Easy Certainty: George W. Bush and God’s Divine Will for America After September 11th

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the way President George W. Bush used evangelical rhetoric to justify different aspects of his presidency and the actions he took after the September 11th attacks on American soil. After the terrorist attacks on American soil, Bush used many biblical references and divine justifications for both his presidency, foreign policy, and actions in the Middle East. In addition to analyzing the impact that Bush's rhetoric had on his base, this thesis seeks to view Bush's rhetoric through the lens of different rhetorical narratives including Thomas Aquinas' Just War Theory, colonialism and imperialism, and the Frontier Myth amongst others. This thesis also seeks to analyze some of the policies that Bush enacted that began to breech the church-state divide and align the conservative evangelical base with the Republican party and presidency.