[ad_1]
Journalist Recalls When Bush Was Told About Twin Towers Attack
Jennifer Holton Reports
SARASOTA, Florida – Hours before America changes forever, Andy Card remembers the start of that Tuesday morning in September like everyone else: blue skies and the shining sun.
“I remember it was a perfect day,” Card said. “When I went out, when the sun came up, it was like a perfect day.”
But President George W. Bush’s chief of staff was not in New York or Washington on September 11, 2001. He was in Sarasota with a class of students at Emma E. Booker Elementary School.
Card was down in the morning at the President.
“You are going to be reading a book with second graders, and that was her favorite subject, leaving no child left behind in education, and it will be an easy day.”
RELATED: Most Americans over 30 remember where they were on 9/11, poll finds
At FOX 13, retired reporter Brian Goff was on his way to cover it.
“We had already covered the presidential visits; everything is well scripted,” Goff said. “It was good because it was a presidential visit, and Mr. Bush was the president, so it was cool to be there. And we were there. And we didn’t know what was going to happen.”
At 8.46 am, an airliner crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center. Card says the belief at first was that it was a small private plane.
“I’m standing at the door of the classroom with the principal, and the president and I were there when a Navy captain named Deb Loewer came to the president and said to him ‘Sir, it looks like a little twin-engine propeller plane crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center.
“The manager, the president all had the same reaction, ‘Oh, what a horrible accident, the pilot must have had a heart attack or something,'” Card continued.
Moments later, with the President already seated with the kids, Card would learn that it was a commercial airliner.
“Captain Loewer came up to me and said, ‘Oh my God, another plane hit the other World Trade Center tower,'” he recalls.
And then, the unforgettable moment that has become an iconic image: Card whispering the news in the ear of the president.
President George W. Bush was briefed by Andrew Card about the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City during a school reading event in Sarasota, Florida. (PAUL J. RICHARDS / AFP via Getty Images)
“As the students put their hands under their desks, I walked over to the president, leaned over and whispered, ‘A second plane hit the second tower, America is under attack,'” he said. -he declares. “I then pulled away from him so he couldn’t question me. I watched him digest what I said.”
Goff was in a room right next to this classroom, watch the White House press corps pool on a monitor.
“The behavior of the president changed immediately, it shows on TV,” he proposed. “Everyone in the room where I was told, ‘Oh, look at this, something’s going on.’ Because remember, I said it was all scripted. It wasn’t in the script. “
Behind the Scenes at Booker Elementary School on September 11
The president, the media and the students all learned of the terrorist attacks as the cameras rolled.
RELATED: Bush was in the Sarasota classroom when the sad news arrived
Within minutes, Goff said, the chatter must have reached a television – and that’s when they saw the towers burn.
“We were stunned and left for work,” he continued. “Because it was history on the move, you know?” “
Bush would soon be leaving the classroom, then giving a speech before quickly leaving on Air Force One.
Card says that to this day, that’s when Bush became president.
“I honestly believe that was when he understood what the job of the President of the United States was,” Card added. “It’s not about your personal agenda. It’s about keeping your oath of office. Preserve, protect and defend.”
RELATED: ‘I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you “: speech by George W. Bush
[ad_2]
Source link