default avatar
Welcome to the site! Login or Signup below.
Logout|My Dashboard

Sept. 20, 2001: Call to war - J.D. Mullane

Sept. 20, 2001: Call to war

Font Size:
Default font size
Larger font size

Related Business

Posted: Sunday, September 18, 2011 6:00 am | Updated: 2:09 pm, Thu Nov 7, 2013.

With the observance of the anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, we embark on a series of 10-year remembrances that begin with the often overlooked night of Sept. 20, 2011.

It was a Thursday. It had been nine days since the attacks in New York and on the Pentagon and the crash of United Flight 93 in western Pennsylvania. In Lower Manhattan, fires still burned at the collapsed World Trade Center.

That night, a national television audience estimated at 82 million watched President Bush address a joint session of Congress. He declared the “war on terror” and introduced the country to the largely unfamiliar names of the Taliban, al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden.

Sept. 20, 2001, was a day of great change in Pennsylvania. In his speech, Bush announced, to a standing ovation, that Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge would lead a new cabinet-level position, director of Homeland Security. (That made Lt. Gov. and Bucks County native Mark Schweiker the state’s chief executive.)

Bush’s rallying speech is rarely cited, though it has many stirring, historic lines and, at the time, two heart-wrenching moments.

The first moment came when the president looked to the gallery and introduced the still-stunned Lisa Beamer. Her husband, Todd, was killed when he and other passengers aboard Flight 93 thwarted Islamic jihadists from crashing the airliner in Washington, D.C.

The second moment came at the end of the speech, when the president held up a badge.

“It is the police shield of a man named George Howard who died at the World Trade Center trying to save others,” Bush said. “It was given to me by his mom, Arlene, as a proud memorial to her son. It is my reminder of lives that ended and a task that does not end.”

Bush’s words were portent.

“Tonight, we are a country awakened to danger and called to defend freedom. ... Whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done.






Among the millions watching that night were some 19,000 hockey fans who had gathered at the Wachovia Center in South Philadelphia for a preseason game between the Flyers and the New York Rangers. It was intermission as Bush began, and the address was played on large screens over the ice.

Wayne Fish, who covers the Flyers for the newspaper, recalled what happened next.

“They were going to shut off Bush and return to the game, but the fans booed so loudly that the players came out, sat on the benches and watched the rest of the speech. By then, it was decided to end the game.

“The Bush speech seemed to resonate with everyone because there was a feeling that the country had been invaded ... so there was a different feeling in the building, a catharsis, a sense of unity, that you wouldn’t get watching on TV at home.

“I remember the crowd cheering everything Bush had to say, even though many were still getting over a questionable decision to win the presidency the year before,” Fish recalled.

“It was a unique situation. The players, many from Canada and Europe, were equally touched by the crowd’s reaction. At the end of the night, everyone seemed to have a little more resolve about getting America back on its feet.”

The long war and the lives it would change forever had just begun.

More about

Welcome to the discussion.


  • tiyospaye posted at 12:11 pm on Tue, Sep 20, 2011.

    tiyospaye Posts: 4457

    OoooooBama, tingle up your leg? Might want to give the field commanders and military some credit for slaughtering OBL. Was there ever an invasion of Kuwait? Should GHWB have driven on into Bagdad in 1991? Interesting. OoooooooBama, what a thrill.

  • OObama posted at 7:34 pm on Mon, Sep 19, 2011.

    OObama Posts: 156

    Yeah!! Let's get that OSAMA! Uhh.....wait a minute, why are we invading Iraq? Hey, why are we in debt? Because we invaded Iraq? Well, yes partly. What are you talking about you pinko liberal, it's not like we invaded the wrong country & dropped pallets of money into the country by the planeload. Uhh, yeah, that's exactly what we did. Oh, right, and I bet your liberal president could do better. Yep, he did, that liberal pinko commie killed Osama bin laden. The dofus, cowboy as a self reference only, silver spoon lickin' C student from Texas couldn't find him for 8 years. REALLY? Amazing? Yep, Welcome to America.