One speech this year at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington illustrates his efforts. It included a significant observation about prayer: "Millions of Americans have been led to prayer. They have prayed for comfort in time of grief, for understanding in a time of anger, for protection in a time of uncertainty. Many, including me, have been on bended knee."

But the president recognizes that, besides prayer, a code of moral conduct is also necessary. From Daytona Beach, Florida, he told the nation that "each of us [is] responsible for the decisions we make in life," condemning the feel-good culture that many citizens have bought into.

Like his father, who wanted a kinder, gentler America, Mr. Bush would like to see some changes in the American way of life, altering the country's soft moral culture. He even partially blamed the amoral style of American soap operas shown abroad on TV for misleading foreign terrorists into believing that the United States would not react to a major terrorist attack in New York City and Washington. (Sources: The Washington Times, Reuters.)