Thursday, October 1, 2026
In two weeks we will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 — the deadliest attack on American soil in the nation’s history. Nearly 3,000 innocent people were killed that day, and the death and suffering didn’t end there. In the years that followed, thousands more became ill and, in many cases, died from the toxic dust in and around the World Trade Center.
Each year, as Sept. 11 approaches, I think back to that day, and how it began so beautifully and uneventfully. I was in Washington, in a car with my chief of staff, Rob O’Connor, heading toward the Capitol. The sky was exceptionally clear — great for flying, I thought. I figured my wife, Rosemary’s, plane would be right on time.
That night was to be the annual congressional barbecue on the south lawn of the White House — the first of George W. Bush’s presidency. Most members of Congress and their spouses would be there. Rosemary was due to land at D.C.’s Reagan National Airport at about 9:40 a.m.
The morning traffic wasn’t particularly heavy. The Capitol dome was in clear sight as I scanned the morning paper. Then Rob’s cellphone rang. It was my press secretary, Kevin Fogarty, telling us matter-of-factly that he’d heard on “The Today Show” that a commuter plane had crashed into the World Trade Center.
Then we heard on the radio that the plane had hit high on the north tower, exploding “like a bomb.” That didn’t sound like a commuter plane. I feared that Rosemary’s 8:30 flight out of LaGuardia might have been near Lower Manhattan about the time of the crash.
Kevin called back to say that the flight had been held and was on the runway, but he had no further details. My daughter, Erin, called. She had just spoken with her husband, John, who worked four blocks north of the trade center and had seen the crash. “It’s just massive,” he told her. “Flames and black smoke shooting out. Debris flying through the air.”
I got out at the Cannon Building, walked up to my fourth-floor office and opened the door to the reception area. It was 9:03. I looked up toward the television on top of a bookcase, and watched as a huge jet flew directly into a tower and exploded in soaring flames. At first I thought it was a video of the north tower crash, but then I realized it was a second plane.
Erin called again. John had seen the plane coming in his direction before it hit the south tower, and he began to run down from his 28th-floor office. Still no word from Rosemary. My calls went directly to her voicemail.
I managed to contact my son, Sean, who worked at the Commerce Department. As we were talking, at 9:21, Rosemary called. Having no idea what was happening, she complained about her plane being taken back to the terminal and the airport being shut down. “How am I supposed to get to the White House tonight?” she asked.
“New York is under attack,” I told her. “Terrorists have attacked the World Trade Center.” Just then I heard the pilot of her plane making that announcement, and passengers shrieking.
My district office director, Anne Rosenfeld, who was very pregnant, drove to LaGuardia to pick up Rosemary. Erin was concerned that she hadn’t heard again from John. But at 9:35 she called with the good news that he had found a cab that took him to the 59th Street Bridge, and was now taking another cab home.
At 9:43, CNN reported an attack on the Pentagon. We were at war. Capitol police were evacuating the Cannon Building, and there was a report of an explosion near the Commerce Department. I called Sean, but his line was dead.
He called at 9:55. The report was false, and I breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment I allowed myself to think all was well. But of course, it wasn’t. The next report was of the crash of Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pa.
For days, weeks and months there would be news of friends, neighbors and so many more who had died. The funerals were endless. Our lives would never be the same. Most important, though, America never wavered. We fought back, and the struggle continues.
Peter King is a former congressman, and a former chair of the House Committee on Homeland Security. Comments? pking@ liherald.com.
