[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,

[[Page 464]]

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.