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Inside the White House on Sept 11 — Transcript

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0:00So you're all stand of, standing in the back of the room yawning,
0:03thinking you're going to just get this pro forma appearance by the
0:07president in front of these kids.
0:11You're standing there in the back and something happens that's a bit jarring.
0:16What is that?
0:17While the president was listening to the children, I suddenly saw Andy
0:22Card, the White House Chief of Staff, a veteran of many administrations, come
0:27quickly in, lean over, whisper to the president, and quickly step back again.
0:34What stunned me is nobody interrupts a president.
0:37I went back inside, and as I was going in the door, I could see in the
0:41Secret Service room it was crowded with people looking at the television.
0:46Just as I looked at the television, I saw a plane fly into the building.
0:52It was almost like my heart stopped.
0:54You could feel the frenetic activity in the White House of agents now in really
1:00heightened alert with drawn weapons, uh, now telling everyone to get out now,
1:08and really telling, you know, women with high heels on, "Take off your shoes and
1:12run for your life," ess- essentially.
1:15The engines on the plane were roaring.
1:18It was a rare moment when the president gave an order and his lieutenants
1:24had no intention of o- obeying them.
1:26We were flying west away from Washington, and the president was furious.
1:33But we could see the burning buildings.
1:36We could see people running.
1:38And then at 10:29, we saw the towers fall.
1:42The staff, senior- Mm-hmm
1:44and all levels- Mm-hmm … is just kind of trying to figure out what to do.
1:48Right.
1:48How do you get focus?
1:49How do you determine, okay, what is next to be done?
1:52Well, it happened very quickly because one of the lessons, uh, from 9/11 and that
1:57evacuation and being with the White House staff at all levels, staff assistants to
2:03s- very senior people, was how much the focus was on continuing to do their job.
2:09Very emotional still to this day.
2:11We came together as a country as we haven't probably
2:14since the Second World War.
2:16Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack.
2:22That's the message of 9/11, the humanity and the unity that we felt
2:27in our darkest hour, and that's what defines who we are as an American people
2:46Hello and welcome to this special episode of the White House 1600 Sessions.
2:52I'm Stewart McLaurin, President of the White House Historical Association.
2:5725 years ago, on the morning of September 11, 2001, the
3:02United States came under attack.
3:0519 terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners.
3:09American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 were flown to
3:14the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City.
3:19Within hours, both towers had collapsed.
3:22American Airlines Flight 77 was flown into the Pentagon, just across
3:27the Potomac from Washington, DC.
3:30And on United Airlines Flight 93, passengers and crew fought
3:35back against the hijackers before the plane crashed into a field
3:39near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
3:42Investigators believe its intended target was here in Washington, most likely the
3:48United States Capitol or the White House.
3:52By the end of that morning, nearly 3,000 people had been killed.
3:57The attacks changed the United States, changed the presidency, and changed
4:03forever the way the White House thought about security and its own vulnerability.
4:09President George W. Bush began that morning at an elementary
4:12school in Sarasota, Florida.
4:15Within minutes, he was leading the country through one of the gravest
4:18crises in its history, while the White House itself was evacuated and
4:23officials feared that another hijacked aircraft could be headed directly
4:27toward the seat of the presidency.
4:30For this 25th anniversary, we wanted to tell that story through
4:34the memories of people who actually lived that day at the White House.
4:41Ann Compton was the ABC News White House correspondent traveling with
4:46President Bush, and spent that day in an extraordinary way following him aboard
4:51Air Force One all across the country.
4:54Gary Walters was Chief Usher at the White House, responsible
4:58for the executive residence.
5:00His staff were ordered to evacuate, and the Pentagon burned in the distance.
5:06And Anita McBride was a special assistant to the president.
5:10She fled the White House with other staff and then helped establish an improvised
5:15operation just a few blocks away so that the work of the presidency could continue.
5:21What you're about to hear are the memories of three people who saw
5:26September 11 unfold from a completely unique perspective, close to the
5:32president and the White House itself.
5:35Now, 25 years later, this is what they remember
5:55And you're traveling with the president to Florida, and September
5:58the 11th does not begin this trip.
6:01You've been traveling for a couple of days.
6:04Set up that scenario for us.
6:06This was the last day in a long, boring trip when the new president was
6:10selling his education policy, and we were going to a lovely school, a small
6:16school of elementary students, and then we were gonna get on the plane
6:19and go home, and I knew that there was nothing that would happen that day that
6:23would get me on the air that night.
6:25We got to the school, and, uh, I was part of the travel pool, the 12 people,
6:32the reporters and camera persons who go into a small area with him into the
6:37school classroom while all my colleagues, uh, were in the school cafeteria where
6:42the president was gonna come again, make the same education speech we
6:47had heard for three days straight.
6:59Anita, let's go back to September the 11th.
7:02It's a beautiful day in Washington, and you are a special
7:06assistant to the president.
7:07And normally, what time would you arrive at work?
7:10And what was that morning like for you normally before the events happened?
7:15Well, you're right, Stuart, it was a beautiful day in Washington.
7:18It's one of those days where the sky is so blue and so clear, you just wanna
7:22bottle it up and, uh, have it every day.
7:25And, um, you know, I was, it was not a typical morning for me because the
7:30president was out of town, so that always removes a bit of stress around the White
7:35House when the president is not there.
7:38So I went in a little later than usual.
7:40I had an 8:00 breakfast, um, scheduled with Linda Gambatesa,
7:45who had been the Director of Oval Office Operations, longtime, you
7:50know, uh, staff person to Andy Card.
7:52And, and so Andy was on the road, uh, too, so Linda had, uh, some
7:58time to have breakfast with me.
8:00So I was enjoying having this quieter morn- morning at the White
8:03House on such a beautiful day.
8:06Mm.
8:16Gary, thank you for being with me to share your memories of this significant
8:21day in White House history, American history, and you're there as the
8:25chief usher in the White House.
8:27And normally, what time would you get to work on a business day?
8:31Uh, normally I'd get there around 6:15, 6:30, and talk to the staff.
8:36I'd have them come through the office and get their, um, tick talks for the
8:40day, what they were supposed to do, and give them any instructions to things that
8:44may have occurred from the day, previous day, that they might have to change.
8:48So I'm there usually pretty early.
8:50Um, uh, the usher's office is occupied by the usher, assistant ushers, from
8:57the time the pres- before the president gets up in the morning until after, uh,
9:01he and the First Lady retire at night.
9:04So, um, our office is, is there pretty much, uh, during the waking hours of
9:09the president and the first family.
9:11And on this day, President George W. Bush had left the evening before to fly
9:16to Florida, and you had in residence there at the White House, the First
9:19Lady, Laura Bush, the former president and First Lady, President and Mrs.
9:24George H. W. Bush.
9:26And so you arrive at work, and you know that they have
9:28their schedules for the day.
9:30What was the plan for them that morning?
9:32Well, that morning, the, the, uh, former president, uh, and Barbara Bush were
9:38going to be leaving to go back to their home in Houston, and they, uh, were
9:42scheduled to leave somewhere around 8:00.
9:45The president, uh, former president came down the elevator.
9:49I, I met him at the elevator like I normally did when he was there, and
9:53what I did with most of the presidents.
9:55And, uh, I walked out to the South Portico with him.
9:58He was carrying his luggage, his suitcase or suit bag over his shoulder
10:03and a bag in one hand, and I offered to help him out, and he said, "Nope, I
10:06can do it myself," uh, like he normally did, and he carried it out and put
10:09it in the Secret Service, uh, car.
10:12And then he went on.
10:14After he put his bags in the car, he told the agents he wanted
10:17to go over to the West Wing and see some of the West Wing staff.
10:20So he went over to the staff, and a few minutes later, Mrs. Bush,
10:24Barbara Bush, came down the elevator and greeted her, and I had told
10:28some of the staff that, that Mrs.
10:30Bush was going to be leaving.
10:32And, um, this was about 7:55 in the morning, I guess, and we stood and
10:37talked for a few minutes, and when the president came back from the Oval
10:41Office, he and Mrs. Bush got in the car at the South Portico there and took
10:45off with the Secret Service to go to the airport to go back to their home.
10:47And
10:47they were flying commercially back to Houston, Texas.
10:50Yes.
10:50Correct
11:11Well, Laura Bush, the First Lady, her husband is in Florida on business,
11:15and she has her own schedule that morning, and you would walk her down,
11:19uh, to the car, which is she was going to Capitol Hill, I believe.
11:23Tell us about her plans that morning and what your conversation, if you
11:27could share a little bit about that.
11:28Certainly.
11:29The First Lady was going down to Capitol Hill, and she was gonna have
11:33a, um, meeting with the committee, uh, headed by Pr- Senator Kennedy on
11:41childhood, Early Childhood Education.
11:44And, um, in fact, when we were walking out to the car and we were talking briefly,
11:49I asked her, uh, with a smile on my face, "Uh, are you taking your boxing gloves?"
11:55And she laughed and, and said, "No, not this time." And, um, we talked
12:00briefly about Christmas decorations - Oh, sure … that are gonna be coming
12:02up- Sure … in a, uh, three months.
12:05She got in the car, and as she was getting in the car, her agent, Ron Sprinkle, um,
12:11told her, "Mrs. Bush, I've just gotten information that a plane has flown
12:16into one of the World Trade Centers."
12:18Mm. And she said, "Well, please keep me advised, Ron, as to what's
12:23going on." And as he closed the door, he turned to me and he said,
12:27"There's something else going on."
12:31So I was in the White House mess, and Linda and I were eating breakfast, and
12:34one of our colleagues who w- worked in the legislative affairs office, uh, Bob Marsh,
12:40came into the mess, saw us, and told us, he said, "Hey, did you hear there was a
12:44plane that hit the World Trade Center?"
12:47We thought like everybody else did, including later finding out
12:50that the president thought that it was just, you know, an errant
12:53plane and a terrible accident.
12:56I went back inside, and as I was going in the door, I could see in
13:00the Secret Service room, uh, a small room, uh, that, th- it was crowded
13:05with people looking at the television.
13:08So I passed that by and went up to my office one flight up, uh,
13:13adjacent to the elevator, and even my office was full of people.
13:18Mm.
13:19And I looked at the television.
13:21Just as I looked at the television, I saw a plane fly into the building,
13:26and I looked at one of my aides and I said, "How in the world did
13:30they get that on film so quickly?"
13:33And he said, "That's a second plane into the second building." It
13:39was almost like my heart stopped.
13:40Mm-hmm.
13:42And I sat down, w- watched a little bit of the coverage, and about 10 minutes
13:47later, I called Kathy Fenton, the social secretary, and I said, "Kathy,
13:52we gotta, we're canceling this picnic." Got- Or post- at least postponing
13:56it.
13:57So the picnic that very night was planned for the entire Congress
14:01to come to the White House.
14:02That w- What would that set up?
14:02We'd been planning all s- spring and summer for this picnic.
14:07There were gonna be about 1,800 people-
14:09Mm
14:09… on the South Lawn that evening.
14:12Um, the f- lawn was filled with, uh, picnic tables- Mm
14:16uh, a stage, catering tents.
14:19Uh, you know, f- they had brought in, Perini Ranch had brought in
14:23two yar- large vehicles that were outdoor-sized truck grills and had been
14:28cooking meat for the past two days.
14:31And we had caterers come in here, and probably had, um, 200 extra people
14:37coming in to help serve, uh, the, the buffet that was going to be going on.
14:41So I knew that we had to stop those people from coming in to the White House.
15:00So you're all stand- standing in the back of the room yawning, thinking you're going
15:04to just get this pro forma appearance by the president in front of these kids.
15:11You're standing there in the back and something happens that's a bit jarring.
15:15What is that?
15:17While the president was listening to the children, I suddenly saw Andy
15:22Card, the White House Chief of Staff, a veteran of many administrations, come
15:27quickly in, lean over, whisper to the president, and quickly step back again.
15:34What stunned me is nobody interrupts a president, even in front of
15:38a classroom of second graders.
15:41What really stunned me was the look on the president's face.
15:44Tell us about that.
15:45What did that expression say to you?
15:48He had been president for less than nine months, and I had never
15:53seen President Bush with a look of such gravity, iron gravity in his
15:59eyes, and Andy Card stepped away.
16:03It was months later when Andy Card, the ch- the White House Chief of
16:08Staff, finally agreed to tell us what he said to the president.
16:14"A second plane has hit the second tower. America is under attack."
16:33In our White House History quarterly that we did for a previous September 11th
16:38observation, we chronicle the White House minute by minute throughout the day.
16:42Your article as accompanying the president, as the television
16:47reporter that day, details your notes, your day, your account of
16:53what happened with the president.
16:55Now, you spoke of the White House chief of staff as being a veteran, but
16:59you yourself quite a veteran of the White House in covering presidents.
17:02In fact, you've shared that just the night before you had observed
17:06your 25th anniversary of covering the president and the White House.
17:09That's right.
17:10And because I had traveled so much with presidents, I had known so much of how the
17:18White House works, and I had been in war zones and dangerous areas with presidents,
17:23and I know how the Secret Service reacts.
17:26Whenever there is any kind of attack or crisis anywhere in the world,
17:34the Secret Service reaction is it's a diversion, and it might really be
17:39the president that is the target.
17:41When the USS Cole ship in- Mm-hmm … Yemen was attacked-
17:44Mm-hmm … first thing they thought of is, "That's distraction." Mm-hmm.
17:47"It's the commander-in-chief they're looking for."
17:50So we knew immediately, we, i- in the room, the few of us who were
17:55there in the pool, uh, watching this, the president finally stood up and,
17:59and, uh, uh, thanked the students.
18:02And Dick Kile, uh, one of the reporters from Bloomberg who had heard about the,
18:06the plane before, he said, "Mr. Mr. President, is there a plane crash?"
18:10And the president didn't wanna say anything and headed for the door.
18:14We went out of the classroom, this was the 12 of us in the main travel pool,
18:20out into the what's a parking lot, and Ari Fleischer, the White House
18:23press secretary, comes over and says, "Ann, hold your crew right here. The
18:27president's gonna come make a statement."
18:28I said, "No, he's not. This camera's not plugged into anything." Mm. "But
18:33in the, in the cafeteria where the students and the teachers are waiting
18:38for the speech, those cameras have been live all morning. He's got to
18:43go." They didn't wanna scare the kids.
18:45Mm-hmm.
18:46But the president did go into the ca- into the cafeteria, and he had to be very, very
18:51careful in a crisis on what he would say.
18:54Spoke very briefly, "An apparent terrorist attack. I must return to Washington.
19:01Uh, United States will respond," and then he asked for a moment of silence.
19:07We'll be going back to Washington after
19:08my remarks.
19:09Terrorism against our nation will not stand.
19:13And now if you join me in a moment of silence
19:21May God bless the victims, their families, and America.
19:24Thank you very much.
19:30Where the mess is, as you know, is on the ground floor of the West Wing.
19:33Linda and I were exiting, and, uh, the Secret Service was already mobilizing,
19:39uh, down there, moving very quickly, giving us commands to get people out of
19:44their offices and to bring them to the, the mess, thinking that's a secure space.
19:51Mm-hmm.
19:51As you know, it's sort of underground.
19:53It's near where the Situation Room is, so there's no windows,
19:57believed to be a safe place.
19:59So Linda went up one of the stairwells, um, up to the first floor to start to
20:06gather people and tell them to come down to the mess, and I went up, uh,
20:10the other, so the back set of stairs near the, um, Oval Office and, um,
20:16went up to the, uh, the second floor to gather people from the second floor.
20:22Went through the West Lobby- What'd you tell them?
20:24Up to the second- What did you say?
20:25Is said that we'd been told to leave your offices and come to the White House Mess.
20:29Again, no one… It was start, people had televisions on, so they had seen, you
20:37know, uh, on air live coverage of these planes hitting the World Trade Center.
20:43Mm. And we weren't there very long, um, before, of course, the plane
20:49that crashed, the, uh, American Airlines 77 crashed the Pentagon.
21:03As I started to walk out the south grounds from the diplomatic reception room,
21:09I heard a loud thud in the distance.
21:14And I went a couple more steps, and I looked up to the southwest
21:19over top of the treetops, and I could see black smoke billowing up.
21:24And the police officer that I was standing next to said, "A plane
21:28has just flown into the Pentagon."
21:30And at that point, the police, uh, started screaming at everybody, uh,
21:34"There's another incoming plane. Everybody evacuate." And that started what most
21:40of us have seen by now, the evacuation, people running from the White House.
21:44I made the call to some of my people out loud, not a telephone call, but
21:51out loud, to, "Don't go to Lafayette Park," because my mind was thinking,
21:56and I said, "If a plane was gonna be coming, it'd be coming from the south.
21:59And if there was any over debris, it would've gone to Lafayette Park." So
22:03I was telling my people to go south.
22:05You could feel the frenetic activity in the White House West Wing lobby- Mm … at
22:12that moment- Mm-hmm … of agents now in really heightened alert with drawn
22:18weapons, uh, now telling everyone to get out now, and really telling, you know,
22:24women with high heels on, "Take off your shoes and run for your life"- Mm
22:28essentially.
22:30I was still in the White House Mess and, and, uh, helped
22:34people evacuate, uh, the office.
22:36In fact, there were photos of it, you know, from, uh, that morning where
22:40you could see I'm guiding people out of the Mess and telling them
22:43to go, you know, out the northwest gate- Mm-hmm … or southwest gate.
22:47All of the gates- Mm-hmm
22:48were thrown open throughout the entire complex.
22:51Mm-hmm.
22:52Uh, and I waited for every last person to get out of, of the Mess.
22:57I had still had my purse with me.
23:00Many people without their- Oh, wow.
23:01Yeah … purses, without their keys- Yeah … you know, without any of their
23:06belongings, as people now were running in all directions to go out the gates.
23:11And, a- and to go where?
23:12Where were people going?
23:12We, and where were people going?
23:14What did you… Yes.
23:14People were going out into the street, Stuart.
23:16Yeah.
23:17I mean, we really, when you think about it, were sitting ducks.
23:20You know, at this point, the Pentagon now had been hit,
23:24and we were in Lafayette Park.
23:26A good number- Mm-hmm
23:27of people exited.
23:29When we first came out the northwest gate and started heading up 17th
23:34Street- Which in hindsight is really in the zone of destruction-
23:36Abso- … if it were headed to the White
23:36House … and completely open.
23:38Yeah.
23:38And completely open.
23:40And it wasn't very long b- after just sort of standing there and looking around
23:45and seeing the people that were running, people coming out of the first and floor
23:50st- uh, first and second floor of the West Wing, so senior staff, uh, standing there.
23:55And it, it struck me this was not right.
23:58Mm-hmm.
23:58Yeah, I had worked in the White House enough.
24:00I had worked in two other administrations.
24:02Mm-hmm.
24:03As you know, I'd been in management and administration, in operations, so knew
24:08instinctively these are people who should have access to a phone- Mm-hmm … should
24:13have access to their staff, and should be in a place safer than this You know,
24:18we did not have, um, BlackBerries then.
24:22We didn't really have any modern, uh, form of communication.
24:26We had flip phones, and, uh, they were not working for everybody.
24:30But I was able to get one phone call out on my flip phone, and I had called
24:35my husband, Tim, uh, McBride, who was, you know, the number two in the Daimler
24:40Chrysler office- Mm-hmm … here in Washington, the Government Affairs
24:44Office just two blocks from the White House at 14th and H Street.
24:48And I said, "I'm standing here in Lafayette Park. I've got all these people
24:52around me." H- his immediate reaction was, because if, if you know as well,
24:57in the Bush, uh, 41 administration, he had been in management administration,
25:02had been head of operations, had, had been director of the military office.
25:06So he had good instinct.
25:08He, to say, "Tell everyone to come here- Mm-hmm … and, um, they, they can
25:13work out of the offices here." He sent all of his staff home and told them to
25:18leave their computers on and to leave the computer passwords- Hmm … because
25:22there were gonna be people here from the White House that would need to work.
25:26And so, uh, the first group of us got up there.
25:29People started using landlines to call people or use their
25:33phones if they were operating.
25:35And I grabbed one of the, um, scheduling staff, uh, Helen Mobley, who was
25:40working in scheduling at that time.
25:42She evacuated there with us, too.
25:44I sat her at the front desk and I said, "Everybody that's here, take their name,
25:49take their phone number, the time that they're here, and if they're leaving,
25:52to tell you where they're going," um, so that we had a record of everyone that
25:57was there and can keep track of them.
26:00As we had more senior people coming in, we had the head of Cabinet Affairs, the head
26:04of Legislative Affairs, uh, came in there.
26:07We had, um, um, speech writing team started assembling there.
26:12Mm-hmm.
26:12The head of Political Operations, Ken Mehlman, uh, w- wa- was there.
26:17Mm-hmm.
26:17And so I faxed a list back.
26:19We had the head of the National Economic Council- Mm-hmm
26:21Larry Lindsey, I mean, think about that- Mm-hmm … was in,
26:24in the Daimler Chrysler offices.
26:26So I faxed that list through the White House- Mm-hmm … you know, switchboard
26:31operator to the Situation Room.
26:42We are looking now at Air Force One.
26:45We've just been told by ABC's Ann Compton That there's been a serious
26:51investigation now, or serious check of Air Force One before the president,
26:56who's been in Florida, gets on it and flies back to Washington.
26:59But in fact, he did not return right away to Washington, and a decision was
27:04being made as to who would accompany him on this very quick exit out of Sarasota.
27:09Share those moments with us, and how it was determined who would go and who would
27:14not go, and what that departure felt like.
27:17It was a rare moment when the president gave an order, and his lieutenants
27:22had no intention of o- obeying them.
27:25Mm. The engines on the plane were roaring, and we s- the president
27:30was on, the door up front was shut.
27:32And, uh, we took off, and the president assumed he was going back to Washington.
27:38The plane, we flew for hours away from Washington.
27:42We could see the ground.
27:43We were clearly down on the Gulf Coast.
27:46And, uh, we had television screens in the front bulkhead wall of
27:51each cabin on Air Force One.
27:54We flew so high to keep Air Force One safe that the pictures on the
28:00television, grabbed from the stations on the ground, was very weak, but we
28:05could see the, the burning buildings.
28:07We could see people running.
28:09Mm. And then at 10:29, we saw the towers fall.
28:14Mm. To be in Air Force One and watch a brutal attack on innocent civilians-
28:23Mm … was absolutely horrifying.
28:28At the moment like that, you're there as a professional with a job.
28:34What are you feeling as a television journalist covering the White House
28:38for ABC News, and what are you feeling, Ann Compton, American citizen?
28:43I was feeling, as Ann Compton, just an American citizen, how many
28:47people were just going to work in the Twin Towers that morning?
28:51We thought maybe 20,000 people in each building.
28:55And when we saw them flo- fall, and, uh, there's an iconic picture that shows,
29:02uh, Sonia Ross from the Associated Press and me in my seat right behind
29:06her, both in shock because we knew that what we were watching live- Mm
29:13was the death of thousands of Americans.
29:16And just feet away from you is the President of the United States,
29:19airborne, probably itching to be back in Washington, and you're on
29:24this travel throughout the West, and you have no idea where you're going.
29:29At first, he thought he was going back to Washington.
29:32It was never to be.
29:34Mm. Andy Card, the Chief of Staff, kept saying, "Mr. President, you
29:37don't wanna make that decision right now"- Mm … trying to buy time.
29:41I went to the back galley- In the plane where the press, uh,
29:45area is, and one of the stewards there had been there for years.
29:49I said, "Andy, what's for lunch?" And he said, "We have one chicken
29:55sandwich for everybody on board and enough fuel to get back to Washington."
30:00By this time, we'd been circling the Gulf Coast for longer than it would take, so we
30:06knew the plane was gonna need to refuel.
30:09You don't ever wanna refuel in the air when a president's on board.
30:12It's just too dangerous.
30:14We ended up, uh, Ari Fleischer came, the pr- White House press secretary, who
30:18was very good about keeping us informed.
30:20We didn't see the president.
30:21He was on, trying to make the phones work.
30:23He couldn't, couldn't talk to the people on the ground that he needed.
30:27But Ari Fleischer said, "The president is being evacuated. That's off the
30:32record." I said, "No, it's not. That's historic, it's important,
30:39and that cannot be off the record."
30:41I also had nothing but a Motorola flip phone-
30:44Hmm
30:45… cell phone with no service, so there was no way I could report that.
30:49But we did indeed land at a military base.
30:52We were told, "Don't take pictures. Don't report where we are." We even
30:56had to turn our own cell phones off so that nobody could pinpoint… You
31:00know, cell phones can be located.
31:02They didn't want anybody to know where we were.
31:05The Air Force officer is helping us into the building, the president to
31:08a suite where he could make calls, said, "Are you kidding? Everybody in
31:13Shreveport, Louisiana just saw Air Force One fly over their head." Exactly.
31:17He said, "The local press is already beating down our gates."
31:20Right.
31:21So he was, his, his location was well-known.
31:27ABC's Ann Compton is with the president at the moment, and
31:31we have her on the telephone.
31:32Annie.
31:34Peter, it has been a frightening couple of hours for President Bush.
31:38We took off in Air Force One from Florida, where he first got word of
31:42this, and we literally, Peter, have been flying at well over 40,000 feet.
31:48When we got to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, the m-
31:52the White House was wondering.
31:54They brought me over to a big console telephone, a military telephone, with
31:58an officer to dial ABC News for me, and I again, uh, did more reporting.
32:04Uh, here's where we were.
32:06The president is using the phone.
32:07He's finally in touch with people in Washington.
32:10That the senior members of the government, the president included,
32:12could in fact run the country from a command center in the sky.
32:16Ab- Is that basically what's happening this morning?
32:17Absolutely.
32:18In fact, the US used to have five aircraft, now Air Force One.
32:23Let me know if we're being taken out of here.
32:25Uh, we may be scrambled out of here.
32:26Okay.
32:27Are we leaving?
32:28Okay.
32:28Peter, th- we are leaving, and I think- Where are you
32:30going, Annie?
32:31Peter, I have no idea
32:35This is the moment in which, as we were heading back to the plane,
32:40Andy Card announced that, uh, not everyone will continue to travel.
32:45They'd bumped two congressmen off, a lot of White House staff,
32:49uh, some, some support personnel, and five from the 12-person pool.
32:57Associated Press writer, ABC Network Television, two-person
33:03CBS crew, and, uh, Doug Mills, the New York Times photographer.
33:09We were now it, five of us, and we were allowed to get back on this empty, quiet,
33:15cold plane, and knew that we thought there was no way we're going back to Washington.
33:24They wouldn't tell…
33:25The President is being evacuated, they said, uh, and he's gonna keep traveling.
33:30We were flying west away from Washington, and the President was furious.
33:37Mm.
33:46I knew we had to clear that space where the helicopter lands.
33:50And now, I also knew that the Pentagon landing site was not available,
33:54'cause that's the alternate.
33:55Mm-hmm.
33:56If the president can't land at the White House, it lands at the Pentagon,
34:00or the vice president's residence.
34:01I knew those weren't available.
34:03Um, so we spent considerable amount of time clearing the
34:10picnic tables and everything.
34:12How aware were you of what was happening with the vice president
34:17and his staff, and them being taken to the Emergency Operations Center?
34:21Was that sort of a separate scenario- That- … happening concurrently?
34:25That was something that occurred that I didn't find out until later.
34:27They were taken from the West Wing down through the basement level
34:32of the Executive Residence, which it includes a corridor that's, uh,
34:37part of the Presidential Operations Center that goes to the East Wing,
34:43um, at that time, where the, uh, the Presidential Operations Command Center,
34:48PEOC- Yes … is, is lo- was located.
34:51And, um, they were taken there.
34:54The, the, uh, Secretary of State, the vice president, uh, s- senior White
34:58House staff were all taken and spent the entire day, actually, and it took place,
35:02uh, with automatically, I guess, with
35:05the vice president.
35:05And you were certainly aware of the residence staff, your team- Mm-hmm
35:08and others in the East Wing that w- had been ordered to flee and to leave.
35:12Well, it was very difficult getting a handle on that.
35:15I kept a few people with me on the east, southeast knoll, um, overlooking the
35:22South Grounds, because once again, I knew my job was to get that area cleared
35:28up so that we could have the helicopter land when the president returned.
35:33I didn't know when that was gonna be, but I knew we had to do it.
35:36Well, there were 160 300-pound heavy picnic tables.
35:42Tell us how that happened.
35:43How did you clear that South Lawn?
35:45By hand.
35:46Uh, we got around the tables, uh, six of us, and picked them up one by one,
35:50and carried them over to the roadway and stacked them one on top of the other.
35:55And sometime after 10:00, when we were feeling a little less uncomfortable-
36:01Mm-hmm … we actually got, uh, one of the Park Service people to go get a
36:05forklift on a, the backside of a tractor, and come in and be able to pick up
36:10the tables, uh, with the m- mechanics.
36:13And then we also, uh, we had to take up the floor of the stage that was
36:17pr- because the helicopter downwash would've flipped up those- Sure
36:22boards that were on the stage, and all the equipment that was there.
36:25We had to make sure it was secured, and taken away the tents that were
36:28up for the caterers, and all the tables for serving, and everything
36:32that was moveable had to go.
36:46But Mrs. Bush was called, you know, on at that moment where no one can prepare
36:50you, because she was about to deliver a briefing to the Senate, um, um, Health
36:56and Education Committee about the early childhood education, uh, cogn-
37:00early cognitive, um, um, childhood cognitive development summit that she
37:05had held at Georgetown University, your stomping grounds that summer
37:09Mm-hmm.
37:09And where I was working on 9/11, yeah.
37:10You
37:11were working on September 11th, um, too.
37:14So, uh, but of course, that was postponed.
37:17Um, she waited for the president, the nation to hear him first, and
37:22then, um, uh, spoke some words to the press in the briefing room at the
37:26Capitol, and was asked by a reporter, Larry Quillan of USA Today- Mm
37:31"Mrs.
37:31Bush, what should we say to the children?" Mm. And you know, the instincts of a
37:36mother, the instincts of a teacher, um, she said to tell them that they are
37:40safe, that they are loved- Mm … and that they are protected, and that there
37:45are, you know, good, bad people in the world, but there are good people, too.
37:50And to turn off the television.
37:51Mm. And really, the next day, um, that was the direction, you know,
37:55to her staff, and in working with the Secretary of Education, that she
37:59got a letter out to every school-
38:02Mm
38:02… in America at all levels.
38:05Mm.
38:05Every school, every elementary school, every middle school, every
38:08high school, a letter from the First Lady of, of, of comfort.
38:12So with the president's chief of staff with the president on an airplane that
38:16nobody- Mm-hmm … knows where they are.
38:18Right.
38:18The deputy chief of staff is in New York getting ready for
38:21another future event up there.
38:22A
38:23Uni- UN General Assembly visit.
38:24And the staff senior- Mm-hmm … and all levels is just- Mm-hmm … kind
38:28of trying to figure out what to do.
38:30Right.
38:31How do you get focus?
38:32How do you determine, okay, what is next to be done?
38:35Right.
38:35What needs to be done?
38:36Well, it happened very quickly because one of the lessons, uh, from 9/11 and that
38:41evacuation and being with the White House staff at all levels, staff assistants to
38:47s- very senior people, was how much the focus was on continuing to do their job.
38:53There was a job that had to be done to support the president, to be
38:56responsive to the needs of the country.
38:59Uh, the most senior person, of course, in Washington on that
39:02day was the vice president.
39:04I mean, he was in the bunker.
39:05The second most senior, uh, person, of course, was the deputy
39:09chief of staff, Josh Bolten.
39:11And so as we had this s- senior team that was at Daimler Chrysler, we ended
39:16up with about 72 people- Mm … working out of there that day, all offices,
39:21scheduling- Mm … cabinet affairs, legislative affairs, economic, um,
39:25council, um, communications, a big communication staff, speech writers.
39:30Mm-hmm.
39:30This is where the speech writers wrote the speech for the president- Mm
39:34uh, that night from the Daimler Chrysler offices.
39:44For the president, the chance to land at Offutt meant that he could go to a
39:51protected bunker well under the ground, and he could finally talk, c- could
39:56see… He liked to see people, and he could see George Tenet at the CIA.
40:01He could see Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice in the PEOC
40:05underneath the White House.
40:07And, uh, when, when we, we got on the ground at Offutt, the president
40:11got in a car, and we followed along.
40:14And I'm on the phone live to Peter Jennings.
40:17Mm-hmm.
40:18And, um, I said, "Well, there's- we're at a big headquarters building, but
40:23the president is now going over to this little cinder block shack, and he's
40:28going in, and his staff's going in.
40:31And then all this personnel's going, more and more people." It was the
40:34air shaft and emergency exit for the, for the bunker, and it was easier to
40:40have him walk down many f- than to go into a building, use the elevators.
40:44It was the quick way down.
40:46And I said live on the air, "Peter, he's gone down the rabbit hole."
40:52I don't know where that came from.
40:55And then how long were you there?
40:58And, and was that the point where you, where it was determined that
41:01you could return to Washington?
41:03The president spent a full hour, almost an hour and a half.
41:07He had said that he knew he had to address the American people, and
41:12he later, uh, told an interviewer, "I was damned if I was gonna do
41:15it from a hole under Nebraska."
41:18So we hustled to get back, uh, on the plane, and I could report on the
41:24record, "The president is returning to Washington, and he will address the nation
41:29from the Oval Office." It took until 2:30, almost 3:00 in the afternoon, for
41:35the president to finally get his way.
41:39The landscape of New York City has just been changed.
41:43One has to assume that thousands of lives have been extinguished.
41:49In- incredible that you and your colleagues had the commitment and
41:53the passion to take care of the business of the country- Right … at
41:56that critical moment, but you all had families and friends and-
41:59Mm-hmm … the anxieties and concerns.
42:01How did you balance those stresses- Mm-hmm
42:05together that day?
42:07Right.
42:07Well, I think, you know, of course, we were watching all
42:09the images like everyone else.
42:11All of the big, um, televisions were on in the conference room, and people
42:15were in and out of there and, you know, incredulous really, and, but then also
42:20trying to console, you know, each other.
42:22And there were a lot of quiet moments.
42:25There, um, were definitely the, um, the experience of not
42:31knowing what to say really.
42:34Um, but I think we were comforted that we were together.
42:37Mm-hmm.
42:37We were comforted that we were still working.
42:40People did try and reach, you know, their families, um, to
42:44alert people that they were safe.
42:46Um, you know, the, the head of the intern, um, office, this was
42:51their second day on the job- Mm
42:53for these interns.
42:54I mean, can you imagine their families worrying about them?
42:58About 3:30 in the afternoon I received a call from the military
43:03office of the White House that said, "Um, we got an odd question to ask.
43:06We know you have all that stuff on the South Grounds." They said, "Any chance
43:09we could get it moved so they could get the president's helicopter in?"
43:13And I kinda smiled and said, "It's done."
43:16I love that.
43:16So task completed.
43:19Also around that time, um, I was able to get the executive
43:25chef back into the perimeter.
43:27Mm-hmm.
43:28Um, and it came to my mind that there'd been people working there, Secret
43:33Service- Mm … uh, Uniform Division of the White House, uh, Police,
43:37um, the national security staff.
43:40So I called the chef and I said, "Walter, is there any way that you would be
43:45able to provide meals?" Mm. I said, "I know for the picnic that we were gonna
43:50serve hamburgers and hot dogs to the children." So could we get it done?
43:54He said, "Actually," he said, "all the barbecue's finished.
43:58I can actually cut that up and serve it easier than I can
44:03doing hamburgers and hot dogs."
44:05And he said, "With the help of a couple of people, I can get some
44:08green beans that were gonna be served that are already prepared.
44:11All they have to be is heated up and some other things." And I told
44:15the chef that I thought, anticipated about 150 to 200 people, um, that
44:20we'd probably have to serve, and he said, "Okay, I can take care of it."
44:23Well, as it turned out, he and three other people, two, two butlers
44:28and one of my assistant ushers in the kitchen, spent from 5:00 until
44:358:00, and they served 650 meals.
44:38My goodness.
44:51President takes Marine One to the cleared South Lawn from the picnic tables that
44:55were set for the congressional dinner.
44:58What do you do when you land?
44:59Well, we had no way to get back to the White House, but this is where a
45:05White House that cares about accurate, fair press coverage and to make sure
45:10that responsible media is with the president, for the only time in my
45:1540 years, arc of 40 years covering the White House, there was a second
45:20helicopter for the five in the press pool.
45:23Mm. We had our own helicopter, and we flew up the Anacostia, then the
45:27Potomac River, and looked at the billowing black smoke from the Pentagon,
45:33and then down into the streets of Washington that were totally empty.
45:38It
45:38was a ghost town.
45:39What are you thinking?
45:39What are you feeling when you see that?
45:40And
45:42it, it was incredibly sobering.
45:44We know this is what now the president is seeing.
45:47He lands on the South Lawn, and we landed on the lawn of the Washington
45:52Monument, this soaring symbol-
45:55Mm
45:56… of freedom and independence and strength.
46:00And a White House van zipped us into the White House grounds,
46:04into the White House Press Room.
46:05Mm. And that's where things returned to some kind of normal,
46:10because now the president would have the people's attention.
46:26Good evening.
46:27Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom
46:32came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts.
46:39The victims were in airplanes or in their offices, secretaries, businessmen
46:45and women, military and federal workers, moms and dads, friends and neighbors.
46:51Thousands-
46:53In the ABC News booth, I finally, for the first time, sat down,
46:57opened my laptop, and looked at my email … as airplanes fly into
47:01buildings, fires burning And Stuart,
47:04it was a day of crisis and importance and focus.
47:09The first email is from my two sons at Vanderbilt University.
47:13Mm. "Mom, our fraternity brother, Ted Atterley, was on the 93rd
47:19floor of the first tower."
47:22A young man I'd seen just weeks earlier, a friend of my children, gone.
47:27Mm.
47:28And I sat down and I cried.
47:30Mm. Yet we go forward to defend freedom and all that
47:36is good and just in our world.
47:40Thank you, good night, and God bless America
47:51The majority of the people, uh, were told to go home.
47:55The residence staff, the White House staff, you know, "Don't even attempt to
47:59come back in. We have enough security issues." It was, it was a very, uh,
48:04unsettling time in just trying to keep track of what we needed to do.
48:11At that point it became the overriding responsibility on me to
48:15see to the care of the first family.
48:17So I was just making sure that we had things in place to, to make their life,
48:23um, as uncomplicated with everything else that they had to deal with.
48:27I got a notification from the president that at about, I guess it was about 10:30,
48:33that they had retired for the evening.
48:35They'd let me know, um, that they didn't need any service, and I
48:38released all the residence staff that were there, all of them.
48:41I mean, I think there were seven there at that time, uh, the butlers
48:45and the chefs and, uh, and I had made the decision that I was just
48:48gonna stay there, um, that night and, and be aware of what was going on.
48:52But that was not the end of the day.
48:55No.
48:55At about 11:00, um, I was sitting in the usher's office and actually
48:59writing down everything, uh, that had occurred during the day, and watching
49:04the news reports and, and getting a better sense of what was going on away
49:10from the White House and where the president was and how he was traveling.
49:13And, and, uh, I was sitting there and all of a sudden I heard a commotion
49:20coming up the steps adjacent to, uh, our office, and the Secret Service
49:23agents came running in and they said, "Where's the president?" I said,
49:27"Well, he's retired for the evening." They said, "Well, we gotta get him.
49:30We have, uh, information that there's another plane"-
49:33Mm
49:34"coming towards Washington. We gotta get he and the first lady out." So, um, I
49:39got on the elevator, took them upstairs, and when the elevator doors opened I
49:43called down the hall for Neal to hurry up because he heard the commotion also.
49:48And, uh, president was leading the first lady to the elevator with the
49:51aid of an agent, and they got on the elevator and went down to the basement
49:55level and through that corridor.
49:57And- Mm-hmm … doors were opening and closing, uh, the
50:00blast doors- Mm … opening and closing, and, and I followed along.
50:04I figured as long as I'm with the president, I'm probably as
50:06safe as I can be, so I stayed pretty close at that point.
50:09And, uh, two of my staff were on the ground floor that had set up
50:13that evening at, for the president's speech that he made at a- at 8:30.
50:18And, um, I grabbed them by the arm and they said, "We can't go there."
50:21And I said, "Yes, you are." And I- … they drove them down the hall
50:23literally, um, towards the PEOC.
50:26And, uh, when we got there, the little room that they went into was
50:30very small, and we just stood in a corridor- Mm … um, and waited.
50:34Uh, and it was only 15 minutes later that the secret agents, Secret
50:37Service agents came out and said, "Sorry, it was a, a false alarm."
50:56What was the morning after like?
50:57The sun rises the next day, America's continuing on, the
51:02president is addressing this crisis.
51:03What do you remember about that day and the immediate days that followed?
51:08The very first thing I noticed the next morning was that the president's
51:12demeanor had completely changed.
51:14Mm.
51:15He came down the elevator.
51:16His demeanor usually w- I was usually there when he came down the elevator
51:20to go over to the Oval Office, was that he was, uh, jovial and always had, uh,
51:26comments for the people that were around.
51:28And, uh, that, uh, George W. Bush was, was no longer there.
51:33A very stern face and, um, a determination, I guess, I, it
51:39would be the best way I can put it, as he walked to the Oval Office.
51:43And I asked, asked him outright if there was anything we could do to make
51:48he and his family any more comfortable.
51:50And he said, "Not at this time."
51:53Mm. Did you ever have a conversation with the president or First Lady
51:57about what happened that day?
51:59No, I did not.
52:00Um, I've, I felt that they were put upon by so many people,
52:04that was the last thing.
52:06All I wanted to do was know if there was anything we could do to make it easier.
52:21Here we are, it's hard to believe, 25 years later after the events
52:26that we've just discussed.
52:27As you reflect on that time and what you've, or what we all feared may have
52:32been the new normal in America, what are your thoughts upon reflection?
52:37Very emotional still to this day.
52:39Um, I see some of the, uh, repeat films, uh, and the, the people that lost
52:45their lives and the, the, the efforts that were made to try and save people.
52:50It was extraordinary.
52:52And the one thing that I I think about the most is what the days
52:57after meant to the American people.
53:00Mm. We came together as a country- Mm … as we haven't probably
53:04since the Second World War.
53:06And I mean, it was that emotional feeling of what, um, our country was facing and
53:14what the American people felt about it and how they reacted was satisfying.
53:20And how we felt about each other.
53:22Yes, sir.
53:23And how we cared for one another.
53:26Political affiliations seemed to fade away.
53:28I remember so vividly the Congress on the steps of the Capitol that night,
53:32uh, singing together united, and, uh, the president, uh, going to New York
53:37in the subsequent days, and then of course the difficult decisions that
53:41followed regarding military action.
53:43But, uh, it was a very poignant time, and as I reflect back on those days,
53:49uh, and the f- the fear and the fright and the unknown that we experienced, and
53:53yet there's people in their mid-20s now who have no living memory of that time.
54:00But for those of us who do remember it, it was a day that changed America.
54:04And, uh, uh, I just look at the leadership that President Bush showed, and Mrs. Bush.
54:10I think in the days that followed she really became a mother or grandmother
54:14for the nation in the way that she spoke out and appeared on television in a very,
54:19uh, compassionate and endearing way.
54:22It shows what our first ladies, the influence that they can have.
54:26Um, through the years the first ladies have stepped forward in, in almost
54:30every case in every administration in some way to help advance the American
54:35people.
54:36That's so true.
54:37That's so true You later became chief of staff to First Lady Laura Bush.
54:43After you took that role, did you ever have a conversation with her
54:46about what that day was like for her?
54:49Sure.
54:50Talked to Mrs. Bush about it most, at, at different times in our, um, years together
54:57as her chief of staff, particularly over the work around Afghanistan, of course.
55:03But what I did know, um, even when I wasn't working for her,
55:07the next day on September 12th, because of course we were all told
55:12to come back to work the next day.
55:14But what we did hear was how Laura Bush had gathered all of her team, all of her
55:19staff together in her East Wing office, had asked, uh, Reverend Cathy Card to
55:25come in, who was Andy Card's wife, who, and, uh, Cathy was a, um, meth- is a
55:31Methodist minister, brought her into the office to give comfort, um, to her staff,
55:37and she wanted to hear their stories.
55:39She wanted, Mrs. Bush wanted to hear what happened.
55:42Where did they go?
55:43Uh, what did they do?
55:45And you know what?
55:46I thought when that word got to us that Mrs. Bush had, you know, had Cathy Card
55:51in to meet with her staff, you know, we all felt, God, we would've loved
55:55that comfort too, and, you know, what a special person to think about them.
55:59As you reflect back on 25 years, that moment, that day, that all that you
56:05did, the instinct to get staff to go to Tim's office to keep the business
56:10going, what does that day mean to you in terms of your own life and
56:16your own career and your feelings about your service to our country?
56:21I'm not sure I f- fully realized at the moment just how everything in the world to
56:29the degree that it changed would change.
56:32Um- You, you felt in working in the White House, you were working in the
56:38most secure office building in the world.
56:42Uh, and then you realize that it's a vulnerable target, too.
56:48And as the stories started coming out of the, the families, you know, the victims,
56:55the survivors, what happened on Flight, you know, 93, and how quickly, you know,
57:01we realized, I mean, what happened in the skies there was the most American
57:07of acts, of the most democratic of acts.
57:11Those people took a vote to take that plane down to spare others.
57:16That, the minute that you, you know, learned that and heard
57:20that, it, it, I think that was probably the most poignant, uh,
57:26for me.
57:26And the possibility that that plane could've been headed to the White House.
57:29That's right.
57:30It was certainly headed for Washington.
57:32Mm-hmm.
57:32We don't know, I think, to this day if it was headed for the Capitol, if it was
57:36headed, uh, for, uh, the White House.
57:40Um, but certainly we were a target.
57:42And then the stories, you know, s- watching the president go to the, to
57:46the mosque, you know, here, just, you know, the day after 9/11, to make clear
57:52this is not a war, um, with Islam.
57:55Um, and, and really knowing instinctively as president, he had to head off the
58:01kind of backlash that is inevitable.
58:05After that day, 9/11, did you ever have an off-camera conversation with President
58:11Bush or Andy Card about your common experience of flying around that day?
58:16I did.
58:17Many.
58:18And, uh, with, with some of the other people involved, including
58:24security, what it was like for them.
58:27Mm.
58:27Talk about being a target.
58:30Um, yes.
58:32Talked about there's a kind of fraternity feeling- Mm … that you were all in this
58:37aircraft together on a 10-hour odyssey.
58:43And for many years thereafter, on the morning of September 11th, I'd look in my
58:48email and there was one from Andrew Card.
58:51Mm.
58:52Every morning on 9/11, just said, "Thinking of you."
58:59Well, thank you for sharing with us your front row seat on history- Mm-hmm … on
59:05this very consequential day in White House history and in American history.
59:09And, uh, it's a-
59:11Yeah
59:12… a compelling story to remember and to never forget.
59:17Well, if I can just add one thing to that, Stuart, I'm glad that you're doing this
59:20because to that point, which we vowed on 9/11/2001 to never forget, you worked at
59:27a university, I work at a university now.
59:29There's not one college student the undergraduate age
59:32that was born at this time.
59:34It's why it is important to tell these stories, to share, uh, what
59:38happened, how the country was challenged, how it was under attack,
59:41how leaders tried to do the best that they could to protect the nation.
59:45And the president's entire eight years were now dominated- Yes
59:49by that, and is keeping the country safe.
59:52These are important stories of, of history.
59:54People banded together.
59:56That's the message of 9/11, the humanity and the unity that we felt in our
1:00:01darkest hour, and that's what defines who we are as an American people.

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