First-hand accounts of how the President’s team responded to 9/11

I read a remarkable article comprising first-hand accounts by a number of people who surrounded President George W Bush on the morning of 9/11. I remember when the tragedy struck, and read reports about how the President’s team responded to the emerging crisis in the hours that followed.

The story of those remarkable hours—and the thoughts and emotions of those aboard—isolated eight miles above America, escorted by three F-16 fighters, flying just below the speed of sound, has never been comprehensively told.

This oral history, based on more than 40 hours of original interviews with more than two dozen of the passengers, crew and press aboard—including many who have never spoken publicly about what they witnessed that day—traces the story of how an untested president, a sidearm-carrying general, top aides, the Secret Service and the Cipro-wielding White House physician, as well as five reporters, four radio operators, three pilots, two congressmen and a stenographer responded to 9/11.

Garrett M. Graff

One thing this article made clear is how inaccurate some of that initial reporting was. If anything, I have a new-found respect for the former President, and the people who protected, and assisted him on that day. It’s well worth reading this article: ‘We’re the Only Plane in the Sky’ – POLITICO Magazine

Featured image credit: Courtesy George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. (P7070-13)