JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — President Georgia W. Bush visited a classroom at Justina Road Elementary School in Jacksonville on Sept. 10, 2001. A day everyone there would likely never forget.
The following day he was in a classroom at Emma E. Booker Elementary in Sarasota. A day the world would never forget.
Bush arrived at the school on a sunny, clear morning on Sept. 11, 2001. He was visiting teacher Kay Daniels’ classroom. During a recent CBS News interview, Daniels recalled how jovial Bush was when he entered the school.
The President visited the schools to tout an increase in national reading scores. As he read the book, “The Pet Goat” to Daniels’ students, the teacher recalled the moment Bush received a whisper in his ear from his Chief of Staff Andrew Card.
“He left us for a moment. Not physically. But he came back,” Daniels said during the CBS interview about Bush’s reaction to Card’s whisper.
Bush finished reading to the kids.
The exact words Card whispered to the President that changed the mood of the classroom and the entire world: “A second plane hit the second tower. America is under attack.”
After speaking those words to Bush, Card said he hoped the President wouldn’t show fear to the children.
He didn’t.
Before leaving the school, Bush addressed the nation with few words and harsh facts. “Today we’ve had a national tragedy. Two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country.”
Read: US marks 25 years since the Sept. 11 attacks
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