy and help their
    neighbors endure and heal and hope.
        That hope was expressed in a letter written by a Virginia Tech
    graduate shortly after the attack. He wrote:
    ``Today there is pain everywhere in our community and our hearts are
    troubled. Yet I am certain our university will persevere.'' He
    continued, ``Evil can never succeed, not while there are men and women
    like the people of Virginia Tech, who reach every day for success and
    endeavor for the improvement of the human condition across the planet.''
        This week, we reflect on what has been lost and comfort those
    enduring a profound grief. And somehow we know that a brighter morning
    will come. We know this because together Americans have overcome many
    evils and found strength through many storms. And we know there will be
    a day, as promised in Scripture, when evil will meet its reckoning and
    when every tear shall be wiped away.
        May God bless those who mourn, and may God bless our wonderful
    country. Thank you for listening.

    Note: The address was recorded at 7 a.m. on April 20 in the Cabinet Room
    at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on April 21. The
    transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on
    April 20. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish
    language transcript of this address. The proclamation of April 17,
    honoring the victims of the shootings at Virginia Tech, is listed in
    Appendix D at the end of this volume.