The September 11th Attacks

Learning Objectives

  • Explain the events of the September 11, 2002 terrorist attacks on the United States
In 2001, terrorists hijack four airplanes to attack the U.S., and the U.S. invades Afghanistan; a photograph of soldiers aiming their guns from behind a hill in Afghanistan is shown. In 2002, George W. Bush creates the Department of Homeland Security. In 2003, coalition forces invade Iraq. In 2004, Massachusetts legalizes same-sex marriage, and Mark Zuckerberg founds Facebook; a photograph of Zuckerberg sitting with a laptop computer is shown. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastates Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi; an aerial photograph of underwater homes and trees is shown. In 2007, Nancy Pelosi becomes the first female Speaker of the House; a photograph of Pelosi is shown. In 2008, the global financial crisis begins, and Barack Obama is elected president; a photograph of Barack Obama taking the oath of office beside Michelle Obama is shown. In 2010, Congress passes the Affordable Care Act. In 2013, terrorists attack the Boston Marathon, and the Supreme Court rules the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional; a photograph of bystanders assisting the injured at the finish line of the Boston Marathon is shown.

Figure 1. A timeline of events from 2001 to 2013.

The 2000 Presidential Election

The 2000 election pitted Vice President Albert Gore Jr. against George W. Bush, the twice-elected Texas governor and son of the former president. Gore, wary of Clinton’s recent impeachment despite Clinton’s enduring approval ratings, distanced himself from the president and eight years of relative prosperity. Instead, he ran as a pragmatic, moderate liberal. Bush, too, ran as a moderate, claiming to represent a compassionate conservatism and a new faith-based politics. Bush was an outspoken evangelical. In a presidential debate, he declared Jesus Christ his favorite political philosopher. He promised to bring church leaders into government, and his campaign appealed to churches and clergy to get out the vote. Moreover, he promised to bring honor, dignity, and integrity to the Oval Office, a clear reference to Clinton. Utterly lacking the political charisma that had propelled Clinton, Gore withered under Bush’s attacks. Instead of trumpeting the Clinton presidency, Gore found himself answering the media’s questions about whether he was sufficiently an alpha male and whether he had invented the Internet.

Election Recount

Few elections have been as close and contentious as the 2000 election, which ended in a deadlock. Gore had won the popular vote by 500,000 votes, but the Electoral College hinged on a contested Florida election. On election night the media called Florida for Gore, but then Bush made late gains and news organizations reversed themselves by declaring the state for Bush—and Bush the probable president-elect. Gore conceded privately to Bush, then backpedaled as the counts edged back toward Gore yet again. When the nation awoke the next day, it was unclear who had been elected president. The close Florida vote triggered an automatic recount.

Lawyers descended on Florida. The Gore campaign called for manual recounts in several counties. Local election boards, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, and the Florida Supreme Court all weighed in until the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in and, in an unprecedented 5–4 decision in Bush v. Gore, ruled that the recount had to end. Bush was awarded Florida by a margin of 537 votes, enough to win him the state and give him a majority in the Electoral College. He had won the presidency. In his first months in office, Bush fought to push forward enormous tax cuts skewed toward America’s highest earners. The bursting of the dot-com bubble weighed down the economy. Old political and cultural fights continued to be fought. And then the towers fell.

September 11, 2001

Plumes of smoke billow from the World Trade Center towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, after a Boeing 767 hits each tower during the September 11 attacks.

Figure 2. The World Trade Centers billow smoke after being hit by Boeing 747 airplanes. The first plane to hit its target was American Airlines Flight 11. It was crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan at 8:46 am. Seventeen minutes later, at 9:03 am, the World Trade Center’s South Tower was hit by United Airlines Flight 175. Both 110-story towers collapsed within an hour and forty-two minutes, leading to the collapse of the other World Trade Center structures including 7 World Trade Center, and significantly damaging surrounding buildings.

Shortly after takeoff on the morning of September 11, 2001, teams of hijackers from the Islamist terrorist group al-Qaeda seized control of four American airliners. Two of the airplanes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. Morning news programs that were filming the moments after the first impact, then assumed to be an accident, captured and aired live footage of the second plane, as it barreled into the other tower in a flash of fire and smoke. Less than two hours later, the heat from the crash and the explosion of jet fuel caused the upper floors of both buildings to collapse onto the lower floors, reducing both towers to smoldering rubble. The passengers and crew on both planes, as well as 2,606 people in the two buildings, all died, including 343 New York City firefighters who rushed in to save victims shortly before the towers collapsed.

Ground Zero six days after the September 11th attacks. The towers are reduced to rubble and there is smoke still hanging in the air.

Figure 3. Ground Zero six days after the September 11th attacks.

The third hijacked plane was flown into the Pentagon building in northern Virginia, just outside Washington, DC, killing everyone on board and 125 people on the ground. The fourth plane, also heading towards Washington, crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, when passengers, aware of the other attacks, attempted to storm the cockpit and disarm the hijackers. Everyone on board was killed.

A map shows the flight paths of American Airlines Flight 77, United Airlines Flight 93, American Airlines Flight 11, and United Airlines Flight 175 on September 11, 2001. The map contains a legend which lists chronologically the events of September 11, 2001. At 7:50 a m, American Airlines Flight 11 departs Boston from Logan International Airport. At 8:14 a m, United Airlines Flight 175 departs from the same airport. At 8:20 a m, American Airlines Flight 77 departs Washington D C from Dulles International Airport. At 8:42 a m, United Airlines Flight 93 departs Newark from Newark International Airport. At 8:46 a m, Flight 11 crashes into 1 World Trade Center. At 9:03 a m, Flight 175 slams into 2 World Trade Center. At 9:37 a m, Flight 77 hits the Pentagon. At 9:59 a m, the south tower (2 World Trade Center) collapses. At 10:03 a m, Flight 93 crashes in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. At 10:28 a m, the north tower (1 World Trade Center) collapses.

Figure 4. Three of the four airliners hijacked on September 11, 2001, reached their targets. United 93, presumably on its way to destroy either the Capitol or the White House, was brought down in a field after a struggle between the passengers and the hijackers.

The attacks stunned Americans. Late that night, Bush addressed the nation and assured the country that “the search is under way for those who are behind these evil acts.” At Ground Zero three days later, Bush thanked first responders for their work. A worker said he couldn’t hear him. “I can hear you,” Bush shouted back, “The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.

President Bush speaks into a megaphone with his arm around a firefighter while speaking to people in New York City at Ground Zero.

Figure 5. President Bush addresses rescue workers at Ground Zero. 2001. FEMA Photo Library.

Al-Qaeda

American intelligence agencies quickly identified the radical Islamic militant group al-Qaeda, led by the wealthy Saudi Osama bin Laden, as the perpetrators of the attack. Sheltered in Afghanistan by the Taliban, the country’s Islamic government, al-Qaeda was responsible for a 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and a string of attacks at U.S. embassies and military bases across the world. Bin Laden’s Islamic radicalism and his anti-American aggression attracted supporters across the region and, by 2001, al-Qaeda was active in over sixty countries.

Appropriate alternative text for this image can be found in the caption.

Figure 6. President George W. Bush joins his Cabinet as they bow their heads in prayer on Friday, Sept. 14, 2001, before their meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House.

Three days later, Congress issued a joint resolution authorizing the president to use all means necessary against the individuals, organizations, or nations involved in the attacks. On September 20, in an address to a joint session of Congress, Bush declared war on terrorism, blamed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden for the attacks, and demanded that the radical Islamic fundamentalists who ruled Afghanistan, the Taliban, turn bin Laden over or face attack by the United States.

Although in his presidential campaign Bush had denounced foreign nation-building, he populated his administration with neoconservatives, firm believers in the expansion of American democracy and American interests abroad. Bush advanced what was sometimes called the Bush Doctrine, a policy in which the United States would have the right to unilaterally and preemptively make war on any regime or terrorist organization that posed a threat to the United States or to U.S. citizens. It would lead the United States into protracted conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq and entangle the United States in nations across the world. Journalist Dexter Filkins called it a Forever War, a perpetual conflict waged against an amorphous and undefeatable enemy. The geopolitical realities of the twenty-first-century world were forever transformed.

International Response

World leaders and millions of their citizens expressed support for the United States and condemned the deadly attacks. Russian president Vladimir Putin characterized them as a bold challenge to humanity itself. German chancellor Gerhard Schroder said the events of that day were “not only attacks on the people in the United States, our friends in America, but also against the entire civilized world, against our own freedom, against our own values, values which we share with the American people.” Yasser Arafat, chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and a veteran of several bloody struggles against Israel, was dumbfounded by the news and announced to reporters in Gaza, “We completely condemn this very dangerous attack, and I convey my condolences to the American people, to the American president and to the American administration.

Remembering 9/11

If you’d like to learn about the horrific and emotional nature of the events as they unfolded that day, you may watch this video from the TSA, or find many similar videos online.

In May 2014, a museum dedicated to the memory of the victims was completed. Watch this video and learn more about the victims and how the country seeks to remember them.

The events of 9/11 remain emotional for people around the globe who remember watching in shock as the events unfolded that day. Many books, movies, and documentaries have been made the center around the events of the 9/11. One unique story about the events that day is told in the form of a musical—Come from Away. It tells the true story of what transpired when 38 planes were ordered to land unexpectedly at Gander International Airport in Canada after flights were grounded after 9/11.  The musical tells the stories of how the community came together to house and feed some of the 7,000 stranded travelers.

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Glossary

al-Qaeda: a militant Islamist group originally founded by Osama bin Laden

Bush Doctrine: the belief that the United States has the right to protect itself from terrorist acts by engaging in pre-emptive wars or ousting hostile governments in favor of friendly, preferably democratic, regimes.

Neo-Conservatives: Firm believers in the expansion of American democracy and American interests abroad

Taliban: a fundamentalist Muslim group that ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001