What Is Best in America: Speech by President Obama at a Memorial Service for the Victims of the Shooting in Tucson, Arizona

On January 8, 2011 a gunman opened fire in the parking lot of a Tucson, Arizona supermarket, where U. S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords was holding an opening meeting with her constituents. Nineteen people were wounded, and six people died. Four days later, at a memorial service at the McKale Memorial Center at the University of Arizona, President Obama gave a speech that remembered those who had died, gave thanks to the heroes of that day, and called upon Americans to strive to be better, more humble, always honest and kind-- to live up to the example of those who died, and to the promise of America. President Obama's speech in Tucson was a landmark call for unity, and a reflection of all that is best in America.