The video of George W. Bush sitting blankly in a Florida elementary school classroom after learning that a hijacked airplane had crashed into the Twin Towers is an indelible part of Americans’ collective memory of Sept. 11, 2001. But newly released photographs taken throughout that day paint a fuller picture of how senior Bush administration officials handled the catastrophic news.
Released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by PBS Frontline producer Colette Neirouz Hanna, the photos featured Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, and other senior officials. They watched video of the attacks, huddled together in the President’s Emergency Operations Center, and made frantic phone calls. All the photographs were taken by the vice president’s staff photographer. They’ve been made available by the U.S. National Archives.
We’ve selected seven of the most striking images below. See the entire set here.
Vice President Cheney watches footage of the planes crashing into the World Trade Center in his West Wing office.
Vice President Cheney and Mary Matalin, assistant to both Cheney and President Bush, gather with Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Joshua Bolten, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta, Chief of Staff to the Vice President Scooter Libby, and National Security Adviser Condaleezza Rice in the President’s Emergency Operations Center (PEOC)
CIA Director George Tenet listens to President Bush’s address in the PEOC. The Vice President’s wife Lynne Cheney rests her head on her hand in the background
President Bush talks to Vice President Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card in the PEOC
Vice President Cheney yawns while his Chief of Staff Scooter Libby leans in to make a comment
Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice in the PEOC
Vice President Cheney and Lynne Cheney depart the White House on Marine Two along with his Chief of Staff Scooter Libby
