George W. Bush: “Private schools serving America's poorest children deliver a valuable public service.”

We are heartbroken by the loss of life and the agony so many are feeling.

Is it in our national interests that 25 million people who would have died now live? I think it is, and so do you.

We know our words cannot help, but we believe the prayers of so many Americans will.

History will remember him as among the finest public servants of his generation – a patriot who brought integrity, high intelligence, and seriousness of purpose to every position.