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Three presidents and their wives stood somberly side by side at the National 9/11 Memorial, sharing a minute of silence to mark the anniversary of the country’s worst terrorist attack with a demonstration of unity.
President Joe Biden and former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton all gathered at the site where the World Trade Center towers fell two decades ago. They each wore blue ribbons and held their hands over their hearts as a procession paraded a flag through the memorial, watched by hundreds of Americans gathered in remembrance, some carrying photos of loved ones lost in the attacks.
Before the event began, a jet plane flew over in a disturbing echo of the attacks, drawing Mr. Biden’s gaze skyward.
President Biden was a senator when the hijackers requisitioned four planes and carried out the attack. Today, he marks the anniversary of September 11 for the first time as Commander-in-Chief.
The president will spend Saturday paying tribute to the three sites where the planes crashed, but he left the speech to others.
CHIP SOMODEVILLA / POOL / AFP via Getty Images
Instead, the White House released a recorded speech Friday evening in which Mr Biden spoke of the “true sense of national unity” that emerged after the attacks, seen in “heroism everywhere – in places expected and unexpected “.
“For me, this is the central lesson of September 11,” he said. “Unity is our greatest strength.”
After the morning ceremony in New York City, Biden will travel to the field near Shanksville, Pa., Where a plane fell from the sky after heroic passengers battled terrorists to prevent it from reaching its destination in Washington. And finally, he’ll make his way to the Pentagon, where the world’s most powerful army has suffered an unthinkable blow to its home.
Former President George W. Bush, who was reading a book to Florida school children when the planes hit the World Trade Center, paid tribute to Shanksville. He said September 11 showed Americans can come together despite their differences.
“Much of our politics has become a naked appeal to anger, fear and resentment,” the incumbent president said on September 11. “On the day of America’s trial and mourning, I saw millions of people instinctively grab hold of their neighbor’s hand and rally to each other’s cause. This is what America is all about. knows. “
“This is the truest version of ourselves. This is what we have been and what we can be again.”
Former President Trump had planned at least one stopover in Manhattan and was scheduled to comment at ringside during a boxing match at a casino in Hollywood, Florida.
Mr. Biden’s task, like his predecessors before him, was to mark the moment with a mixture of sorrow and determination. A man who has suffered immense personal tragedy, Mr. Biden speaks of losing power.
He expressed the pain that accompanies memories of September 11 in his video message, saying, “No matter how long ago these commemorations bring everything back painfully like you just heard the news a few seconds ago. . “
On the 20th anniversary of the attacks, Biden now takes responsibility for preventing future tragedies from his predecessors, and must do so against new fears of rising terror after the hasty exit from the United States Afghanistan, the country from which the September 11 attacks were planned.
Evacuations continued in Afghanistan on Friday with a 21 other US citizens and 11 lawful permanent residents fleeing the Taliban regime, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. It came a day after the Taliban cleared a flight carrying Americans and other foreign nationals out of the country for the first time since US forces withdrew last month.
The State Department did not specify how many Americans remained in Afghanistan. On Tuesday, Blinken estimated that there were still around 100 Americans in the country who wanted to leave, adding that US officials were in contact with all of them.
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